Baked eggs in purgatory with feta and toasted soldiers

Name: Baked eggs in purgatory with feta and toasted soldiers
Prep time: 18 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 220 g Eggs (4 medium eggs, weighed without shells); 300 g Tomato passata (700 g) (slightly less than half a 700 g bottle); 10 g Double-concentrated tomato purée (2 tsp); 60 g Feta or Bulgarian white cheese, 16–24% fat (250 g block) (30 g per ramekin: half under the eggs, half on top after 9 minutes of baking); 140 g Bread (baguette or country loaf) (4 slices, 35 g each and 1.5 cm thick, toasted whole then each cut into 3 soldiers; country bread holds up in the yolk better than baguette); 33 g Extra virgin olive oil (15 g for the sauce, 4 g for the ramekins, 10 g to drizzle over when serving, one drizzle per ramekin, and 4 g on the soldiers); 13 g Garlic (2 cloves, thinly sliced, for the sauce; half a clove to rub the soldiers); 0.5 g Chilli flakes (peperoncino) (1 generous pinch); 1 g Dried oregano (1 tsp); 5 g Fresh basil (about ten leaves; alternatively, flat-leaf parsley); 1 g Fine salt (0.5 g in the sauce, 0.5 g in a few grains over the yolks); 0.5 g Ground black pepper (1 pinch in the sauce, one turn of the pepper mill over each yolk)

dairy breakfast · Italian · 2/5 · easy · 40 min, including 18 hands-on

Southern Italy’s uova in purgatorio, baked in ramekins: a reduced tomato sauce with lightly golden garlic, toasted tomato purée and peperoncino, two eggs with runny yolks, feta softening over the whites, and crisp toasted soldiers rubbed with garlic.

Ingredients for two

220 g	Eggs 4 medium eggs, weighed without shells
300 g	Tomato passata (700 g) slightly less than half a 700 g bottle
10 g	Double-concentrated tomato purée 2 tsp
60 g	Feta or Bulgarian white cheese, 16–24% fat (250 g block) 30 g per ramekin: half under the eggs, half on top after 9 minutes of baking
140 g	Bread (baguette or country loaf) 4 slices, 35 g each and 1.5 cm thick, toasted whole then each cut into 3 soldiers; country bread holds up in the yolk better than baguette
33 g	Extra virgin olive oil 15 g for the sauce, 4 g for the ramekins, 10 g to drizzle over when serving, one drizzle per ramekin, and 4 g on the soldiers
13 g	Garlic 2 cloves, thinly sliced, for the sauce; half a clove to rub the soldiers
0.5 g	Chilli flakes (peperoncino) 1 generous pinch
1 g	Dried oregano 1 tsp
5 g	Fresh basil about ten leaves; alternatively, flat-leaf parsley
1 g	Fine salt 0.5 g in the sauce, 0.5 g in a few grains over the yolks
0.5 g	Ground black pepper 1 pinch in the sauce, one turn of the pepper mill over each yolk

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C conventional, with one shelf in the middle and another near the top. Take the eggs out of the fridge. Oil two wide 12 cm ramekins with 4 g oil. Heat water in the kettle for the water bath. Peel 2 garlic cloves, remove the central shoots and cut into thin slices; reserve the remaining half-clove for the soldiers.
Heat 15 g oil in a small saucepan over a medium-low heat. Add the garlic and stir for 1 minute until pale gold, never brown. Add the tomato purée and stir in the oil for 1 minute, until darker and smelling of caramel. Add the chilli flakes and oregano for 10 seconds, then the passata, 0.5 g salt and 1 pinch of pepper.
Simmer uncovered over a low heat for 10–12 minutes, stirring occasionally: the sauce should reduce by about a quarter, leaving roughly 220 g, enough to surround the eggs and dip the bread into. It should coat the spoon, and a line drawn across the bottom of the pan should close slowly. Taste and adjust the salt, remembering that the feta will add more. If the oven is not yet hot enough, keep the sauce on a very low heat. While it simmers, cut the bread into 4 slices, 1.5 cm thick, if not already sliced.
Once the oven is hot, divide the still-simmering sauce between the ramekins and crumble over half the feta, 15 g per ramekin. Crack the eggs one by one into a cup and slide onto the sauce, two per ramekin. Set the ramekins in the baking dish, place it on the middle shelf pulled halfway out, then pour kettle water around them until halfway up their sides, without getting any into the eggs. Gently push the shelf back and close the oven.
Bake for 12–16 minutes. After 9 minutes, when the whites begin turning opaque at the edges, open the oven and scatter the remaining feta, 15 g per ramekin, over the whites around the yolks. First check at 12 minutes: the eggs are ready when the white around each yolk is no longer translucent or slippery and the yolk still wobbles when you shake the dish; the feta should have softened and begun melting at the edges. Otherwise, cook in 2-minute increments, up to 16 minutes; for firm yolks, allow 2 minutes more. From this first check, toast the 4 whole slices for 3–4 minutes, until golden, dry on the surface and sounding hollow when tapped with a finger. Leave them upright in the switched-off toaster so they do not soften.
Remove the dish, then lift out the ramekins with an oven glove or tongs; dry them and leave for 2 minutes to finish cooking. Meanwhile, rub one side of the toast with the half-clove of raw garlic, drizzle with 4 g oil, then cut each slice into 3 soldiers. Add a few grains of salt and a turn of pepper to each yolk, scatter with finely sliced basil, drizzle each ramekin with olive oil (5 g), and serve immediately with the soldiers.

Variants and their steps remain below the recipe.

Lighter version

How the taste changes:

La feta apporte moins de touches salées et crémeuses : l'œuf, la tomate et le piment dominent davantage. La cocotte conserve son jus, mais il y a moins de pain pour l'absorber.

Bread (baguette or country loaf) : 70 g
Feta or Bulgarian white cheese, 16–24% fat (250 g block) : 40 g

In steps 4 and 5, put 10 g feta below the eggs and 10 g on top in each ramekin.

In steps 3, 5 and 6, cut and toast only 2 slices of bread, making 6 soldiers.

The same sauce and eggs, with less bread for dipping.

On your plate

Recipe

643 kcal · protein 28 g · carbs 51 g · fat 35 g

Quantities per person

110 g Eggs
150 g Tomato passata (700 g)
5 g Double-concentrated tomato purée
30 g Feta or Bulgarian white cheese, 16–24% fat (250 g block)
70 g Bread (baguette or country loaf)
16.5 g Extra virgin olive oil
6.5 g Garlic
0.25 g Chilli flakes (peperoncino)
0.5 g Dried oregano
2.5 g Fresh basil
0.5 g Fine salt
0.25 g Ground black pepper

Cooking tips

Make the sauce the day before and keep for 3 days in the fridge: reheat for 2 minutes until simmering before filling the ramekins, leaving only 5 minutes of active work in the morning. Without a toaster, cut the bread into soldiers in step 3, put them on the top oven shelf when the eggs go in and turn after 9 minutes while adding the feta. After 12–16 minutes they should be golden and sound hollow; rub with garlic and oil them in the same way. Eggs taken straight from the fridge at the last moment need 2–3 extra minutes. To judge doneness, gently shake a ramekin: the whites should no longer wobble, but the yolks should. For an Israeli twist, replace the oregano with 1 tsp za’atar, use bulgarit instead of feta and add a few pitted black olives over the sauce.

Equipment : 2 ovenproof 12 cm ramekins, baking dish at least 26 × 18 cm with 5 cm sides, small saucepan, kettle, oven glove or tongs, toaster (or the top oven shelf)

Inspired by uova in purgatorio from Naples and Puglia, eggs poached in tomato sauce with garlic, chilli and basil, here baked in ramekins. The feta of Israeli breakfasts is a deliberate departure. Without peppers or cumin, this is not shakshuka.

Baked eggs in purgatory with feta and toasted soldiers

Method

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On your plate

Recipe

Cooking tips

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