YOU MIGHT ENJOY EGGS IN PURGATORY...

 Kendra Tierney shared a recipe for a dish called, Eggs in Purgatory, which she makes using a mix of tomato, garlic and then adding poached eggs. I found this in her excellent book, The Catholic All Year Compendium: Liturgical Living for Real Life. I am always making tomato sauces which are from tomato and onion purée, which I like to combine with all sorts of foodstuffs. Kendra's Eggs in Purgatory got me thinking and experimenting. Tomato sauce has the same boiling point of water, so I thought, what if I could cook the eggs in the sauce? Here was my first attempt. This was some left-over olive sauce, and then I put it on top of a nest of spaghetti. I was cheerfully surprised by the tenderness of the egg and it was delicious with the olives; olives and eggs are an under-rated combination. 

Then I decided that I could make enough for a whole dinner, this time using marinara sauce that had a decent amount of crushed black pepper. Eggs and pepper are a classic pair. I brought the sauce to boiling, then created a little space with the wooden spoon and dropped an egg in.  You can cook the eggs to be firm or soft, and a tip is to turn over an egg that one person may like well-done. Serve the runny/over-easy eggs first and let the others cook a bit longer depending on the tastes of those for whom you cook. This was an unbelievably fast meal to cook, 15 minutes at most, and could be modified in many, many ways. Sausage and bacon lovers might like to add one or the other. 

This was an unbelievably fast meal to cook, 15 minutes when I used store bought sauce or used my sauce that I'd made earlier. Most of the time was the spaghetti boiling. My recipe for the sauce is three fifths fresh tomatoes and two fifths onion; with the following method at work; chopped onion cooked with tomato purée on top to simmering. Then finely puréed onion mixed in - again 'til simmering and then a tiny few splashes of "Braggs' Liquid Aminos". 

This is a protein packed spaghetti/pasta dish and may also be good for meat-less Fridays, or when someone is breaking a long fast because eggs are easy on the stomach. You may top it with cheese, and it can be served with a side dish of spinach and garlic, which go great with it.