Eggs in spicy tomato sauce with brie

This was yesterday’s dinner. Eggs cooked in a spicy tomato sauce with lots of Greek extra virgin olive oil and a few slices of brie added on top at the end of cooking to melt slightly and be as seductive as they can be to our palates.

A couple of days prior, I had baked two loaves of sourdough bread and a couple of thick slices were the best thing to dip into the rich, deeply yellow-colored egg yolk and spicy sauce.

I posted a photo of this on instagram last night, right before diving into it, and many asked for the recipe. As simple as this recipe is, I thought it was blog-worthy as well, so here it is.

I hope you make it and enjoy it with a cold glass of beer.
Cheers!

Eggs in spicy tomato sauce with brie

I made this in individual saganakia (saganaki is a small, Greek, two-handled pan) and it fits as much as you see in the photos ie. two eggs per pan. You can use one large pan that will fit all 4 eggs. The instructions are for that option.

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

for the sauce
2 large, ripe and juicy tomatoes (about 400 g in total) (or if you make this during the winter, a 400 g can of whole Roma tomatoes)
4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp tomato paste
½ tsp pul biber (Aleppo pepper) or dried red pepper flakes (or less if you can’t handle the heat of chilli)
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, 5-6 turns of the pepper mill
A pinch of Demerara sugar

4 (or 6) large eggs
Brie cheese, cut into thin slices (about 8 slices)
Garden cress
Pul biber or dried red pepper flakes
Salt
Extra virgin olive oil

Special equipment: box grater, non-stick pan


Preparation

for the sauce
In a medium-sized bowl, grate the tomatoes (on the large holes of the grater). As you grate them, the skin will remain in your hand, so throw that away. If you are using whole canned tomatoes, pulse them in a food processor (don’t puree them, you want some small pieces too).

In a medium-sized non-stick pan, add the olive oil and heat over a medium-high heat. When it starts to shimmer, add the grated tomatoes, tomato paste, pul biber/dried red chilli flakes, black pepper, a little salt and a pinch of sugar and stir well with a spoon. Allow the sauce to come to the boil and immediately turn heat down to low.
Simmer the sauce for about 20 minutes, stirring from time to time and making sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan, until you have a thick-ish sauce. You don’t want it to be dry but you don’t want it to be overly wet either. You can see the consistency in the photos.
Check the seasoning, adding more salt if you find it necessary. Turn heat up to medium and crack the eggs in the pan. Cook the eggs to your liking (we prefer runny yolks) and 2 minutes before they are done, add the slices of brie between the eggs.
When the eggs have cooked and the brie has began to melt, remove the pan from the heat and serve immediately, drizzled with a little extra virgin olive oil, sprinkled with some more pul biber, salt and some garden cress.
You can eat it straight from the pan, as we usually do, or serve in individual plates. Have some good sourdough on hand for the all important dipping action and enjoy!