I took my niece Wendy to lunch for her birthday a few
weeks back. We ended up at the 'Nook' on Bay Street. I had been there once
before with Danny and he had the 'baked eggs' and raved about them - he actually
bought a couple of small clay pans to try recreate the dish at home. When he's
cooking I try not to bother him. His result was good but very spicy - I don't
mind a bit of spice but I do like to taste the rest of the stuff...anyway, both Wendy and I ordered the baked eggs and
half way through, Wendy looked at me, grinned her beautiful, dimpled smile and said, 'I
would love to have this recipe.'
Here is my version, Danny approved!
Baked Egg in Tomato
feeds 2 hungry people, anytime - great for brunch,
lunch or supper!
3 spicy Italian pork
sausages
6-7 small yellow potatoes, sliced 1/4 inch.
1 medium onion (red, sweet, whatever you have),
chopped medium dice (1/4 in.)
1 tsp kosher salt
8 oz tomato puree (or MAO's
homemade roasted tomatoes)
1 tsp dried marjoram
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 C chicken stock
In 9 inch skillet, cook sausages to browned on all
sides - don't need to be cooked through. Remove and set aside - when cooled
slightly, slice into 1/4 in. coins.
In same pan, sauté chopped onions until softened
(sprinkle with the kosher salt part way through). Add sliced potatoes, tomatoes
and remaining ingredients, not sausage. Let simmer 30 min to 1 hr. If you want
to speed this up, parboil potatoes.
Add sliced sausage and mix to coat. Bring all to low
simmer.
Preheat oven to 400F.
Place half of mixture in serving size pot or bowl. Make
well in centre, leaving a small amount of tomato sauce in base. Crack egg(s) into
hole.
Put into oven for 10-12 min, just till you see egg whites
slightly cooked. Don't wait too long, they finish off quickly
and you want the yolk still runny at serving!
Sprinkle grated parmesan or
asiago cheese on top and cook another 3-4 min just to melt cheese. Remove and add
a bit of chopped parsley to make it look nice.
Make sure to have some
toast or crostini!
I'm going to the market this weekend to see if they have any duck eggs - yum!
Here's my favourite Wendy-birthday photo from January 22, 1977 - it's her 5th birthday and cousin Rory is
there, lending moral support, maybe?
Nope, looks like he had to
make sure the job got done!