Hungry and a little drunk a few weeks ago, I cracked open a quart jar of what I thought were canned tomatoes.
Nope, it was my final jar of homemade Italian tomato sauce from last year's preservation fest. Defeated, I spun the lid shut and shoved the jar in the back of my fridge.
On Friday morning, with my mom and step-dad's arrival imminent, I needed a quick meal. There were errands to run and cleaning to do. I scanned the fridge and saw the disregarded jar of sauce, strands of Chinese chives and, as almost always, a few eggs.
I dumped a glug of sauce into a pot then cracked an egg on top. A few minutes later, breakfast was ready: I shimmied the cooked egg into a centuries-old bowl I purchased at a flea market in Saitama Prefecture during my recent trip to Japan. Then some pepper and those chives, chopped. Another installment of Eggs Without a Recipe wrapped.
The finished poached egg with the dregs of coffee with homemade almond milk.
Italian Poached Egg in Tomato Sauce
Any jarred tomato sauce would be welcome here. If you happen to have made some homemade sauce, great. But let's be real: A pantry sauce from the supermarket is plenty good.
- Tomato sauce
- An egg
- Salt
- Chives, parsley or other herb (extremely optional)
- Olive oil (optional)
- Pepper (also optional)
Add a sizable glug of tomato sauce to a small saucepan. Warm the sauce then crack an egg on top. Sprinkle with salt. Cover and simmer until the egg's white is set and the area around the yolk loses its transparency. Scoop into a bowl, finish with a bit of chopped herb, olive oil and fresh pepper, if you want. Eat with a spoon.