Eggs in Hell

I've been enjoying making this dish a lot lately. Is anyone else a fan?

rwj

Hadn't heard of it up 'til now. Sounds pretty good, though. Anything about the dish we should be aware of?

[Robin Garr]

This dish is so trendy that it seems Mario Batali, Rachael Ray and Martha Stewart have all been making it.

Basically, eggs poached in a spicy hot tomato sauce. I could eat that. It looks like an Italian treat recently popularized by Rick Tramonto of Tru in Chicago and quickly picked up by a whole lot of people.

http://www.thatsnotwhattherecipesays.co ... -hell.html

http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=2129

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2009 ... ecipe.html

Nothing new here. We often had this dish as a meatless Friday meal growing up in the 50's. One of the great ways to use stale baguettes if the sauce is soupy enough.

I've found that it makes a wonderful one-dish meal; quick, easy, and tasty.

rwj

I could conceivably just put some salsa in a ramekin, break an egg in, and stick it in the toaster oven. Top with cheese.

What would I be missing that way?? Not much I think.

That's what makes the dish so good to work with.

rwj

OK, I watched Mario Batali do this and then this morning I made it for my son.

I think you really need that initial step with the olive oil -- I chopped up some shallot and sauteed it until soft. Without the olive oil your red sauce is going to stick to the pan. I used some salsa along with other tomato sauces I had on hand and spiked it with red pepper flakes and Tabasco. Actually it was a duck egg and a quail egg that I cooked. And I had made some saffron rice with chopped up sweet red pepper in it for a Spanish dish Sunday (chicken Marbella) so I warmed up the left-over rice and served the eggs and sauce on that.

Tom said it was super delicious, and that the duck egg had a special texture, kind of rich and "meaty."

a Spanish dish Sunday (chicken Marbella)

Not to go off topic, but is there actually a Spanish dish called chicken Marbella? I always thought that was a NYC (Silver Palate) creation. I'm not challenging, just curious, as I know you're a great researcher into origins.

Oh, shakshuka!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakshouka

If only Rogov may he rest in peace was here...

You're right, Dale, the reference in the title is to a town in Andalusia but Silver Palate invented the dish, presumably with ingredients in the marinade that are supposed to suggest Spain. Olives, capers, etc. I was reminded slightly of Snapper Veracruz (I know Veracruz is in Mexico but I don't know who invented THAT dish) when we were putting it together but of course that has a red sauce. The most inauthentic touch was the generous sprinkling of brown sugar on the chicken pieces before putting the whole thing in the oven. I kind of winced but went with it, and of course it tasted quite good. When I was thinking of something to go with it I thought of "what is a Spanish side dish" and came up with the saffron rice with pretty red pepper bits in it. If they name it after Marbella, then I suppose that's how the logic goes.

Mom, Dad, and the twins, in Hell.

eggs.jpg

Hilarious!

Great photo.
Thanks for confirmation re chicken Marbella.Maybe not authentic, but a popular recipe, very easy to do in large quantities. When my non-profit group held a "non-gala" to celebrate 20th anniversary, this was one of the recipes we used (we had 9 volunteer cooks for the main courses, 3 did 8-10 lbs of the chicken, etc).

Thanks Jeff and Dale. If you don't read ALL the topics here, the eggs are Duck, Hen, Quail, Quail. And Louise was very appreciative, it was delicious especially with some grated cheese melted over the top.