Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner, Baked Eggs are ALWAYS a Winner!

Baked eggs are one of my favorite meals to make after a long hard day, the morning after a late night, or for nice Sunday lunch. These baked eggs are a stress free quick fix dinner that cooks in under 20 minutes. For me there is noting like being able to put a great meal in front of someone that tastes like a million bucks, but is about as simple as can be. In fact I would almost bet that most people always have the ingredients to make these delicious baked eggs on hand at all times. Bacon? Eggs? Cheese? Marinara Sauce? Garlic? Onion? Plus most of us usually have that little bit of red wine left over from the night before… Oh you don’t have left over red wine? Darn… I guess we have to open a fresh bottle. In all seriousness though, the little bit of red wine helps to deglaze the pan by picking up all the little brown bits left over from cooking the bacon. The wine adds such a depth of flavor to the marinara sauce making it taste like grandma has been cooking it all day, when in reality you just opened the jar.

Another reason I love baked eggs is if you have any friends, or relatives who are gluten-free, or watching their carb intake this is the perfect dish to serve them. Because these baked eggs have all of the flavors and texture of you favorite baked pasta but there are no carbs in this meal, and I promise you will not even miss the pasta.

I love to serve these spicy eggs in purgatory with a fresh green salad and a toasted baguette slices that have been rubbed with garlic of course.

I really think all the garlic I eat keeps the mosquitos away and in my book that’s GREAT reason to eat garlic everyday!

Hope you enjoy and let me know what you think.

 

Mel’s Spicy Eggs in Purgatory 

Ingredients:

3 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 Slices of Bacon, cut into small strips

1 Medium sized Onion, Chopped

2 Cloves of Garlic, minced

½ teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes

3 Pinches of Oregano

1 cup Red Wine

2½ cups Marinara Sauce

5 Extra Large Eggs

5 Slices of Provolone, Mozzarella, or Preferred Italian Cheese

Salt & Pepper to taste

 

Directions:

Pre-Heat the broiler to high.

In a large, oven proof, non-reactive skillet (this is not the time for cast iron), heat up 2 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil over medium heat and fry up the bacon until crispy.

Once the bacon is crisp, transfer to a plate lined with paper towels. Drain off some of the excess grease from the pan. Then add 1 Tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil to the pan. Sauté the chopped onion, for 5 minutes, then add in the minced garlic, red pepper flakes, oregano, a pinch of salt, and pepper. Sauté for another 2 minutes.

Then with the heat turned off add the 1-cup of red wine to the onions, garlic and spices. Turn the heat back on and with a wooden spoon scrape all the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Once the red wine has reduced by half, add the 2½ cups of marinara sauce. Bring the sauce up to a boil.

Once the sauce has started to bubble, crack the eggs one at a time directly into the marinara sauce. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan and let the eggs cook for 3 minutes. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on top of each egg then top each egg with a slice of cheese.

Carefully place the pan in the oven under the broiler until the cheese gets brown and bubbly. About 3 minutes.