Recipe: Eggs marinara on crostini

This recipe goes out to my dear friend Emily, who, in addition to having an excellent name, has an excellent palate and is one of my most frequent dining companions. At Emily’s request, we made up some of these eggs for a quick breakfast before heading into the office yesterday, but they’re just as much of a treat for dinner or brunch. I believe Rachael Ray would, in fact, call this a BLAD recipe, which is supposed to stand for “Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner” but instead seems like onomatopoeia for a plain ol’ BAD recipe, so I’ll scrap the acronym and call this dish what it really is: fast, cheap and damn tasty.

(I do feel I should make the quick disclaimer that this recipe is hardly original. Eggs marinara are (is?) nothing new, and there are countless ways to dress them (it?) up with cheeses, truffle oil, fresh herbs and inventive, homemade sauces. So view this as a method, more than anything. Ok? Ok.)

Eggs Marinara on Crostini
By Emily Stoffel
Cooking time: 10 minutes | Serves: 2

Notes: I like to keep things moving along quickly by toasting my two lil’ slices of bread in a toaster oven. If you’d like to double, triple or quadruple this recipe for a group — for Sunday Brunch, let’s say (Oh, yes, I’d love to! Your place?) — it may be worth it to crank the oven and toast up a whole sheet pan of crostini at once.

Ingredients:

  • 2 slices good, crusty bread
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup (or so) prepared marinara sauce
  • olive oil
  • crushed red chili flakes
  • salt/pepper

Instructions

Drizzle bread with olive oil and bake in a preheated 350F oven until golden brown and toasted (see note). Meanwhile, heat olive oil and chili flakes over medium heat in a small sauce or saute pan until chili just begins to sizzle. Add sauce, bring to a light bubble, and then carefully cracks eggs into the hot marinara. (I like to nestle the just-cracked egg into the sauce and then release the egg into the resulting indentation, if that makes sense.) Cover, reduce to low and simmer until whites are set or to your liking. A runny, slurpy yolk will serve you very well here — just saying. Plate eggs on crostini; top with remaining warmed sauce and plenty of salt and pepper.

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8 Comments on “Recipe: Eggs marinara on crostini”

  1. I just saw the Mexican version of this on a PBS cooking show — eggs poached in a tomato and roasted pepper sauce — and, natch, not crostini, but warm corn tortillas! This is just the sort of breakfast for those peeps like me who prefer something not so breakfast-y — more savory than sweet. Thanks, Emily!

    1. Totally. Although since I’ve been doing the no-added-sugar thing, sweet breakfasts have made a return on weekends (I appreciate the indulgence!). Speaking of a Mexican version, I’m making a roasted tomatillo salsa as we speak…Eggs Verde may just be the next big thing!

  2. great recipe, espcially with the added chili flakes. In line with the italian theme i would add some chopped, cooked prosciutto in there.

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