You have to start this the day before, but it’s so easy that there is no exact recipe. Make the tomato sauce as spicy as you like, but the eggs must be nice and soft and jiggly. It’s so simple, but my friends and family always love it! — C.S.

Spicy Baked Eggs

By Christine Sandford

Executive Chef, Biera
Edmonton

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INGREDIENTS

Serves 4 

• 10 ripe tomatoes, halved
• 2 bell (or 1 bell and 1 hot) peppers, seeded and sliced
• ½ onion, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1-2 tsp Sambal Oelek
• 0 ml (¼ cup) butter
• Salt
• 8 eggs
• Fresh herbs for garnish
• 1 nice loaf country-style sourdough, or rye, toasted, buttered and salted

METHOD

Preheat oven to lowest setting. The day before your brunch or lunch, spread the tomatoes (cut side up), peppers, onion and garlic on a baking sheet and transfer to the middle rack of your oven. Heat until mildly dehydrated, so the flavours intensify—a few hours with the door closed, or overnight with the door ajar. Transfer to a saucepan, stir in 1 tsp of the sambal oelek, and simmer until the flavours meld, about 1 hour. Stir in the butter, add more sambal oelek if desired, and salt to taste. Preheat broiler on low. Transfer sauce to a baking dish. Use the back of a spoon to make 8 evenly spaced indentations in the thick sauce, and crack an egg into each one. Transfer dish to top rack and broil until the eggs are cooked but still soft—7 to 10 minutes. Remove dish to the table, scatter with herbs, and serve with warm toast.

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“ I like to serve it with thick slices of sourdough bread, buttered and fried and sprinkled with salt. ”