Eggs à la Portugaise

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Small heavy 1-quart (1-liter) saucepan
• •Four 5 to 6-inch (13 to 15 cm) shallow oval gratin dishes
• •Rimmed baking sheet
• •Small cup for cracking the eggs

Instructions

1. 1

   Reduce the fondue

   Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a small heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the crushed tomatoes and ¼ teaspoon of the salt, then cook uncovered for 12 to 15 minutes, stirring often, until reduced to ½ cup (120 ml / about 130 g). The fondue is ready when a spoon drawn across the pan leaves a clean path and a teaspoonful stands in a soft heap. If liquid still runs around the pulp after fifteen minutes, raise the heat one notch and stir constantly until it disappears. If the bottom catches, don't scrape it up; lift the clean fondue into another pan and continue gently. Ça se rattrape.

   Do not compensate for loose fondue by baking the eggs longer. The tomato must be corrected in the saucepan, where you can reduce it without sacrificing the yolks.
2. 2

   Prepare the dishes

   Heat the oven to 375°F (190°C) with a rack just above the center. Set four shallow individual gratin dishes on a rimmed baking sheet and brush them with the remaining butter. Spoon 1 tablespoon of tomato fondue into each dish and spread it into a small bed. Reserve the remaining fondue, covered, for the final heaps.

3. 3

   Set in the eggs

   Crack each egg first into a small cup, then slip two eggs side by side over the fondue in each dish. This catches shell and lets you replace a broken yolk before it reaches the serving dish. Season the whites evenly with the remaining salt and the white pepper, keeping the yolks clean and golden.

4. 4

   Bake them gently

   Bake for 8 to 11 minutes, rotating the sheet once, until the whites are opaque at the edges and just set around the yolks while the yolks remain glossy and loose. If a thin clear veil of white remains on top, cover the dishes loosely with foil and return them to the oven for 1 minute. Enclosed heat will finish the white gently. Pull the eggs before the yolks look fully cooked, since the hot dishes continue the cooking at the table.

5. 5

   Mark with fondue

   Rewarm the reserved tomato fondue briefly if necessary. On each dish, place three little heaps of fondue exactly as the source directs: one between the eggs and one at each end. Drop a pinch of chopped parsley onto every heap. Serve immediately in the dishes, while the whites are tender and the yolks still run into the tomato. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Fondue here does not mean cheese. It means tomato cooked to a pulpy state, thick enough to mound. Don't add onion, garlic, or cream; this entry gives tomato, eggs, seasoning, and parsley, and its clarity is its character.
• •Good canned tomatoes are the honest choice outside tomato season. In high summer, ripe plum tomatoes may replace them, but peel, seed, and squeeze them dry before weighing the same prepared amount.
• •Shallow dishes matter. A deep ramekin insulates the eggs and leaves clear white around a yolk that is already firm; an oval gratin dish exposes the surface to even heat.
• •These eggs wait for no one. Have the parsley chopped, bread cut, and table ready before the dishes enter the oven.

Advance Preparation

• •The tomato fondue may be prepared up to 3 days ahead, covered, and refrigerated. Reheat it gently before assembling the eggs, adding a teaspoon of water only if it has become too stiff to spread.
• •Do not assemble the egg dishes in advance. The salted tomato releases moisture beneath the raw whites, and the eggs begin losing their clean shape while they wait.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 145g)