Eggs Simmered in Tomato Sauce

Whenever I want a simple, tasty breakfast, weekend dinner, or late night supper, I pull out some tomatada, a classic Portuguese tomato sauce I always have on hand. This is a riff on a traditional recipe, but instead of firing up the oven for just an egg or two, as the original requires, I make it on the stove. Less than 15 minutes later, I'm sitting down to eat.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce (recipe follows)

• 2 large eggs

• Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 2 slices rustic bread, toasted

• 1 garlic clove, cut in half

• Extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

1. Warm the tomato sauce in a small nonstick skillet, covered, over medium high heat, until it's bubbly and hot, about 5 minutes. Lower the heat to medium, stir, and then make two wells in the sauce with the back of a spoon. Crack an egg into each well and simmer, covered, until the eggs are cooked, 5 to 8 minutes.

2. To serve, lightly rub the toast with the garlic, drizzle with a thin thread of oil, and place on plates. Scoop an egg and some tomato sauce on top of each slice, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Tomato Sauce (Tomatada)

This recipe is simplicity itself. I make it when fire-engine red tomatoes are tumbling off tables at the local farmers' market. But in a pinch, you can use canned tomatoes -- many Portuguese prefer them, in fact. For a sauce with the smack of heat favored in the Trás-os-Montes region, as well as the Azores, drop in the optional chile pepper.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• 2 medium yellow onions, cut in half and then sliced into thin half moons

• 2 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley

• 1 Turkish bay leaf

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• 2 pounds very ripe tomatoes, or one 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, preferably San Marzano, seeded, chopped, pulp strained through a sieve and liquid reserved

• 2 to 3 tablespoons double-concentrate tomato paste, to taste

• 1 small fresh hot chile (optional)

• Kosher salt and freshly ground white pepper

Instructions

1. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat until it shimmers. Add the onions, parsley, and bay leaf, and cook until golden, about 15 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes more.

2. Turn the heat to medium-low, stir in the tomatoes and their liquid, the tomato paste, and chile pepper, if using, and simmer, cover ajar, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes break down, about 30 minutes. Toss the parsley and bay leaf and season to taste with salt and pepper. If you wish, you can scrape the sauce into a food processor and buzz until smooth. Store the sauce in the fridge in a glass jar with a tight fitting lid for 1 week. It can be frozen up to 2 months.