Eggs in Tomato (with Sweet Potato *Noodles*) A Little Breakfast for Dinner + Some Favorite Tessa Kiros Recipes

When I open a cookbook from Tessa Kiros, I invariably want to curl up in a chair with a pot of tea and read it cover to cover. Her cookbooks have the power to transport me to places and spaces as beautiful as the pictures and the prose contained in them. This week Tessa Kiros is our Monthly Featured Chef at I Heart Cooking Clubs, where we get to cook with one of our beloved previous IHCC chefs. We originally cooked with Tessa back in 2011 and she quickly became a favorite.

So many books and recipes to choose from but I wanted something really quick and simple for a busy week and so I selected her Eggs and Tomato recipe from Apples for Jam. Of course the recipe screams for, and Tessa recommends, good rustic bread for dipping however, I am not eating wheat presently. I still wanted something starch-ish to dip or run through those glorious runny yolks, so I quickly used my spiralizer and sauteed some sweet potato noodles.

I made a couple of minor changes to the recipe--noted in red below.

Eggs in Tomato
Slightly Adapted from Apples For Jam by Tessa Kiros
(Serves 2)

2 12 Tbsp olive oil (I reduced to 1 Tbsp)
1 clove garlic, peeled and squashed a bit (I used 2)
1/2 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes (I used fire-roasted)
2 basil leaves torn up (+ more to garnish)
2 eggs
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil and garlic in an 8-inch frying pan. When it begins to sizzle and you can smell the garlic, add the tomatoes. Season with salt, and the basil, and cook for a few minutes over medium heat until the tomatoes begin to melt together. 

Reduce the heat and carefully break the eggs into the pan, leaving a little space between them. Cook until the whites just start to set, then make sure the bottoms aren't sticking to the pan. Cover the pan with a lid and cook about half a minute until the whites are milky set. Sprinkle a little salt and freshly ground black pepper over the yolks as desired. 

Leave the eggs slightly undercooked and take the pan to the table with the lid on rather than risk having the eggs hard and overcooked as you want to be able to dunk your bread (or sweet potato noodles) in the yolks. 

For the sweet potato, I used the C-Blade on my Inspiralizer which makes a fettuccine sized noodle. I used 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and sauteed the noodles for about 5 minutes until al dente. 

Notes/Results: Simple but really delicious, like so many of Tessa's recipes. The tomatoes cook down to a nice jammy consistency and the eggs nestle right in. Sure, bread would be nice, but the sweet potato noodles were a great pairing with their slight sweetness and firm noodle consistency. The tomato eggs would be great on top of regular pasta as well. This is also a good starting point for adding other ingredients--a bit of harissa or red pepper flakes for spice, maybe some baby spinach or chopped greens...  you get the picture. A great weeknight (or morning) pantry/fridge dinner when you want something delicious but don't want to make a big effort. I will make this again.

To celebrate Tessa Kiros properly, here are six of my favorite of her recipes cooked during our time with her at IHCC and beyond. It's tough to pick out just a handful because I have loved every dish I've cooked with Tessa (you can see the others if you check out the Tessa Kiros label on my blog sidebar) but these are the ones that were most memorable (and most crave-worthy!).

Tomato Soup with Rice & Basil from Recipes and Dreams From An Italian Life
 

Spaghetti Aglio, Olio, Peperoncino & Avocado from Recipes and Dreams From An Italian Life (Still one of my favorite pasta dishes ever!)

Red Bell Pepper & Anchovy Sauce from Venezia 

  

Sage and Rosemary Mashed Potatoes from Apples for Jam

Gelato al Limone (Lemon Ice Cream) from Venezia

Portuguese Purslane Soup from Piri Piri Starfish 

Delicious, right?!?!

You can see what Tessa Kiros dishes our participants made for this week's IHCC Monthly Featured Chef Event by checking out the picture links on the post.