Recipe: Eggs in puttanesca with angel hair pasta

“The fact is there is nothing that isn’t improved when you put a well-cooked egg on top of it,” says award-winning food writer Michael Ruhlman.

So with that in mind, try this recipe for pasta with the addition of eggs.

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EGGS IN PUTTANESCA WITH ANGEL HAIR PASTA

We puts eggs on top of pizza, so why not pasta? Michael Ruhlman gives it a go in this recipe for egg-topped puttanesca with angel hair pasta from his book, Egg.

Start to finish: 1 hour 15 minutes (15 minutes active)

Servings: 4

• 1 Spanish onion, finely diced
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed with the flat side of a knife and roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, pureed (or 10 fresh Roma tomatoes, broiled for 15 minutes and pureed)
• 1 bay leaf or 2 teaspoons dried oregano (or both)
• 1/2 tablespoon fish sauce or 4 anchovies, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup pitted and chopped Kalamata olives
• 2 tablespoons capers
• 4 eggs
• 1 pound angel hair pasta or thin spaghetti, cooked al dente, then tossed with extra-virgin olive oil or butter and kept warm in a covered pot

In a large saute pan or skillet over medium-high heat, saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil, adding the salt as you do. Stir until the onion and garlic are tender and translucent, then add the red pepper flakes and stir to cook them and coat them with the oil.

Add the wine and bring it to a simmer. Add the pureed tomatoes, the bay leaf and/or oregano, then bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and cook the sauce until it’s nice and thick, about 1 hour. The sauce can be prepared in advance up to this point, allowed to cool, and stored in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Remove and discard the bay leaf and add the fish sauce (or anchovies), olives and capers. If the sauce was refrigerated, bring it to a full simmer over medium heat, then turn the heat to low. One at a time, crack each egg into a ladle, then lower it into the sauce, making a small well in the sauce with the ladle to contain the egg. Cover the pan and cook until the egg whites are set, 3 to 6 minutes.

Divide the warm pasta among 4 serving dishes. Spoon the sauce over the pasta, topping each portion with an egg and finishing each dish with more sauce as needed. Serve immediately.

Nutrition information per serving: 730 calories; 140 calories from fat (19 per cent of total calories); 16 g fat (3 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 185 mg cholesterol; 108 g carbohydrate; 8 g fiber; 6 g sugar; 27 g protein; 1,490 mg sodium.

Recipe adapted from Michael Ruhlman’s “Egg,” Little, Brown, 2014