Poached Eggs in Tomato Sauce with Chickpeas and Feta

I'm not going to lie.  The only thing on my little blogging mind right now is this book.  Just to be even more up front and honest, I preorder this book back in March.  MARCH.  As in 7 months ago.  And I have ever so eagerly (and patiently, I swear!) been awaiting it's arrival.

So of course, Amazon won't have it here till Friday.  And so-help-me-dear-blogosphere, if it is not here by Friday, I may snap.  I cannot wait a second longer.  People already have it and it is JUST NOT FAIR!

So, if you don't mind, I am going to excuse myself to go pout in the corner until Friday's mail comes.  I will leave you with a pretty little photo-montage of this absolutely fantastic breakfast.  It may look like eggs, dipping sauce and pita chips, well because that is what it is, but don't let that fool you.  It is very filling.  Ben and I had this on Saturday and didn't really have another meal to dinner.  It is protein-loaded, saucy, cheesy, dip-able goodness.  It should be your weekend breakfast.  That you eat while reading Deb's cookbook.  (I'm sorry, I'm obsessed, it is literally all I am thinking about).

It took roughly a few hours on Saturday before this was pasted lovingly into the big green cookbook.  I made the recipe in full (serves 4-6) all the way up till the very end.  I baked half the sauce with 4 poached eggs and the rest of the sauce is in my freezer for a rainy (or more likely, snowy) day.  When I thaw it out, I will let you know how well it froze!

Ok, I'm off to wait grumpily (oh, wait, I totally meant patiently...) for Friday.  So I can super heavy crush on Deb some more.  Enjoy!  PS - HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Poached Eggs in Tomato Sauce with Chickpeas and Feta
from the Dec. 2011 issue of Bon Appetit

Again, this will feed 4-6.  Because the recipe didn't really halve well (what do you do with a half can of chickpeas?), I made the whole batch of sauce then split in two.  1 morning of work, 2 amazing breakfasts!  Also, watch out as you are hand crushing those tomatoes.  As both Ben and my poor camera found out, they tend to have quite a bit of juice to squirt!

1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
2 jalapenos, seeded, finely chopped
1 15-oz can chickpeas, drained
2 tsp. Hungarian sweet paprika
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 28-oz. can whole peeled tomatoes with juice
Salt and pepper
1 c. feta, crumbled
8 large eggs
Handful fresh cilantro, chopped
Pita chips to dunk

Preheat oven to 425.

In large skillet, warm oil over medium high heat.  Add onions, garlic and jalapenos and saute until onion is soft and translucent, 5-6 minutes.  Add chickpeas and spices and continue to cook another 2 minutes.

CAREFULLY hand crush the tomatoes over the pan, doing your best to capture all their juice.  Add remaining juice in the can and bring the mixture to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer sauce 15 minutes or so, until it has slightly thickened.  Do a taste check and adjust seasoning as necessary with salt and pepper.

Transfer sauce to an over-proof dish (if you are making into two meals, split here!).  Sprinkle feta evenly over top.  Using a spoon, dig little rounds for each egg in the sauce.  Carefully crack each egg into each hole.  Bake in 435 oven for 6-8 minutes to set the whites of each egg, but do not overcook!  You want the yummy, runny yolk!  Sprinkle cilantro over top and serve with pita chips to dip!

Poached Eggs

The way I see it, poaching eggs is like a food blogger's rite of passage.  Egg poaching attempts, disasters, failures and glorious triumphs alike are all well documented and photographed everywhere in the cookery blogosphere.  It only seemed like the proper farewell to my small Greenville apartment kitchen to do the same with my first crack at it.  Yes, pun intended.  And not to brag or anything, but I did it on the first try.  Correction, I rocked it on the first try. 

I've already previously admitted to my blog crush on Deb over there at the smitten kitchen, so when I ran across her beautiful step-by-step picture instructions on how to conquer the poached egg, it was a no brainer.  My first poached egg attempt would be a la smitten kitchen. 

I was fully prepared for my first one, two, three tries to be miserable.  I had set aside half a dozen eggs alone for the challenge.  I refused to be afraid, but at the same time was also already forming my post of epic failure in my head.  What I wasn't prepared for was for it to be... easy? 

What I did then  immediately fear was hatred from all the bloggers out there who have tried and tried to defeat their fear of poached eggs, only to end up with pots full of murky water and egg scraps.  Good thing I am not above begging--Please don't hate me.  I almost always burn the popcorn.  And it wasn't long ago that a small fire erupted under my broiler.  My cooking karma was bound to give me a softball to knock out of the park one of these days.

In the end, the moral of the story is, fear not.  Not everyone is destined to be haunted by botched egg poaching.  Just head on over to the smitten kitchen, read the instructions all the way through at least five times and get a pot of almost-but-not-quite simmering water on the stove.  Together, we can do it.  We can vanquish once and for all this fear of poached eggs!  And, yes, it was delicious, as all poached eggs are.

 I'm moving!  So unfortunately I will be sans kitchen for a few days.  But rest assured, those are new cooking magazines in my carry on bag and my apartment in Indiana has more than one usable counter.  I will soon make a grand return.  So, I leave you to wait, patiently of course, with one last question.  Has anyone out there tried a recipe yet?  Cause I'd love to hear from you!