Dish 24: Tomato Purslane Egg Poach & Summer Pizza

I don't think I can ever get sick of tomatoes. Last week's tomato and purslane soup was lovely, so I thought I'd try something similar for breakfast- poaching some eggs in the tomatoes. A lot of cultures do this- see eggs in purgatory or shakshuka- and it's just lovely.

I used another home-canned jar or tomatoes- added rosemary, a little thyme, a bay leaf and some cumin again. Chopped up my purslane a little more than last time and let it simmer a bit in a pan before adding my eggs. Put a cover on, occasionally basting the eggs with the liquid.

Ideally I wanted runny yolks. These were on a little too long- was multitasking with the summer pizza- see below- but it was still delicious.

Topped with a little gruyere. Nommy.

Notes for improvement: Don't overcook those eggs!

To go with my tomatoes: pizza! I don't tend to buy pizza unless it's something really special- like anything from SCRATCHbread or Two Boots. Beyond that it's more fun (and cheaper) to make your own dough and top it how you wish. Favorites: eggs (obviously) and/or leftover Indian.

I'll have a more detailed post once I work this method out, but for now I'll say the dough I use is from Macheesmo and summer is way too hot to cook pizza in an oven.

I had this idea to par-bake the crust in a dry pan after sprinkling a little cornmeal on either side, then topping and finishing off under the broiler in the oven. It worked relatively well, but needs tweaking.

I sliced some summer squash and garlic scapes, tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, and fresh rosemary. Broiled the untopped dough for a little while (til it got some color), then flipped, topped, and put it back under the broiler until the veggies had cooked a bit. Thought a little cheese might be nice, so once it was almost there added that and put it back in for another minute.

The crust got some nice char but the center was undercooked and unpleasantly doughy. I don't like white pies- I think the cheese was a little too rich without something acidic to cut it.

Overall though the method will totally work for the hot months, just needs tweaking as I said.

Notes for improvement:
- Thinner crust or longer pan-cooking
- Rich pizzas + summer = itis
- Pre-cook the toppings, the broiler doesn't cook them through as much as I'd like