This vegetarian-friendly tomato baked eggs recipe is the perfect dish to whip up on a lazy morning when you have a little extra time on your hands to prepare something yummy, yet super nutritious, for breakfast. You start by preparing your own garlicky tomato sauce, simmered with chickpeas and cannellini beans. Then pour it into a baking dish, crack in a few eggs and oven-bake, until the eggs are soft-set. Yuuum.
Tinned legumes, like chickpeas, kidney beans, lentil and cannellini beans, have been making their way into lots of my meals lately. Not only are they super convenient to use (just open, drain and rinse!), but they're cheap as chips and a great way to bulk out a dish. From a nutritional perspective, they pack a good protein and fibre punch, which will help leave you feeling full for longer.
If time is a concern but you dig this recipe, you could whip the sauce up at the start of the week and keep it in the fridge. Then when it's time for breakfast, bake in individual ramekins with a cracked egg in the middle - the eggs only need a little over ten minutes to set, and you can get ready while they happily bake. Otherwise, just heat and serve the pre-cooked sauce with a speedy poached egg - you'll still have all the flavour!
Tomatoey Baked Eggs
Ingredients
3 tbsp olive oil
1 brown onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tsp dried oregano
Pinch of chilli flakes (or more if you'd like it a little spicier!)
2x 400g tin crushed and sieved tomatoes
1x 400g tin chickpeas
1x 400g tin cannellini beans
1 tsp salt
A few turns of the pepper shaker
2 handfuls of spinach (or other leafy greens e.g. sliced silverbeet, kale, rainbow chard...)
4 eggs
1/4 block feta
A handful of Italian parsley
To serve: quality toast/sourdough
Method
1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees fan bake.
2. Heat oil in a large deep frypan over a low-medium heat. Add onions and garlic, and cook for a few minutes. Add dried oregano, and stir, cooking onions and garlic until softened.
3. Add tinned tomatoes and stir. Open tin of chickpeas and beans, drain in a sieve and rinse until the water runs clear. Add to fry pan. Season with 1 tsp salt and a few turns of the pepper shaker. Leave to simmer for 10 minutes, or until the sauce is thickening and looks slightly reduced.
4. Add in spinach leaves, give it a mix and leave to simmer for another five minutes.
5. Pour into a circular/square baking dish (the circular dish I used here was 26cm across). Make 4 small wells in the tomato sauce with a spoon, and carefully crack in eggs. Place dish in oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until eggs are soft-set (look cooked, but still have a slight wobble). Sprinkle with crumbled feta and a handful of italian parsley leaves. Enjoy!
Substitutions
Substitute tinned legumes for other tinned varieties e.g. kidney beans
Substitute spinach for other leafy greens e.g. kale, silverbeet, rainbow chard
Substitute tinned legumes for freshly cooked
