Williamsport-native Maria Daniele makes her eggs purgatory just like her mother, Joanna Daniele, made years ago.
The Italian dish combines poached eggs in a spicy tomato sauce.
“I think it has to do with the spice, with the crushed red peppers in there. And it's red, so it's like purgatory, you're not sure if you're going to heaven,” Maria said about the dish’s name.
Maria continues her mother’s special Italian egg dish with more flavor and spice, adding a homemade chipotle butter.
Her mother owned Joanna’s Italian Bakery.
“It started out in the basement of our house," Maria said.
The business moved to Market Street in Williamsport as it grew. There, Maria remembers her mother making eggs purgatory almost 20 years ago.
The bakery was renamed to Cloud 9 Airport Restaurant and is now at the Williamsport Regional Airport in Montoursville.
Maria herself has made the recipe for the past two decades at special for charity events out of her own restaurant, Franco’s Lounge in downtown Williamsport. She co-owns the business with her family.
“I did a Thursday morning charity breakfast every week at Franco’s and always got a pretty good crowd,” Maria said.
Maria would choose a different charity each week.
The recipe was made exclusively for the events which helped raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and AIDS Resources, as well as other organizations.
This time, Maria shared her recipe out of her Williamsport home.
Standing over her stove, she begins with heating her homemade chipotle butter in a saute pan.
The butter is the recipe’s key ingredient and Maria’s creation.
“We cook up the chipotles, puree them, and then add them to the butter and whip them in a mixer with some other secret ingredients,” Maria said. “We'll let that brown a little bit and it gets that nice deep, smoky flavor.”
There’s also crushed red pepper and paprika in the mix.
Regular salted or unsalted butter or store bought chipotle butter also works, depending on taste. Maria said eggs purgatory can also be made with roasted garlic butter or a Mediterranean style too.
“It’s basically just roasted garlic that I smash and beat with the butter. A Mediterranean butter has some red tomatoes in it, oregano, garlic and grated cheese,” she said.
Next comes fresh red peppers and optional garlic. Maria suggests using in a brunch or dinner style eggs purgatory.
While the sauce simmers, the bread of choice gets toasted in a separate pan along with a drizzle of olive oil – she doesn’t have a toaster. Maria used her homemade Italian peasant bread as the recipe’s foundation.
Next comes the eggs. Maria recommends cooking two eggs per person.
“Then we crack the eggs right into the simmering marinara sauce,” she said.
Maria’s recipe calls for Franco’s homemade marinara sauce, which her family makes at the restaurant. She flips the eggs as they cook in the sauce.
“We're just flipping the eggs over, getting underneath them and giving them a quick flip. Sometimes, the more you try to control it, it messes it up. You're better off if you just go for it, flip it and see what happens,” Maria said while cooking.
Finally, the sauced eggs get laid atop of the toast with grated Romano cheese or any other cheese of your choice.
Maria said eggs purgatory can also be made in a cake pan in the oven.
“It's such a quick and easy dish. I love it,” Maria said.
Eggs purgatory
Ingredients
- Two eggs per person
- Butter or chipotle butter (depending on spiciness)
- Olive oil
- ¾ cups of marinara sauce per person
- Grated Romano cheese or cheese of choice
- Crushed red pepper flakes (depending on taste)
- Chopped fresh basil
- Big piece of toasted Italian bread, or bread of choice, cut about an inch thick.
Instructions
- Heat a sauté pan on medium heat and melt butter. Add crushed red peppers and a little garlic, depending on taste.
- Once butter has melted and a bit browned, ¾ cup of marinara sauce per person. When the marinara sauce starts to bubble, crack the eggs into the pan. Let them simmer for a few minutes.
- Shake the pan to keep ingredients moving and flip the eggs over once with a spatula. Allow it to simmer for a few more minutes.
- In the meantime, toast the bread and drizzle olive oil over it. Put the bread on a plate and lay the eggs on the bread. Top them with the marinara sauce, fresh basil and grated cheese.
