I find it interesting how much our food preferences change with age. As a child I didn’t particularly like eggs, but if I had to eat it I preferred the whites, fried hard or a scrambled version of a fried egg with Swedish hash.

Nowadays, I love eggs. Especially the yolk. I want it very runny, and if I make oeufs en cocotte I don’t mind if the white is runny too.

So it is easy to understand why I fell for this simple Italian dish of eggs kind of half poached, half fried in tomato sauce. I had this for supper with some nice bread to mop up the sauce and it was, in its simple way, utterly delicious.

You can make a bolognese version of this, but with the creamy egg I need nothing more than some vegetables in my tomato sauce.

Eggs in tomato sauce – uovo in purgatorio, serves 4

150 g chestnut mushrooms, cut in half

1/2 -1 red onion, coarsely chopped

2 tomatoes, coarsely chopped

1 batch tomato sauce

2 tbsp red wine (if at hand)

4 eggs

Fry the mushrooms in oil on medium heat in frying pan. Season and remove from pan. Add more oil and fry the onions until soft. Add the tomatoes and fry for a few minutes. Add the tomato sauce and wine and bring to the boil. Let the mixture thicken if needed. Adjust seasoning and add the mushrooms. Make sure you keep the heat on medium and crack the eggs into the pan. Cook until the whites are set then remove from heat. Serve straight away with some nice bread.