Garlic Tomato Soup w/ Poached Egg

This is my favorite comfort meal, which I'll admit I've never shared with anyone else -- the perfect I'm-home-alone-and-I'll-eat-only-this-if-I-want. I got the idea from an article in the New York Times by Julie Powell, but she didn't use tomatoes and she strained the garlic, leaving only broth. By the way, I also got a rocking recipe for cooking whole okra pods that I'll post in a second.

The combination of the egg in the tomato broth sounded pretty disgusting, but was surprisingly good.

Ingredients:

• Couple of ripe tomatoes, diced
  
• Quarter of an onion, diced
• Couple of cloves of garlic, smushed
• A bit of oil, any kind
• An egg or two
  

In a small saucepan, heat oil, then throw in onions and garlic, cooking until the onions are translucent and the garlic has begun to brown. Add the diced tomatoes, waiting a second for them to get a bit brown on the edges. Cover with water (twice as much water as covers the "stuff"), add salt, and simmer for about 20 minutes... until the soup tastes like soup, and not like water with tomatoes floating in it.

Bring the soup up to a boil, and drop in an egg or two, waiting 3 - 4 minutes for them to poach. Remove egg into soup bowl, and ladle soup over. Remember, eggs will continue to cook for a minute or two.

Sprinkle with pepper and a bit more salt, or parsley if you have it on hand, and eat.

Serves: Probably 3 or 4 people, a couple of eggs per person. I eat until I'm stuffed, and still have enough broth left for another meal or two. Honestly, I stick the saucepan in the fridge, and just bring it to a boil and drop another egg in the next day.

Cost: Tomatoes ($1), Onion ($.50), Eggs ($.25) = ~$2.00