I can’t believe we’d never had this before! A friend from my UVIC days who also happens to be doing Whole30 right now recommended I try making shakshuka so that’s just what I did this morning. I had to google it and it’s a Tunisian dish of eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce that’s popular in the Middle East and North Africa. It’s usually a breakfast dish but can also be dinner. Sold! Love breakfast for dinner. I’ve actually seen similar recipes in a couple of my cookbooks but they just went by different names. Anyway, there seems to be a hundred slightly different ways you can prepare this dish and I read maybe 10 different recipes… and then just winged it ‘cus I got too confused. But it turned out great! Will definitely be making this again.
Makes enough for 2 servings
1 tin (28 oz) of whole tomatoes, excess liquid drained / 1/2 yellow onion / 1/2 red pepper (I had a sweet pointed pepper that I used) / 2 cloves garlic / 1 tsp cumin seeds / 2 tsp Hungarian smoked paprika / 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes / 4 eggs / olive oil / small handful of chopped cilantro (I’m lying. I was lazy and just ripped some up) / salt and pepper to taste
Mince the garlic and dice up the onion and red pepper. Heat up maybe a tbsp or so of olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat and cook the garlic, red pepper and onion until the veggies have softened and the onion has gone translucent. Then stir in the crushed pepper flakes, paprika and cumin seeds.
Tip in the tin of drained tomatoes and just kind of break up the tomatoes with a spatula or wooden spoon. Lower the heat a bit and let it simmer away for about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste and then its time to add the eggs. As you add each egg, make a little well in the sauce first to crack them into.
Now you just have to be patient and let the eggs poach in the sauce. I was not patient though and in the end, I put a lid on the skillet for just about a minute to quickly finish cooking the eggs. You’ll have to poach them for probably about 10 minutes but it just depends on how cooked you want the eggs; I wanted the yolks still a bit runny. You can check how cooked the eggs are by gently poking the centre with your finger.
And that’s it! Finish off by drizzling some more olive oil over top and scattering some cilantro over. Rock had his serving with some baby potatoes and I had just a piece of toast with it but this would be amazing with some nice crusty bread to sop up the sauce. I also saw some variations that add some feta cheese or black olives or prosciutto over top so you could always try that too.
eating in moose jaw 