At the home of my cousin Rivka in Tel Aviv – where I just
spent the week of Passover (April 2014) – she asked me if I wanted Shakshouka
for dinner (it’s often eaten as a breakfast/brunch dish), very popular in
Israel. She was amazed I had not heard of it, though after she prepared it for
me, I saw it on the menu in several Israeli restaurants. It’s a delicious, easy-to- make one pan egg meal
– not unlike Frittata (which my son introduced me to a few years ago). It is
also easy to adapt to your taste, adding mushrooms, or asparagus, or whatever
you fancy. This is the basic recipe.
1
tablespoon olive oil
½
onion diced
1
clove garlic, minced
1 medium green or red bell pepper, chopped
4
cups ripe diced tomatoes (or 28 ounces canned diced
tomatoes)
2
tablespoons tomato paste
1
teaspoon chili powder
1
teaspoon cumin
1
teaspoon paprika
Pinch
of cayenne pepper
Pinch
of sugar
Salt
and pepper to taste
5-6 eggs
½
tablespoon fresh chopped parsley, for garnish
- Sauté onion in a deep skillet until the onion begins to soften.
- Add garlic and continue to sauté until mixture is fragrant.
- Add bell pepper and sauté an additional 5-7 minutes until softened.
- Add tomatoes and tomato paste to pan, stir till blended.
- Add spices and sugar, stir well, and allow mixture to simmer over medium heat for 5-7 minutes until sauce starts to reduce.
- Taste the sauce and spice it according to your preferences. Add salt and pepper to taste, more sugar for a sweeter sauce, or more cayenne pepper for a spicier shakshouka.
- Crack the eggs, one at a time, directly over the tomato mixture - making sure you don't break the yokes -- spacing them evenly over the sauce -- 4-5 eggs around the outer edge and 1 in the center.
- Cover the pan so that the eggs cook "over easy" on top of the tomato sauce for about 10 minutes.
- Garnish with chopped parsley.
- Serve with good crusty bread to sop up the sauce.
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