Shakshouka (Israeli)

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.

 

Spaghetti Bolognese (Italian)

This has been such a staple of my household for so many years, I hardly think of how I make it. Today (because I got really nice ground beef from “Fatman”, the best butcher in my area of Kabul), I made it for my colleagues in UNHCR Guesthouse Echo – not the purist recipe, but extremely tasty.

3-4 tablespoons olive oil

6 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 medium sized onions, also chopped fine

1 kilo lean ground beef

10 fresh tomatoes, peeled and chopped

1 tin (approx.15 ounces) tomatoes, chopped or whole

1 – 1½ cups tomato sauce

4-6 tablespoons tomato paste

1 green or red sweet bell pepper (chopped fine)

½  - ¾ cup chopped mushrooms

1 tablespoon dried basil (or a bunch of fresh basil leaves, shredded)

1 tablespoon dried thyme (or a bunch of fresh thyme, chopped fine)

1 tablespoon dried oregano (or a bunch of fresh oregano, chopped fine)

(Alternatively, instead of basil, thyme and oregano, you can use “herbes de province” – 2-3 tablespoons)

1-2 bay leaves

½ hot dry red pepper

Sea salt

Lemon pepper and/or freshly ground black pepper

1 glass red wine

Spaghetti, spaghettini or tagliatelle (1 pound box)

Freshly grated parmesan cheese

• Over a medium hot fire, stir fry the garlic in the olive oil, being careful not to burn it. 
•  Add the onion, and sauté until soft (1-2 minutes)
• Add the mushrooms and green/red sweet pepper and sauté for another 3-4 minutes.
• Turn up the heat to high and add the ground beef, and cook, stirring frequently, until the meat is well browned.
• Add the herbs and stir fry for another minute or two.
• Add the fresh chopped tomatoes and mix well with the meat.
• Add the tinned tomatoes and mix well.
• Add the tomato paste, and mix well.
• Add the red wine, turn the fire to medium and continue to stir so everything is well mixed
• Add salt and pepper.
• You have to taste and see if you are happy with the combination of flavours. You might want to add more herbs, more hot pepper, more tomato paste, or salt or black pepper.
• Turn the heat to low, cover and simmer for an hour or longer. Make sure the sauce is not drying out or burning. You might need to a little water, or more wine.
• serve over spaghetti, spaghettini, or tagliatelli cooked al dente, with Parmesan cheese.

That is my recipe. However, on the web, I found the following recipe for the “perfect Bolognese” – from TheTelegraph,  Saturday 18 May 2013.

Serves four people

2 tablespoons olive oil

6 rashers of streaky 'pancetta' bacon, chopped

2 large onions, chopped

3 garlic cloves, crushed

2 carrots, chopped

Stick of celery

1kilogram / 2¼ pounds lean minced beef

2 large glasses of red wine

2 x 400 gram cans chopped tomatoes

2 fresh or dried bay leaves

salt and freshly ground black pepper

800 grams -1 kilogram / 1¾-2¼ pounds dried tagliatelle

freshly grated parmesan cheese, to serve 

• Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan and fry the bacon until golden over a medium heat. 
• Add the onions and garlic, frying until softened. 
• Increase the heat and add the minced beef. Fry it until it has browned. 
• Pour in the wine and boil until it has reduced in volume by about a third. 
• Reduce the temperature and stir in the tomatoes and celery. 
• Cover with a lid and simmer over a gentle heat for 1-1½ hours until it is rich and thickened, stirring occasionally. 
• Cook the tagliatelle in plenty of boiling salted water.
• Drain and divide between plates. Sprinkle a little parmesan over the pasta before adding a good ladleful of the sauce. 
• Finish with a further scattering of cheese and a twist of black pepper.