Shakshuka!
Ben is a photographer and this week he’s got a lot of dusk shoots to do. I can get pretty lazy about dinner when it’s just me and Esme eating. You want cheesy noodles? Okay! Throw some peas in there for green. But I’m trying to put in more effort this week and come up with some new dinner ideas. Tonight I made a twist on breakfast for dinner. I could eat breakfast at every meal and so could Esme so I knew I was starting from a good place. Plus, is there a dish that’s more fun to say than shakshuka? I don’t think so. We probably said it about fifteen times over dinner tonight.
It’s a very simple dish that would be great for brunch, too. You poach eggs in a zesty tomato sauce and that’s it. We had it with broccoli and crusty bread. A bonus for Julian, who loves a crust to chew on so much he chortles to the bread in between bites.
I made the sauce in the afternoon and so I just had to steam the veg and poach the eggs before dinner time. I went easy on the spice but if your kids or a bit older or more adventurous you could go to town by adding hot peppers to the onion mixture. This is one of those recipes that creates fights in the comment boxes of food sites. Never use onions. You must use bell peppers. It’s Israeli. It’s definitely Libyan. Feta does not belong in shakshuka. In advance: sorry. I loved the way this turned out and will definitely make it again. Esme said it was very yummy and that’s all that mattered tonight. Plus, there were leftovers for Ben when he got home.
Ingredients
- 1 onion chopped
- 3 or 4 cloves of garlic minced
- a really good sized glug of olive oil
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1 28 ounce can of whole tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- good pinch of kosher salt and pepper
- 5 or 6 eggs
- 1/4 cup crumbled feta
- chopped basil (or parsley)
Method
Chop the onion on the fine side and mince the garlic.
Saute them for a few minutes in a really good glug of olive oil.
Let them get almost brown and then add the spices.
Allow the spices to cook for a couple of minutes
Pour the tomatoes and their juice into a bowl. Use your hands to squish them and break them up
Add the tomatoes to the onion mixture and allow to simmer on low heat for 20 to 30 minutes.
It should cook down and become quite thick.
Transfer to a shallow frying pan and bring back to a simmer.
Gently crack the eggs onto the sauce and cook until the yolks set, about 7 minutes.
Crumble the feta and herbs over top. Serve with crusty bread.
Esme wasn’t sure what to make of this on her plate but after a tentative bite, devoured hers. Success!
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We're Ceri and Laura, a couple of magazine-editors-turned-food-bloggers. Also, we're mothers obsessed with delicious, healthy, family food. We're constantly thinking of ways to make your time (and our own!) in the kitchen easier and more productive, but still nostalgic for the days when dinner was cereal eaten over the kitchen sink.
19 Comments
Tony
June 01, 13:22That looks delicious!
I Heart Beauty
June 01, 13:34OMG, it does!! I'm making it this week.
Ceri
June 01, 15:31I heart you guys!
Lesa
June 07, 23:12I've never heard of this dish but OMG it looks super yummy!
Natalee
January 16, 23:14I’m definitely trying this recipe this week it looks wonderful — using teh site to meal plan before bed!
hebba
April 28, 21:15Try adding the following: green onions or finely diced shallots, cooked in sauce chick peas or corriander which will give it a green addition, enjoy!
Gee
April 29, 10:10Does the web page actually say “5 o’clock shit-show – click here for ideas”?
Nice, I’ll bring the kids to the web site and show them too.
Ram
April 29, 15:39It reminds me of the good old days..It’s true, we used to do it when there was no food!
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April 05, 07:01[…] eat. I could eat eggs for every meal and just this week I busted out an old favourite – Shakshuka – for dinner. But I recently realized that I’m missing a key element to complete egg […]
Nurcan
September 25, 10:23This dish isn’t shakshuka it’s called “menemen” and in shakshuka you dont use eggs, you chop the vegies in to dice size and fry them and you add tomato souce with garlic on top off the fried vegies and simmer for 10-15 min.
As for the vegies you can use eggplants, hot or sweet peppers , zuccini and patatoes. İf you use field tomatoes for the souce is the best plus salt you don,t use spices in this. How İ know this because it is a Turkish dish and İ am Turk.
Ceri Marsh
September 25, 14:38See? This is what I’m talking about! Nurcan, thanks so much for writing in. I’d never heard of Menemen. It’s so interesting how intertwined these recipes are! Many people call what I have made Shakshuka and when I googled Menemen, many people seem to make it by scrambling eggs rather than poaching them. It all looks delicious!
Nurcan
September 26, 12:08Hi Ceri, you can make the eggs both ways which ever you like but i would not recomend puting in lots of spice instead just use salt and pepper. This way you taste the food not the strong spices.
Nurcan
September 26, 12:11Hi Ceri, you can make the eggs both ways which ever you like but i would not recomend puting in lots of spice instead just use salt and pepper. This way you taste the food not the strong spices. Also if you try the shakshuka dont forget the plain yougurt with some garlic aded in they go perfect together;)
Nurcan
September 26, 12:14Also if you try the shakshuka dont forget the plain yougurt with some garlic aded in they go perfect together;)
Terra
November 29, 09:43I finally made this. Huge hit. Days later Darren told me it was the best dinner we’d ever had. Ha!
Ceri
November 29, 09:44Ah! That’s so nice. Hmm… I think I might need to make this tonight. Glad it was a hit!!
Andrea
March 12, 09:53I made this last night for dinner-we are on a low salt diet and so I did not add any extra salt (it did not need it, there is so much flavour from the onion, garlic, cumin, and paprika). It was perfect, a delicious weeknight dinner or would be an amazing winter brunch.
Comfort food that is delicious and healthy!
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