My Shakshuka

I couldn’t resist sharing a recipe and one of Staci’s enticing photos with you from The Seasonal Jewish Kitchen, brand new in bookstores this week! Shakshuka, quick, hearty comfort food for Israelis, Moroccans, Tunisians, and Yemenites, is having a great big moment. Well deserved for sure, but why now? No idea, other than to say it’s about time — and, in my humble opinion, that mine is the only shakshuka recipe you’ll ever need!

Great for brunch or supper with a cold beer, shakshuka is basically eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce. The term comes from either the Hebrew verb “to shake,” as one does to a pan over a hot stove, or from Arabic slang for a mixture or stew. Call it the Israeli equivalent of huevos rancheros.  All my Israeli cousins have their own versions, from heating a jar of pre-made sauce to cook the eggs in to taking the time to simmer a homemade salade cuite, a “cooked salad” of reduced tomatoes and spices known in Morocco as matboucha. (You can find my matboucha recipe in the book or here on NOURISH Evolution.)

Shakshuka

Makes 6 servings

2 cups Matboucha
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 eggs
Kosher or sea salt (optional)
Generous handful of chopped fresh Italian parsley
Labneh
Thickly sliced country bread, toasted, or pita bread

In a 12-inch skillet, thin the Matboucha with water to the consistency of thick spaghetti sauce. Add the olive oil and set over medium heat. When the sauce is bubbling, reduce the heat to medium-low.

Using the back of a large spoon, make an indentation in the sauce at the 12 o’clock position. Crack an egg into the depression. Repeat with remaining eggs, spacing them evenly in the pan. Cook until the eggs are set to your liking, about 7 minutes for over easy. Cover the pan to hasten cooking, especially if you like your eggs more well-done.

Season the eggs with salt, if desired, and shower the parsley over all. Serve directly from the pan into shallow individual bowls, accompanied by labneh and bread or pita.

From The Seasonal Jewish Kitchen: A Fresh Take on Tradition by Amelia Saltsman (Sterling Epicure) ©2015