Shakshuka (a Hearty North African dish)

I'm in a cooking group called The Avid Baker's Challenge and they've chosen recipes by David Lebovitz for 2018. The Avid Bakers do bake, but also occasionally have savory dishes, too!

This month Shakshuka was chosen as the spotlight recipe. It's a North African dish with deep, earthy spices in a tomato base with a poached egg nestled in the sauce. Kind of like Huevos Rancheros with different spices and no tortillas.

I was surprised at how easy it was to make, although I made sure and had all of the ingredients at the ready.

This Shakshuka recipe looks like it has a lot of ingredients, but many of them are just spices you throw in. I was looking forward to see how this tasted since it has turmeric, which I've never cooked with, caraway, paprika, honey, and vinegar among other ingredients.

The tangy tomatoes, onion, the spices, and the rest of the ingredients created an extraordinary sauce! The carefully poached egg was gently basted and when eaten, the yolk combined with the sauce to make an eye-rolling experience. Sounds ethereal, right? It was.

It's such a different dish with clean, fresh ingredients. I sopped up all I could with the garlic bread and was very sad when it was gone.

I guess you can tell I liked this Shakshuka. I'll be making it over and over - a definite permanent addition to my virtual recipe box. I quartered David Lebovitz's version of this (full recipe here) and it worked nicely.

I will probably add one more egg to the single serving because the egg vs. sauce was so very good.

I hope you'll try this one. I'm looking forward to trying more of Mr. Lebovitz's recipes over the coming year!

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Shakshuka (North African Poached Egg in Spicy Tomato Sauce)

Yield: 1 large serving

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

One of my few five-star recipes.  I loved this combination of earth spices, tomato-based sauce with a poached egg nestled on top. 

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Ingredients

• 2 teaspoon olive oil
• ¼ onion, chopped (about 2 tbsp.)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ½ jalapeno (or other chili pepper), stemmed, deseeded and finely diced/minced
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
• ¼ teaspoon paprika, sweet or smoked
• ¼ teaspoon caraway seeds, crushed
• ⅛ teaspoon ground cumin
• ¼ teaspoon turmeric
• 10 oz crushed tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon tomato paste
• ½ teaspoon honey
• ¼ teaspoon cider vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
• ¼ C loosely packed greens (spinach, Swiss chart, kale, etc.), coarsely chopped
• ¼ C feta cheese, cut into ½" cubes
• 1 to 2 eggs

Instructions

1. Prepare ingredients and have ready to add. 
2. In a small (about 8") skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onions and garlic and cook for 3-5 minutes, until soft and wilted.  Add the pepper, salt, black pepper, and spices.  Cook for a minute, stirring constantly to release their fragrance.
3. Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, honey, and vinegar, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 10-12 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened somewhat but is still loose enough so that when you shake the pan it sloshes around.  (DL says:  Fresh tomatoes may take a little longer to cook than canned.)  Stir in the chopped greens.  Stir in 1 tablespoon of water if mixture is too thick.
4. Turn off the heat and press the cubes of feta into the tomato sauce.  With the back of a spoon, make 1 or 2 indentations (depending on how many eggs you'll use) in the sauce. 
5. Crack an egg into the indentation(s), then gently drag a spatula through the egg whites so it mingles a bit with the tomato sauce, being careful not to break the yolks.
6. Turn the heat back on low so the sauce is at a gentle simmer and cook for about 8 minutes, taking some of the tomato sauce and basting the egg whites from time to time.  Cover and cook 3-4 minutes, until eggs are cooked to your liking (you'll want a bit of a runny yolk).
7. Serve immediately with crusty french bread.

Notes

Tips and Stuff:

Definitely prepare the ingredients before you begin (chopping, spices ready to measure, etc.)  It's easy to make, but will go much more smoothly that way.

I used spinach as the "green" in my dish.  I also used canned crushed tomatoes, but you can use fresh if you'd like.

Since I made a single serving, I ate it directly from the little pan.  If you make the full version, let people get their own serving, spooning the sauce first, then carefully the egg.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 1 Serving Size: 1 serving
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 468Total Fat: 28gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 16gCholesterol: 405mgSodium: 1608mgCarbohydrates: 35gFiber: 9gSugar: 20gProtein: 25g

Nutrition Values are Approximate