Shakshuka

A guest recipe from Coral Moore

I don’t like soup. I know, I’m a little weird that way. My husband is constantly trying to find recipes for soups that I’ll actually eat, and we’ve happened on some real gems in the process. This is one of my favorites.

Shakshuka is a North African dish of eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce. This recipe was found on Smitten Kitchen. I’ve seen roughly the same recipe in a few places so I think it’s a fairly authentic. The rich, spicy sauce is really the star of this dish. You’ll be mopping it up with every piece of bread you can find long after the eggs are gone. Very hearty and satisfying!

Shakshuka

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 jalapeños, stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed then sliced
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, undrained
• Kosher salt, to taste
• 6 eggs
• 1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
• 1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
• Warm pitas, for serving

Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add chiles and onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden brown, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, and paprika, and cook, stirring frequently, until garlic is soft, about 2 more minutes.

Put tomatoes and their liquid into a medium bowl and crush with your hands. Add crushed tomatoes and their liquid to skillet along with 1/2 cup water, reduce heat to medium, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, about 15 minutes. Season sauce with salt.

Crack eggs over sauce so that eggs are evenly distributed across sauce’s surface. Cover skillet and cook until yolks are just set, about 5 minutes. Using a spoon, baste the whites of the eggs with tomato mixture, being careful not to disturb the yolk. Sprinkle with feta and parsley and serve with pitas, for dipping.

The recipe is very flexible. Raise or lower the amount of peppers depending on your taste. Three gives the dish a nice zest but doesn’t burn. We’ve tried a few different varieties of peppers, even using canned once when we didn’t have any fresh. You can also change the cheese if you don’t like or don’t have feta on hand. We once used a sharp provolone and it came out great. I encourage you to experiment and find your own favorite variation!

Serves 4 to 6

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Coral Moore writes speculative fiction with a dark edge. Connect with her via her website, Goodreads, or Twitter.