Imagine your kitchen filled with the smell of fragrant spices, roasted bell peppers and juicy tomatoes. Shakshuka is a hearty, healthy (and easy to make!) breakfast dish featuring eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce that stems from North Africa and the Middle East. Don’t feel the need to restrict yourself to breakfast with this dish though, it works just as well for lunch or with a green salad for dinner. We’ve saved ourselves some work and used Trader Joe’s Fire Roasted Red and Yellow Peppers, which have an amazing flavor. This recipe features caraway seeds, which we know people either love or hate, but we urge you to give it a try! If you are not to be swayed, you can omit them. Rye bread was our carb of choice to go with this, but baguette, pita or ciabatta will also go perfectly. Leave away the bread and you’ll have a delicious gluten free dish!
Ingredients
Makes 5 servings, but the recipe can easily be halved.
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and diced
12 oz (350 g) canned San Marzano plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped with juices
1 jar (8,4 oz or 240 g) of roasted red and yellow peppers, strained and coarsely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp salt
Freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp hot sauce
1/4 tsp hot curry powder
1/4 tsp smoked paprika powder (we use Burlap & Barrel's Smoked Pimentón Paprika for a wonderful, deep flavor)
Pinch of nutmeg
2 cups of fresh spinach
5 eggs
Handful of chopped fresh cilantro
Preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C). Put the caraway seeds in a medium sized oven proof skillet and toast them on medium heat for about two minutes or until they start smelling fragrant. Add the olive oil and the diced onions and sauté until soft. Add the tomatoes, roasted peppers, salt, 6 grinds of freshly ground pepper, hot sauce, hot curry powder, smoked paprika powder and the pinch of nutmeg. Cover and let simmer for 10 minutes. Add the spinach and stir until wilted.
Crack the eggs into the skillet so that they are evenly spaced. Transfer skillet into the oven and bake for 7-10 minutes or until the eggs are just set. If you, like us, hate hardly anything more than slimy eggs, broil for an extra minute. Remove from oven (careful, hot!), sprinkle the cilantro on top and serve.
Pro tip: You can prepare the sauce up to two days in advance and heat it up again in the skillet you’ll be using and then proceed from there.
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