Shakshuka- Baked Middle Eastern Spicy Eggs

Recently we flew an early flight on first class with Alaska Air, and one of my breakfast choices was Eggs Shakshuka. I'd had them and made them before, so I was eager to have them. I mean, I am not usually eager for airplane food, but these were terrific!  I had to laugh because my hubby immediately wanted to know what I was having. He chose something else- hahaha!  I did give him a bit of a taste (maybe a wee bit begrudgingly) as they were so good.  A couple weeks later, I had more tomatoes than I knew I could use before they went bad so I made this for brunch one morning!  As we served this for just the two of us, I did freeze the leftover sauce and used it for a fantastic topping for baked white fish.  Hubby keeps asking where did I get this recipe, I just laugh and say its an old basic.  He's hooked.

I used half fresh diced tomatoes and one can of diced tomatoes for my recipe, but super easy to use two cans of diced tomatoes instead. If using fresh tomatoes then it "might" be best to peel them....as the skin can be a bit annoying. I didn't peel mine... too lazy.  HINT: a quick dunk in a boiling pot of water for 1 minutes will make the skin easily peel off if you feel so inclined.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2-3 teaspoon paprika

1-2 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 tsp cayenne (optional, and will make it spicy)

2 15oz cans of diced tomatoes w/juice

6-8 large eggs (either 1 or 2 each

salt and pepper, to taste

1/4 cup fresh cilantro (or parsley), chopped

1/2 cup crumbled feta (optional)

Pita bread or toast, for serving

 Heat olive oil in a large oven safe sauté pan on medium heat. Add the chopped bell pepper and onion and cook for 5 minutes or until the onion becomes translucent. 

Add garlic and spices and cook an additional minute.

Pour the can of tomatoes and juice into the pan and bring sauce to a simmer for 10-15 minutes on a medium heat. Season with salt and pepper.

Use your large spoon to make small wells in the sauce and crack the eggs into each well. Cover the pan and cook for 5-8 minutes, or until the eggs are done to your liking.

 

The trick serving this dish with runny yolks but cooked whites is to take it out of the oven BEFORE the egg whites look cooked. I know, crazy, but it works great! Let them sit for a couple minutes and the egg whites will cook all the way through.

Garnish with chopped cilantro and feta.

Any extra sauce makes a great topping for any white fish, like cod or tilapia. 

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Moroccan Roasted Carrots

Yummy, spicy, exotic.
Just my flavor combination for sure!

However, on this recipe, I am going to tell you something from what I actually did.
I know, hypocrite!
Well, I am always looking for an easier way to do something, so thinking I am SO smart, I decided to toss these carrots before I roasted them
Actually, not bad at all, but I believe the recipe is better looking and tasting when you roast, toss, marinate and serve. 
Here is the original recipe... It's the one I thought I was smarter than, maybe not so much.

If you are feeling EXTRA ambitious, you might want to slice your baby carrots on the diagonal, lengthwise before tossing in oil and roasting. More bits to caramelize and taste delicious.

Makes about 4-5 cups

Ingredients

25 small carrots, stems removed (I used 4 cups of baby carrots)
1-2 Tbsp olive oil

1 small bunch cilantro, chopped

1/2 c chopped walnuts, toasted
1/2 cup feta (optional, and not vegan)

Dressing:

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp honey

juice of 1 large orange

juice of 1/2 lemon

3 large garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp harissa paste, or Chinese chili paste, or chili powder

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Preheat oven to 400F. Toss carrots with 1-2 Tbsp olive oil. Arrange carrots in a single layer on a non-stick baking sheet. Transfer to oven and roast, 35-45 minutes, until tender when pierced with a fork. Meanwhile make dressing by combining all ingredients, mixing well, in a large bowl. Set aside at room temperature.

Transfer warm carrots to the larger bowl of dressing (from the step above), turning to coat well. Arrange on a serving platter. Let sit at least 15 minutes, to marinate. Sprinkle with cilantro, feta and walnuts before serving.

Moroccan Pot Roast with Couscous

I really can’t remember why I thought I needed an American copy of Cottage Living magazine in Barcelona for the airplane trip home.  It seems a bit incongruous to me, and I almost never buy that magazine. Maybe I was a bit nostalgic to get back home after a long trip in Europe. During our travels, we’d been on a short stop to Morocco, which was a major highlight of the trip.

Here I am at a beautiful fountain in a Moroccan inner courtyard

It was so exotic going through the casbah markets and seeing the big bags of spices everywhere. Flipping through the magazine on the long flight I happened across this recipe for Moroccan pot roast.  It was a way to bring a little of the smells and warmth of the trip home and I had to make it!  It was an instant hit with my family, and an exotic change to a comfort classic.

I will admit there are many family members who will complain about dried fruit cooked into dishes.  I happen to love dried fruit, in anything and everything, but I do try to appeal to my audience.  This dried fruit works because you add it at the end, and it doesn’t get all slimy and puffy.  Try it, I think you’ll like it. A 2 lb pot roast should serve 4-6 people

Ingredients

1 ½ Tbsp. Olive Oil

2 lb Beef Pot Roast

½ tsp. sea salt

½ tsp. black pepper

1 yellow onion, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

1 tsp minced garlic

1 Tbsp. paprika

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 cups beef broth

1 -15oz. cans of garbanzo beans,

     rinsed & drained.

¼ cup chopped dried apricots

¼ cup golden raisins

¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 Tbsp chopped fresh mint

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Heat Olive Oil in a large heavy duty pan preferably with a lid, large enough to brown the meet, plus add the extra ingredients and broth. If you don’t have one with a lid, you can use foil during the cooking time.

Season the meat with Salt & Pepper and then sear the meat, about 4 minutes per side.

Remove & set aside. Add onion and carrots to the pan and cook for 3 minutes.

Add garlic, paprika, cumin and cinnamon, cook about 2 more minutes, stirring constantly. 

Add broth, and return roast to the pan.

Cover with lid (or foil) and bake 3-3 ½ hours. Remove the beef to platter, tent with foil to keep warm.  Add garbanzos to the liquid and place over medium heat, until they are warm. Stir in the remaining ingredients, apricots, golden raisins, cilantro and mint.

Slice, or shred the pot roast and spoon the sauce over the top.  It’s terrific served with couscous.

This is an easy recipe to double for a big group.

Side Dish Inspirations

This is a full meal on it’s own, you probably only need a salad and maybe some bread:

• Green Salad
• Moroccan salad- grated radishes and orange sections.  This is one of my favorites, I will need to post this to the blog soon.
• French bread

Round Two cooking… make more and use it for:

Here's some ideas:

• Great for a group, I made 3 pot roasts once for a crowd, but you’ll need a large pan!
• It’s great to have the leftovers, but I don’t think you’ll have many.

What else would this technique work on???

You could easily use this technique on:

• Chicken thighs!  I think you could brown chicken thighs and complete the same steps, you would just need to reduce the cooking time to 45 minutes or so.

Adapted from Cottage Living September 2007