Shakshuka Monday
Well hello there! Happy Monday! What a couple weeks it has been! I finally had half a day to myself so I’ve been cooking up a storm. I’ve currently got some orange and lemon slices dehydrating in the oven in hopes of turning them into garland for our little house Christmas tree and my studio smells so so tasty. I was also able to kitchen witch it up with this easy and hearty dish—my version of Shakshuka!
Shakshuka is a North African/Middle Eastern dish of a tomato base with baked eggs settled in nicely. It is so so easy to make and truly tasty as can be. Here’s what you’ll need for my adaptation of this scrumptious meal!
a big ol’ can of whole, peeled tomatos
a can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans (drained!)
half an onion or a full shallot (I went shallot because I love the sweetness it adds)
three cloves of garlic, minced
a handful of kale cut into quarter sized pieces or so
as many eggs as you’d like to top it with (I used two since it was only me eating)
Fromage Blanche or Feta cheese
za’atar seasoning, salt, pepper, chili flakes (you can always change up your spices! Traditionally, this dish would use some paprika, cumin, chili powder, and nutmeg. But hey, make it however you’d like!)
olive oil
a pan that can transfer from the stovetop to the oven, like a cast iron skillet. And if you don’t have one of those, you can cook your sauce base in a pan on the oven and then transfer it to a casserole dish to bake!
Okeydok. Let’s get cooking! First, get that pan warming on the stove, a medium/high heat will be good. Dice your onions, mince your garlic, cut your kale. Easy to have those things prepped! Once your pan heats up, add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan and throw those onions in there to start cooking! Once they hit their ‘almost translucent’ stage, add your kale and garlic and let it all cook down a bit.
While those veggies are cooking, get your drained garbanzo bean readied, your tomatoes opened and your seasonings prepped. Add your garbanzo beans to the mix on the stove as well as your seasonings (za’atar, salt, pepper, chili flake) and give them a good stir to get everything incorporated.
Now’s my favorite part. Add your tomatoes one at a time to the pan, giving each one a good crushing with your hands before throwing it in. This allows some chunks of tomato to stick around to add texture as well a saucy vibe. Once all the tomatoes are crushed, add the rest of the sauce from the can to the pan and let everything simmer together for ten minutes on a medium heat.
While your tomato base bubbles a way, heat your oven to 350 degrees F. This is moment you’d transfer your sauce to an oven safe dish if you don’t have pan that can also sneak into the oven. After your sauce has cooked for those ten minutes, crack a couple (or however many) eggs you want into the top and put a couple dollops of the cheese of your choice littered around your eggs. Pop it into the oven for about 15 minutes ( or until the eggs are cooked) and voila—a dang tasty meal.
I could eat this whole thing in one sitting, I love it so much.
