Shakshuka

I've found a few recipes for shakshuka over the last year, and was very intrigued about trying this Israeli breakfast dish - though of course I made it for dinner. It's sugary cereal for me in the mornings. I was recently given the new Toronto Star Cookbook as a birthday gift and to my surprise, there was shakshuka right on the cover! So for a quick weeknight dinner on my own last week I made Pita Break's Poached Eggs in Spicy Tomato Stew (p. 20).

First I fried up one diced onion, 3 green onions and 6 garlic cloves - this sounds like a lot but they turned out to be a little elderly, and so not very strong tasting. After 5-7 minutes, I stirred in everything else: 2 chopped red peppers, 2 chopped plum tomatoes, 1 can tomato paste (that's a lot!), 2 Tbsp ketchup, 1 Tbsp lemon juice, 2 tsp oregano, 1 tsp red pepper flakes and 1.5 cup water.



This recipe also called for mushrooms - which I omitted because they are gross. Simmer for 30 minutes to thicken. Then comes the fun part - breaking 4 eggs into the tomato stewy mix. Cover, and cook 5-7 minutes - though I found I need more like 8-9 minutes for the whites to cook. Of course the authors suggested eating this with fresh pita, and such other goodies as bagels, olives, pickles, hummus, lox etc. I just had toast.

All in all it was pretty good, but a little bland - next time I would add more spice and fresher garlic. It was also really thick and tomatoey - I may try a recipe that uses a can of diced tomatoes instead of tomato paste and water as a base. Fairly comforting, however, as I sat down to watch my library find: a recent Russian movie called Hipsters that featured 1950s teenagers singing and dancing. What more could a girl ask for.