Shakshuka -Eggs in Tomato Sauce

Shakshuka - Eggs in Tomato Sauce 

I asked my friends and family to send me recipes to try and blog about, and this is the first one that came in. 

 Shakshuka has a Tunisian origin, and it is very popular throughout the Middle East and variations of this dish can be found all over the world.

I had to look up where Tunisia was since I am clueless about geography. See the very tip of Africa?

That little sliver is Tunisia. 

As you can see there are 3 eggs in the dish I made. This is because I cut the recipe in half. We only have two egg eaters in this family. 

The first rule of  trying a recipe is read it over top to bottom for: What ingredients, what equipment, and how long this takes. 

The first thing you need to know about this dish is that the pan matters. And the pan needs a lid!

Make sure you have a 12 inch pan. I thought I had one out, put in the oil and onions, then thought to measure it since there was going to be a lot of liquid to poach the eggs. I had a 9 inch pan. I guess eyeballing it doesnt work!

This is the garlic smash technique: (Put the clove on your cutting board, lay the flat of the knife on it and smash it with the heel of your hand.)

Garlic is sticky and oily so as soon as you start working with it, the paper will stick to the clove of garlic. I prefer to smash it, peel away the garlic paper, and the green sprout on the inside before going forward with chopping. 

This is the actual 12 inch pan I was talking about. Olive oil and onions here: 

This is after 4 minutes. The recipe calls for 5 ,but thats going to burn your onions at medium heat.

Another rule of testing recipes is that you don't actually believe times. Know what you're looking for. 

In this case, you want the onions soft and the garlic added and soft but not burnt. Onions take longer since they are bigger and full of more water. Give them a few mins then toss in garlic for the last minute. 

Spices and Sugar used: 

Remember that in cooking as opposed to baking, the spices and flavoring measurements are subject to taste. My hubby doesn't love cumin, so I use less of it in a recipe. I'm not a super hot food fan, so I take it easy on the crushed red pepper. 

Next we add the tomatoes and paste. I used San Marzanos so I didnt need diced tomatoes. If you just plop whole canned SM tomatoes into the pan, they break apart if you look at them funny. It does make for saucier sauce, so you dont have to reduce as much. I ended up adding a touch of water to make it wet enough to poach eggs in. It shouldnt be pasty. 

Reducing the sauce. It gets a little steamy. 

Before you add eggs, taste the sauce here. Mine needed salt. 

Now that the sauce is ready, plop in the raw eggs. 

Cover them with that lid i mentioned earlier. 

This is key to poaching the eggs. You are almost steaming them at the same time. 

Now here is where you decide what Done means. 

Some people like eggs runnier than others. 

Me, I dont like them runny, but I want the yellow part to be at least half liquid, half solid. 

At this point let the artisan in you take over and check it, poke it gently, re-cover it until it looks the way you want it to. 

Here, I realized that the picture in the link below they mustve moved the sauce up over the white part so it looked better. 

This was perfect for what I wanted to eat. 

To make it pretty - and I ask you to not skip this part. Looking at your food and really wanting to eat it because its beautiful makes such a big difference. To make it pretty add some green. 

Thankfully this spring I got some parsley coming back from the year before. First time that happened to me!

I just ripped the parsley and sprinkled it over the eggs. 

Here it is plated up with toast. It calls for some "crusty bread" but this is what I had :)

I hope you get to try this out. The eggs take on a wonderful texture in this dish and it really was worth the time (Total 40 mins). 

Here is the link: 

https://www.homecookingadventure.com/recipes/shakshuka-eggs-in-tomato-sauce 

Until next time, 

Happy Cooking!

Vicky