When I stumbled onto a mention of Shakshuka my investigations made two things clear to me. While the basic recipe is nearly the same everywhere there are as many variations as there are for pizza recipes. And that I don’t get out and travel the world enough.
“According to some food historians, shakshuka originated in Yemen, while others claim it came from the Ottoman Empire. It is only known that to Israel, the dish came from northeast African cultures, and more specifically, from the Lybian-Tunisian region.” more
While most of the variants I found were for Shakshuka as an Israeli breakfast food it is served throughout the Mediterranean region at any mealtime. The word comes from Arabic, meaning, “a haphazard mixture” or “all mixed up.” This leaves lots of space to be creative.
My process for devising my own versions of recipes is to find several different ones then mix and match based on what I know I like and what is available where I live. There are things to like about the central valley of California, the variety of spices available is not one of them. This means that somethings as basic to international cuisine as smoked paprika is not available at every supermarket.
Sorry if you are a measuring spoon cook. Unless the recipe is all about chemistry, like baking a cake, I generally go by feel. Here are the base ingredients:
| Tomatoes | Spices: |
| Peppers | Sweet Hungarian or smoked Spanish paprika |
| Onions | Whole or ground cumin seed |
| Spices | Kosher salt |
| Garlic | Freshly ground black pepper |
| Eggs | Fresh parsley leaves and/or mint leaves |
| Chili powder and/or Cayenne Pepper | |
| Just to name a few |
My search for paprika led me to Trader Joe’s. They had some, but not smoked. We don’t rate having Whole Foods in our area. Turns out that besides over price wicker Cost Plus World Market has a great selection of spices at great prices. Chiquilin Smoked Paprika, a pair of tins for $5. However I get so distracted when I'm on the hunt. I found what is the middle eastern equivalent of Chinese 5 spice. Another spice common everywhere but here, that they also carry. Ras El Hanout is a powder made of Cardamom, Clove, Cinnamon, Coriander, Cumin, Paprika, Mace, Nutmeg, Peppercorn and Turmeric. “That will do nicely” I thought and brought a packet home. Leaving Chiquilin for another time.
I had roasted a couple of green Poblano and Anaheim peppers earlier. Yes I know, fresh garlic is far superior but the diced kind in a jar is so convenient. Food is as much psychology as anything else so two cloves of fresh thinly sliced garlic and a big ass spoonful of diced from a jar have similar but different satisfaction levels if you love garlic the way I do.
Finally an excuse to use it. I brought out the black iron paella pan that I won at an auction last year. Applied a dollop of bacon fat and sautéed the garlic briefly before adding in the roasted peppers.
When they were about to disintegrate I mixed in caramelized onions and colorful bell and other peppers I had sautéed earlier with salt and pepper. This also includes a green and a red jalapeño.
I dusted this with a good amount of Ras El Hanout and Cayenne Pepper. Gave it a stir and let it the flavors simmer and blend for a minute.
There are many many things you can add at this point or later as a garnish on top. I had a small jar of artichoke hearts in oil that I snipped into smaller pieces with scissors and mixed in.
To this I added 2-12oz cans of wedge diced tomatoes along with the water they were packed in (yes canned). I let this heat back up to the bubbly point.
Egg time
This all went into a 375˚ oven for 8 minutes. With 1 minute left on the timer I took a peek and saw the the egg whites were still clear next to the yokes. I added 3 minutes to the timer. Note to self: next time start with room temperature eggs.
Two eggs plated and sprinkled with some parsley.
Yummy goodness.
As a long time bachelor and maker of batches, I froze portions to have for breakfast in the next couple of weeks. Yes the eggs will be hard boiled after reheating. Maybe even rubbery, so what’s your point?
I had had more of the pepper mixture left so I put some in each jar with 2 fresh eggs. One bleary eyed morning next week I will find out what the microwave will make of it.
After that I still had more of the mixture left.
I haven’t made nachos in a while.
Next time: Include tomato paste with the tomato chunks. Feta cheese is common as part of the main mix or as a topping. A bay leaf. Pitted oil-cured black olives in the mix or on top. The flavor of the artichoke hearts got lost in with all the peppers so next time as a garnish. The 5 kinds of peppers I used where mild. A few hotter ones would be good. Same for the spices. Ras El Hanout is wonderful. It gave me ideas of other places it could be used. Use the recommenced spices next time. More Cayenne too and bottled hot sauce at the table. There are green versions of the recipe. Spinach and eggs are a favorite of mine so that has to happen.
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