Ottolenghi's Shakshuka

If you haven't already guessed from my instagram, brunch is my favourite meal of the day. There are a myriad of reasons why it's the best meal. It's at the perfect, not really sure when, time of day, it contains eggs and can be made healthy or unhealthy with the addition of bacon/cheese or avocado, depending on how you feel, and it is fairly difficult to get wrong.

Yotam Ottolenghi will probably go down as the man who mainstreamed shakshuka in the UK. By including it in his incredibly popular recipe books, and then on his menu at his restaruants and delis in London, he made it extremely accessible for anyone to try this exotic sounding dish; the shakshuka. Factor in our ever growing fondness for brunch and middle eastern foods, this dish of baked eggs and spices was always going to be a big hit. That and the fact it's delicious, of course!

I decided to make a little version the other day. The original recipe calls for 8 eggs, I think two for two people is enough.

It's pretty simple, one-pan meal. You just need to prepare all the food and spices, throw it in the pan and let it simmer and cook. 

My favourite kind of cooking: one that I don't have to worry about, with very little washing.




You will need:

½ tsp cumin seeds
Olive oil
1 onion, peeled and sliced
1 red or yellow pepper, cored and cut into 2cm strips
1 tsp muscovado sugar
1 bayleaves
a spri of thyme, picked and chopped
1/2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped
small bunch fresh coriander, chopped
3 ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
a couple of saffron strands
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper
75ml water (or more if dry)
2 eggs

In a saucepan, dry-roast the cumin on a high heat for two mins. Add a good glug of olive oil and sauté the onions a couple of mins. Add the pepper, sugar, bayleaves, thyme, parsley and two tablespoons of coriander, and cook on high heat.

Then add the tomatoes, saffron, cayenne, salt and pepper. Turn down the heat to low and cook for 15 mins, adding enough water to keep the sauce quite thick - like a pasta sauce. Have a taste. If it is zinging with flavour then you're on the right track! If not, add a pinch more of the spices and peppers.

Make two little holes in the mixture on either side of the pan and crack the eggs into them. Sprinkle with salt, cover and cook very gently for 10 mins, or until the egg just sets. Remember when you take it off the heat, the egg still cooks in the pan. Better to be under than over in my book! 

Sprinkle with coriander and serve in the pan with crusty white bread. No knives and forks are needed for eating, just dip!