Shakshouka (aka Eggs in Purgatory) has been on my cooking bucket list for so long. It has literally all of my favorite things: runny eggs, spicy sauce, lots of veggies, and a great excuse to eat several slices of bread.
I was just so dang INTIMIDATED by the idea of it.
I never would have made myself take the leap and do the research to develop my own recipe if not for this little blog of mine, so I guess it’s a good thing I did. Because this stuff is seconds please, slap yo mama, one more bite GOOD.
Before I get too deep here, let me say that this is NOT “authentic” Shakshouka. This is weeknight dinner with pantry staples and a level of heat my wife (love you, honey) could withstand Shakshouka.
But let’s talk about how and why I decided it was time to try this in the first place: early tomatoes. If you think summer tomatoes are fickle time bombs, just waiting for you to out them on your counter so they can get soft, try spring ones. In my haste for summer foods, I was lured in by shiny red spring tomatoes in the grocery store. Naturally, I brought them home, let them sit on my counter for 3 days, and clutched my pearls in horror when I realized they were getting spotty. We were headed out of town for the weekend, so I knew I needed to do something with them, but we also had a ton of leftovers to eat. So I roasted them. Really good move on my part because those dark brown, caramelized tomatoes gave this Shakshouka a deep smoky flavor that I don’t think I could have gotten any other way. So if you have the time, I highly recommend roasting your fresh tomatoes until they’re *almost* too dark for some charred goodness.
Now, as promised:
You will need:
6-8 Fresh tomatoes, quartered and oven roasted
1 large or 2 small sweet onions, finely diced.
1 large red bell pepper, finely diced
1 tbsp red chili flake (this is a lot, please go easy on your taste buds if you’re not into heat.)
Goat cheese for garnish
Olive oil for sautéing
s & p to taste
Now! The fun part.
In a very wide pan, sauté the diced onion and bell pepper in olive oil until they’re soft and translucent. About halfway through the cooking process, add your red chili flake to it can “bloom” in the hot oil.
Once you’re satisfied with the texture of your veggies, add in the roasted tomatoes, juices and all. I also added about 1.5 28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes because I knew I wanted a pretty smooth texture for my sauce. I let this simmer for quite a while, until I was pleased with the flavor. (An optional step here would be to take a pass through the sauce with an immersion blender, like I did. You can also let it cool a bit and then pulse it in a blender, but make sure you still have some “chunks” or you’ll miss out on some great texture.)
When the sauce is thick enough to leave a trail in (see photo), use the back of a ladle to make 6 small divots in the sauce and crack eggs directly into a simmering sauce. Cover and cook for ~6 minutes for soft eggs, or until they’re as done as you like them. Just keep a close eye, as they go over quickly!
Serve with a heaping spoon of tomato sauce and soft, chewy hunk of bread and a little crumble of goat cheese. Feel free to pat yourself on the back as much as you wish because this is going to be a HIT in your home.
As always, hashtag your own Shakshouka adventures #sixdollarspoon and invite me over!
xo,
K
Love you, too!