One of the best parts of being French, Tunisian and Dutch is the variety of my breakfast palette. On top of the cheeses, baguettes, croissants and cured meats, my favorite breakfast plate comes from my deep Tunisian roots. Since I was little, this dish was frequently made on Sunday mornings by my dad when bagels and lox were not on the menu. Shakshouka, a tomato-based egg dish, can now be found in most middle eastern countries, especially Israel. While I've made this dish a number of times, even for a group of 50+, I find myself fine tuning the ingredients and spices to make it taste delicious. The most recent execution, made for my friends Tal, Calvin, Sandro and his girlfriend one Sunday morning, may have been a walk-off grandslam.
It was a beautiful Saturday morning and I invited everyone to my house after a delightful grocery shopping extravaganza. With plenty of time to prepare before everyone arrived, I began to chop and caramelize the onions. I quickly realized that I forgot the main ingredient in this dish and called my friend Tal to stop at Uli's Famous Sausage in Pike Place Market to pick up some merguez. Many people are not familiar with merguez, a Tunisian, lamb and beef sausage, spiced with sumac, garlic, fennel and harissa (another famous spice that will require its own blog entry). Merguez is often grilled on the BBQ and eaten with baguette like an upscale Tunisian hot dog or added to various Tunisian dishes, but in this case it would serve as the spicy meat in my dish.
As my friends entered my shakshouka scented apartment, palettes began to salivate and stomachs rumbled. I prepared everything in the pan except for the eggs which would be poached over the top just before everyone sat down. After noshing on little doughnut holes (courtesy of Tal), French cheeses and baguette, I poached the eggs over the tomato, veggie and merguez stew, allowing the egg white to seep through the cracks and hold the dish together. I served the shakshouka by cutting sections around the eggs with a spatula and placing the slightly amorphous slices on each plate with fresh baguette. It was a success and great pleasure to have introduced my friends to a little taste of home.
The ingredients for this dish are as follows:
- Add plenty of oil to pan and sauté garlic and two chopped white onions
- Before onions begin to brown, add two chopped zucchini
- Add hungarian paprika, harissa, basil and herbs de provence as desired
- On med-high heat, add 1 can of whole peeled tomatoes
- In separate pan, lightly cook the raw merguez, slice and add to the tomato stew
- On med-high heat, mix the veggies in the pan to prevent them from burning and cook down the water
- When everyone is ready to eat, crack enough eggs to fill the pan and space them out
- Cover the pan to allow egg white to cook over the soft yolk for 5-8 minutes
- Remove from heat while egg yolk is soft and serve by cutting with spatula.
- To soak up the juices, this dish would be best served with baguette or a bagel
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