Please pass the peas

Simplest Shakshuka with Feta

February 3, 2016

Simplest Shakshuka with Feta from https://test.pleasepassthepeas.com

I’m not even going to get into all of the reasons why I haven’t posted since, ahem, before Thanksgiving.

They are myriad and I could go on about them all day, but that would just be burying the lede, which is to say: Shakshuka! Have you tried it? You really, really should.

We’ve been eating, and loving, shakshuka for years but I never bothered to write about it before because it has been all over the Internet for quite some time. I guess I figured most of you have already at least heard about this North African dish of eggs poached in smoky, spicy tomato sauce.

But I want this blog to be about the foods I’m excited to eat right now, so shakshuka it is.

Pretty backyard chicken eggs from https://test.pleasepassthepeas.comA common breakfast dish in places like Israel and Tunisia, I especially like shakshuka for dinner. It retains a strong spot on my list of favorite cold weather comfort foods, is quick enough to pull off on a weeknight and reasonably healthy to boot.

I’ve seen lots of recipes for this homey dish, sometimes with the addition of red bell peppers, leafy greens or assorted other spices, and though I always mean to try them, I keep coming back to this simple version instead.

Paul and I used to eat this pretty regularly, but that more or less fell by the wayside after we discovered that E is allergic to eggs. Last weekend, however, we shipped the little guy off to his grandparents’ for the night and had a date night in, complete with a steaming bowl of spicy poached eggs, topped with lots of salty feta and a flurry of flat-leaf parsley.

Sure, there are more romantic menu options out there, but for sheer deliciousness on a chilly winter night, shakshuka is hard to beat.

Steamy shakshuka from https://test.pleasepassthepeas.com

Print
Simplest Shakshuka with Feta

Yield: 3 filling dinner portions, allowing 2 eggs per person. (The photos above show a half recipe.)

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen were it was in turn adapted from Savuer

Essentially eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce, shakshuka is perhaps my favorite breakfast-for-dinner meal.

Make sure to serve this with bread to mop up all the delicious sauce. Pitas are a traditional accompaniment, but I like pillowy challah bread best.

  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • one small yellow onion, chopped
  • five Anaheim chilis or three jalapeños, stemmed, seeded and finely diced
  • five cloves garlic, minced
  • one tablespoon paprika
  • one teaspoon cumin
  • one 28-ounce can whole, peeled tomatoes
  • salt to taste
  • 6 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup feta, crumbled
  • 1/4 cup parsley, roughly chopped
  • challah or pita, to serve

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and chili and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and beginning to brown. Add the garlic, paprika and cumin and cook for another minute or two.

Next, add the tomatoes and any juices to the pan, gently squeezing each tomato between your fingers first to break it into smaller pieces. Watch out for squirting tomato juice! Add about 1/2 cup of water to the pan, turn the heat down to medium and simmer until the sauce is slightly thickened, about 10-15 minutes. Taste the sauce and add a little salt, if needed.

Crack the eggs into the pan, spacing them evenly, and cover the pan. Cook, covered, until the whites are cooked through and the yolks are just beginning to set, about five minutes.

Top with feta and parsley and serve with challah bread (my preference) or pitas.

3.1
https://pleasepassthepeas.com/simplest-shakshuka-with-feta/
All content and photos copyright Please Pass the Peas ~ pleasepassthepeas.com

Filed Under: Breakfast, Brunch, Entree, Vegetarian, Winter Tagged With: eggs, tomatoes

Marnie’s Blueberry Ring

June 15, 2015

Marnie's blueberry ring

We’ve been berry-picking on an almost weekly basis for going on two months now.

Strawberries are my personal favorite, but E. is especially fond of blueberries (even though he tends to call them grapes). He has been on a real blueberry bender lately, working steadily through the big bucketful that we picked a few days ago.

I feel bad denying my baby fresh fruit, but I had to hoard a few of the berries so that I could make my great-aunt Marnie’s blueberry ring.

Marnie had a big, metal recipe box full of recipe cards and newspaper clippings that I was lucky enough to inherit several years ago. She loved to entertain and her recipes reflect that, with little notations about dinner party menus or cocktail pairings, like the words “good port” scrawled at the top of a recipe for chocolate walnut wafers.

Flipping through the recipe box is like stepping back in time. There are handwritten recipes for gingerbread and lemon meringue pie attributed to my great-grandmother who died 80 or 90-some-odd years ago, when Marnie was just a teenager; instructions for once-fashonable dishes like tomato aspic and Waldorf salad; a newspaper clipping about crab imperial from the now-defunct “Washington Star” newspaper…. 

Read More »

Filed Under: Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert, Summer, Vegetarian

Mini Rhubarb Cobblers

April 8, 2015

Mini Rhubarb Cobblers from https://test.pleasepassthepeas.com

Paul has this idea that we should only eat dessert once a week.

It’s not the most fun idea he’s ever had, but it’s a sensible one and I usually try to play along.

The problem is, that while he is pretty good at sticking to the plan, I am miserable at it. Let’s just say I’m more committed to the idea in theory than in practice…. 

Read More »

Filed Under: Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert, Spring, Vegetarian Tagged With: cobbler, raspberry, rhubarb

Categories

  • Accompaniments
  • Breakfast
  • Brunch
  • Cookies
  • Dessert
  • Drinks
  • Entree
  • Fall
  • Gestational Diabetes
  • Quick breads
  • Salad
  • Sides
  • Snack
  • Soup
  • Spring
  • Summer
  • The Kitchen is Closed
  • Uncategorized
  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian
  • Winter

Archives

  • February 2016
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014

Copyright © 2022 Please pass the peas