Eggs with a Kick : Shakshuka!

The humble egg. Much maligned for its supposedly unhealthy cholesterol content. Bah! I never listened, never believed and ate 3 eggs a day to no ill effects.

It's a superfood (in my books), loaded with nutrients that support the formation of a little chick. If it's good for the little chick, it's good for me. 

And to those of you who eat only the whites and discard the yolks, I say to you, bah! Double bah! The yolks and the most nutritious part of the egg and the most delicious. Hey, hey...don't throw rotten eggs at me, OK? I'm just expressing my opinion on one of my favorite foods and ingredients.

Whenever I see a recipe for eggs as the main ingredient, I am always interested. This dish, Shakshuka, is very exotic and I attempted it once before. I did not execute it particularly well back then.

Since I was able to buy some vine ripened tomatoes, I decided to revisit Shakshuka to eat my favorite eggs in delicious tomato sauce. This time, I added smoked paprika which made this version so much tastier. Too bad I did not have crusty bread or else my meal would have been perfect!

Shakshuka

Recipe source : Adapted from Tory Avey

Ingredients :

- 4 large eggs

- 6 large vine ripened tomaotoes, chopped

- 4 jalapenos, seeds removed and diced (original recipe uses green peppers, I was just trying to finish up my jalapenos)

- 1 yellow onion, diced

- 4 cloves garlic, minced

- 1 tbsp tomato puree

- 1 tsp cumin

- 2 tsp smoked paprika

- salt to taste

- a handful of Italian parsley, chopped

- 4 tbsp olive oil

Method :

1. Heat olive oil in a cast iron pan (or non-stick pan) and saute chopped onions until soft.

2. Add minced garlic and continue to saute until aromatic.

3. Add chopped jalapenos and saute until softened.

4. Add chopped tomatoes and cook until tomatoes are softened and broken up.

5. Add tomato paste, cumin, smoked paprika and salt to taste.

6. Continue to cook until tomato mixture is thick on less watery.

7. Make 4 gaps in the tomato mixture and break an egg into the gaps.

8. Cover the pan and cook until the egg whites are set but the yolks are still soft.

9. Garnish with chopped Italian parsley.