Thursday, January 11, 2018

Shakshuka Dinner Delight

Tonight I cried. Over meatballs.

 I cried over coconut curry chicken meatballs that I have made before perfectly, but for some reason, tonight, they turned out like something all of us would rather not discuss.

So I cried. As I pulled the disasters out of the oven, the frustration grew. Then, while stirring my cauliflower around in the food processor to re-situate it, I accidentally hit the pulse button and pulsed half of my wooden spoon into the cauliflower rice. At that very moment, my husband happened to walk in the door, and suddenly it all culminated and the crying began.

After a few loving (verrrrry patient) minutes on his part, he insisted I pull myself together and sweetly offered to take me out for dinner. But here lies the problem! I have committed myself to you! And to this! So we decided to go BACK to the grocery store together and figure out a new idea for dinner. And a wonderful idea we had.

Shakshuka. I fell in love with this recipe and Austin insists that we have it for breakfast again tomorrow!

So to begin, grab your cast iron skillet, and heat 3-4 tbsp. of olive oil. Next, dice your onion, garlic and red bell pepper. Saute until soft, and then add all of your spices.

Now, typically, Shakshuka does not have meat, however, my husband needs a little protein so I added ground sirloin. Try to use the leanest ground beef you can find so that you don't have to drain. Saute until beef is fully browned.
 
Once the meat is fully browned, add your whole tomatoes with juice.
 
 Once I have added them, I take a fork and knife and just roughly chop them in the skillet. Medium sized pieces are good. Then, add a small can of diced tomatoes with juice to fill it out. Add 8 oz. crumbled feta.  Bring to a simmer and let everything thicken a bit.
 
Once you have brought everything to a simmer, carefully crack six eggs on top of the tomato sauce and place into a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes.
 
Once the whites of the eggs have set, remove the skillet from the oven and immediately crack the runny yolks before they harden.
 
This Shakshuka is typically served with Challah bread, but I prefer it with my homemade "Jean Penney" bread. For those of you who know Jean Penney, you get it. You get that, because I call it "Jean Penney Bread," that it is, of course, the best bread on earth. For those of you who don't know Jean Penney, be patient. She and her fabulous family will appear in this blog often. But for now, know that anything that has Mrs. Jean's name on it is gold and you should automatically save it in your archives. This is a secret that she taught me a few years ago while I was catering a party at her house.
 
In the bread section at our local Publix, there is a small refrigerator with homemade pizza dough balls. Grab the whole grain one. If you have a pizza stone, wonderful! If not, just use a parchment-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle a little bit of cornmeal and then just place the ball on so that it doesn't stick. Brush the dough with olive oil and sprinkle it with whatever makes you happy. Salt and parmesan make me happy. Let the dough ball rise and bake at 350 for about 25 minutes! You will literally fall over it is so divine! The photo posted is half the loaf because we ate the other half before I could take a photo.
 
 
 
To get my Shakshuka Recipe click HERE!
 

 
 



No comments:

Post a Comment