A great breakfast dish - Shakshuka

I had to share this info. I'm going to make this stuff A LOT from now on.

We had a visit from my friend and his wife, both are chefs. They made 3 varieties of this dish. It was fantastic and ridiculously easy to make. I don't think even I could screw this up!

It's just basted eggs with vegetables and spices. I think it originated in the Mediterranean region. I'll list the recipe that was my favorite, along with the others. Everybody liked this dish. A couple people raved about it.

You need eggs, some veggies, some spices, and olive oil or butter. We made breakfast at my sister's house. She's a health-nut, so everything was organic. Grass-fed butter, organic free-range eggs, etc...

Recipe 1:
(made 4 servings)
You can approximate the amounts. You don't have to be exact.

Chop up some tomatoes. We used 3 small Roma tomatoes.
Chop up a small onion. We had a red onion. Chop up some bell pepper. We had green and red peppers. We used about 1/4 of each pepper.
You can dice the veggies, or leave the chunks bigger. It's up to you.
Heat up a small amount of butter or olive oil in a skillet. Let it heat up for a few minutes, then add the vegetables. Use low heat and let them slowly simmer. They simmered the veggies about 10 minutes. Next, they sprinkled on some oregano, black pepper, cumin and cayenne. They then put 4 eggs (unscrambled) over the top, followed by just a tiny bit of water, maybe a tablespoon, and covered the skillet. The steam cooks the eggs. Again...you really can't screw this up. If you use a bit more water, or even forget the water, it will still be OK. I'm just relatiing how they did it.
After they put the eggs in, it was done in a couple minutes. The eggs will cook very fast.

The second recipe used some hotter peppers. Poblanos and a small amount of jalapenos. Just before putting in the eggs, they
ladeled in some salsa. Finally, they put in some hunks of cheese. We had Havarti and cheddar.

The third recipe used more tomato, a couple big cloves of garlic, diced, and some mushrooms. It was a lot of garlic, but I love garlic.

You get the idea. There's no limit to the variations.
This is important: My chef friends have some spice mixes that they love. Sprinkle a dash or two into your Shakshuka.
The first is Emeril's Essence. Use it sparingly.
Here's the recipe:

2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme
Combine it all and mix it up.

Fantastic (and super- easy) garlic pepper recipe:
6 teaspoons garlic powder
3 teaspoons black pepper
3 teaspoons parsely flakes


The Perfect Food!

a reply to: ColeYounger

Cool. The first recipe sounds delicious!

I'll test it and let you know but I can't imagine it would be bad.

Thanx.

a reply to: ColeYounger

I do something similar called Moroccan Bus Station Eggs that includes merguez sausage and ras el hanout as the spice.

I'll take a picture next time I make it.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

I love this way of adding protein to carb meals! My earliest school lunch memories at home include dishes of canned spaghetti with cooked eggs on them. Since then, I have added eggs to rice pilafs and dishes such as you suggest. Thanks for sharing your recipes.

Here's a calorie-free meal to serve many as desired, if someone is interested:

Egg whites(available in dairy aisle)
Fresh bean sprouts (as in chow mein variety, sold in a bag.)
Diced veggies
Hot sauce as desired, and your preferred spices, and Voilà. I usually fill up a large skillet and feed others too, as this dish goes a long way.

I'd really love a pic ... sounds yummy.

We refer to this as a lazyman's omelet here. Maybe the spices are different and I don't think anyone uses tomatoes.

Grate some cheddar on it you have yourself an omelette.
Hard to screw up.
Making my tummy growl.

a reply to: rickymouse

Tomato is common in omelettes around here. As part of a western omelette. Maybe jalapeno, onion, tomato, garlic (basically salsa without the lime and oregano), and add in some mushroom.

I hate tomato with egg. The two flavors combined gross me out. Otherwise, im all about the rest. I cook my eggs like that, but without the water.

Oh, I'll have to borrow that. It sounds super easy to just mis en place your components for the week ahead of time and keep them in either small containers or baggies and then just skillet up one in the morning before you leave. I'll bet you could add some bacon crumble to that, and we love all the things you mentioned besides. I even do tomato in my omelets so putting some tomato in on occasion is fine by me. Might even get our son going in the morning along with his smoothie.