Shakshuka with Feta
Servings: 4 serves
Ingredients
- 3 tbls olive oil
- 1 large onion peeled and thinly sliced
- 2 large red peppers deseeded and cut into small dice
- ½ red chilli deseeded and cut into small dice (optional)
- 3 garlic cloves peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 2 tsp sweet paprika
- 2 x 400g tins diced tomatoes in juice
- 1 tsp sea salt flakes
- freshly cracked pepper to taste
- 200 g feta crumbled
- 6 to 8 large eggs allow 2 per person
- Sea salt flakes and freshly cracked pepper to sprinkle over eggs
- Fresh coriander to taste, chopped or
- Fresh parsley to taste, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 190 degrees fan forced
- Place oil into pan and heat to just below moderate (don’t overheat pan … slow and steady is what we want) … add onion, peppers and chili (if using), and cook slowly for 20 minutes, stirring every now and then until soft and just starting to brown and catch on the bottom
- Add garlic, stir in and cook for 2 minutes
- Add cumin, coriander and sweet paprika and cook for 1 minute … it will catch a bit on the bottom but keep stirring … all will be okay
- Add tomatoes, salt and pepper and stir in … reduce heat a little and continue cooking for about 6 minutes … you want the sauce to still be juicy, but to have thickened up a little
- Turn off the heat
- Crumble over the feta covering the whole surface
- Start to add the eggs, creating a hole with a spoon where you wish the eggs to go and dropping them in … it can be a random drop, or strategically placed so that it looks “neat” but that is totally up to you
- Place pan into oven and bake for 10 minutes
- Turn pan around and bake for a further 2 minutes, or until eggs are just set (they may still look a little opaque but will continue cooking when they are removed from the oven
- Remove pan from oven, sprinkle eggs with a little salt and pepper to taste, and dust dish with coriander or parsley
- Allow to rest 5 minutes before serving
- This is a perfect time to prepare sourdough toast if serving with this meal
- Place dish onto table for people to help themselves too, along with sourdough toast and salad/veggies (if using)
Notes
Shakshuka is a wonderful Middle Eastern dish that can be eaten for brekkie, lunch or dinner.
It is a basic mix of onion, red peppers, chilli (optional), garlic and tomatoes cooked into a sauce, into which eggs are placed and then baked. What a winner! It is perfect served with toasted or grilled sourdough, or to make a dinner meal go further then add a large green salad, or extra baked veggies, which can be cooking in the oven whilst you are preparing the Shakshuka.
This dish is best made in a large pan, one that can go into the oven for the final baking of the eggs and feta. Last year for Mother’s Day I bought myself a Chausseur pan (see main page for link) and it is perfect for this … as well as many other dishes … so perhaps that might be an option for you too. With Mothers’ Day right around the corner consider putting in a request to the family … or treat yourself.
This is a perfect dish for sharing so place the Shakshuka into the middle of the table, along with whatever you decide to serve with it, and people can help themselves. If you have a large group then it is easy enough to prepare a double lot of the tomato base, add that to a preheated large baking dish (place the baking dish into the oven to preheat along with the oven), into which you can then place the eggs and return to the oven for the final bake.
All ovens are different but I have found the eggs take exactly 12 minutes in my oven, so the first time you do this just keep an eye on the dish and decide when you are happy with the eggs … the first time my eggs were solid (totally overcooked!), but the last few times I have worked out my timing correctly for my oven.
Whilst there are many versions of this famous dish, my version was inspired by a recipe from Melissa Clark (see main page for link to video of Melissa preparing this dish).