Hello friends and happy weekend! today I have a very special dish for you — Shakshuka with Israeli Couscous! I got inspiration for this dish from Molly on the Range — Molly Yeh’s cookbook that I am currently in love with — and it is so yummy! The hardest part about this dish is deciding is it brunch or dinner? Brunch or dinner…..or brinner?!?
I dunno. It doesn’t matter when you serve it its so gosh-darn delicious!
So what is Shakshuka you might ask? Here goes your learning point for the weekend. {feel free to kick this penguin off the iceberg after you read this…} Shakshuka is a dish of eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, chili peppers, and onions, commonly spiced with cumin, paprika and cayenne pepper. Although the dish has existed in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern regions, its more recent egg and vegetable-based form originated in Tunisia. The word Shakshuka, in Arabic slang, means ‘a mixture’ or to stick together, clump together, adhere or cohere. (source) Nothing could be a more apt description of this dish than that — because it is literally a tomato based “soup” that sticks together.
Now, lets get cooking! The easiest thing about this dish is that it is a one pot wonder — and hey, gotta love the no dishes & keeping the kitchen clean right?! I also added Israeli, or pearled, couscous to this dish to give it a little extra oomph. Of course you can just serve this as is with a side of crispy bread and call it good, but the addition of the couscous really does make it a meal. Also, you can add all sorts of different veggies and really make this your own! Carrots would be great, as well as eggplant or butternut squash — add whatever you’d like to your “mixture”.
Finally, this dish is one of those that you can just let “go” — or let sit on the stove on a simmer until you are ready to cook the eggs and serve. That is probably the biggest recommendation I can give you though — don’t add the eggs until you are about 10 minutes from serving your Shakshuka — if you like runny yolks that is — because they will overcook and you will have hard-boiled eggs in you dish. No Bueno. Otherwise, mix it up and let it go — it will taste better over time.
I hope you enjoy this “brinner” dish and give it a go this weekend!
See ya next time!
XO,
Danielle
Shakshuka with Israeli Couscous
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 4 to 5 tablespoons olive oil plus more for drizzling
- 1 1/2 medium yellow onions chopped
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4 to 5 cloves garlic minced
- 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin
- 1 1/2 teaspoons harissa plus more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
- One-and-a-half 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes
- 1 tablespoons sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 Cup Israeli Couscous
- 1 Cup Chicken Broth low sodium
- 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
- A handful of chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Instructions
How to:
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Heat the oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add the onions and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring, until soft and translucent, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic, cumin, harissa, smoked paprika, red pepper flakes, another good pinch of salt and a few turns of black pepper. Cook until it's all fragrant, another 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, followed by the tomatoes and sugar, and simmer until slightly thickened, 10 minutes more. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings.
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Add Israeli couscous and chicken broth, if using, and allow to simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. You can stretch the time longer as necessary -- just stir the mixture occasionally and add more broth as needed to keep it loose in the pan.
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When ready to serve, make 4 little wells in the sauce and crack in the eggs. Simmer until the egg whites are set but the yolks are still runny, about 10 minutes. (You can either baste the eggs with sauce during cooking or just let them be in a sunny-side-up situation.) Off the heat, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle the eggs with a little salt and pepper. Scatter the feta and parsley over all.
