Shakshuka Recipe

After celebrating my first and only Thanksgivikkah with my girlfriend’s family, we were talking about Hanukkah dishes (after previously eating some latkes), and somehow I came up with the idea to make Shakshuka. It’s an Israeli (or more generally middle eastern) breakfast dish, that is in no way specific to Hanukkah. But I had been meaning to try making it for some time, after having it in Israel in 2009 and the later in Boston at the Bee Hive, so my girlfriend’s mom and I decided to give it a shot.

We adapted a recipe I found in the NYT to accommodate what we had available (including celery, which was mixed with a chopped onion left over from Thanksgiving stuffing preparation), and it came out great. For anyone interested, here’s what we did:

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large chopped onion mixed with chopped celery
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 large chopped tomatoes
3/4 teaspoon salt, more as needed
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, more as needed
2 ounces crumbled feta
5 large eggs

Steps:

1. Preheat oven 375 degrees.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add onion (and celery). Cook for about 10 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, paprika, and cayenne, and cook 1 minute, then add tomatoes, salt, and pepper, nd let simmer for about 10 minutes until the tomatoes turn into a thick broth. Stir in crumbled feta.
3. Crack eggs into skillet over tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper over the eggs. Transfer skillet to oven and bake for about 10 minutes.

Here’s what it looked like:

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And happy Hanukkah:

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