Spicy Shakshuka - Zimmy's Nook

A skillet filled with spicy Shakshuka. Four sunny side up eggs are poaching in a tomato sauce with herbs, veggies and feta cheese.

A spicy Shakshuka is one of our favourite brunches, lunches, or weeknight dinners.

I appreciate that a basic recipe can be adapted to use whatever you have in the fridge/pantry to make it new and exciting.

It started with some red onions, fennel, jalapeños, 3 colours of sweet peppers & garlic. Added some tomato paste, dried oregano, s&p, paprika & cayenne. Next, a jar of passata, chick peas and a few dashes of hot sauce, then let it lightly bubble away to make the sauce.

Cracked in the eggs, added a few more jalapeño slices, some cherry tomatoes & feta and popped it in the oven until the egg whites set.

Served with pita, chilli flakes and hot sauce… the perfect beginning, middle or end to a day.

Ingredients

2 to 4 Servings

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
⅓-1/2 cup fresh fennel, cored & diced – optional
1 cup bell pepper, diced (I use multi-coloured fridge scraps) – optional
1 jalapeño, finely chopped (seeds to preference)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup canned chickpeas, drained
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon cayenne
2 ¾ cups Passata (650 ml/22 oz jar)
A few dashes of hot sauce (to taste) – optional
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ cup coarsely crumbled feta
More jalapeño slices – optional
Handful of cherry tomatoes – optional
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
Warm pita bread (store bought or my recipe here)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425°. Heat oil in an 11” ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, and jalapeño; cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft, about 8 minutes. Add tomato paste, garlic, chickpeas, paprika, oregano, cayenne and cook for 2 minutes longer.

Add Passata and hot sauce (if using). Bring to a low boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5-10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle feta, additional jalapeños & cherry tomatoes evenly over sauce. Crack eggs one at a time and place over sauce, spacing evenly apart. Transfer skillet to oven and bake until whites are just set but yolks are still runny, 5–8 minutes. Garnish with parsley and cilantro. Serve with pita for dipping.