Shakshoukah, Mimi’s Way

Breakfast today didn’t inspire me. I drank my cup of coffee in front of the computer and started banging away on the keyboard, thinking of many things but not food. When 10:30 o’clock rolled around and I realized that my stomach was protesting, I went to the kitchen and surveyed the contents of the fridge.

About a cup and a half of leftover spaghetti sauce.

Some yellow cheese.

Eggs.

Eggs. I could make a good little brunch out of those eggs and the leftover spaghetti sauce and cheese. Shakshoukah! Too substantial for breakfast, just right for brunch. And how Middle-Eastern. Encouraged, I rooted through the vegetable bin and found a couple of spring onions. I was set.

When you order shakshoukah in cafes, they serve it so hot with chili that frankly, it’s too hot. In restaurants like Dr. Shakshuka’s, it comes garnished with sausage. It feels right there, but at home, I like it with cheese. And when eating out, you’ll get lots of spongy white bread to mop up the sauce. For me, whole wheat bread or sourdough onion bread does it better. Am I getting xenofoodphobic? I like my mild, home-made version best.

Shakshoukah, Mimi’s Way

serves 1 for brunch or a light meal anytime

Ingredients:

1- 1/2 cups  spaghetti sauce

2 eggs

1/4 cup cheese, any variety, cubed or snipped into bits, which is what I did

2 spring onions, thinly sliced

salt and pepper to taste

2 slices of bread

Method:

1. Pour your sauce into a frying pan. Get it hot, over a medium flame.

2. Break each egg into the hot sauce.

3. Scatter the cubes or bits of cheese around the entire contents of the pan.

4. Scatter the diced green onion around likewise.

5. Salt and pepper the dish – freshly ground pepper is best of course. If you like chili, by all means, shake some flakes over it. Or you might like to heat a chili up in the sauce before adding the eggs.

6. Lower the heat and leave the pan alone for about 10 minutes or till the eggs are set to your liking. You’ll need to move the whites around a little to make sure all of them are cooked through.

Serve with bread.

Tea with mint traditionally accompanies this, but I did the American thing and washed it all down with milk.

It was really good shakshoukah.