Oh. My. Word. Shakshuka. This dish has quickly moved up to the top of my meal planning list. It’s quick, it’s easy and it’s cheap. It’s good for breakfast, lunch, dinner, brunch or even brinner (breakfast for dinner). It’s great for a weeknight at home or even for entertaining. Seriously. You must try this.
What is Shakshuka you ask? It’s a savory, middle-eastern dish that’s made by poaching eggs in a spicy, flavorful, tomato sauce. You can easily make it your own by adding a variety of ingredients that you have on hand. I added chorizo. But you can omit that and make it vegetarian. Or add your families favorite veggies. Mushrooms, avocados, potatoes or eggplant would all be amazing.
I’ve been trying to add even more eggs to our diet after I was invited to a culinary tour of Columbus Ohio by the Ohio Poultry Association last month. It was a giant three day egg party. We ate eggs, talked about eggs, ate more eggs, learned about eggs and then ate some more eggs. We met chicken egg farmers, both conventional and organic. It was amazing and fun. And delicious. If you follow along on social media, you saw the amazing dishes we tried and the places we visited. It was a great trip.
I already loved eggs, but now I love them even more. I learned so much. Like, for example…one egg has about 70 calories, so it’s a perfect snack! Or that the humble egg is packed with 13 essential nutrients like vitamin D, choline, folate, iron and zinc! And that it has 6 grams of high quality protein.
Ohio is one of the top egg producing states in the country, with over 30 million egg laying hens producing more than 8 BILLION eggs per year! So, the Ohio Poultry Association knows their stuff.
One of my favorite parts of the trip was meeting and hanging out with a few of the awesome, hardworking, Ohio egg farmers. Some were even from 4th generation family farms! The work that goes into providing safe, nutritious and affordable eggs for the nation is just astounding. The farmers even have dietitians that formulate the feed for each hen, to keep them all as healthy as possible, in every stage of the chicken’s life. No antibiotics are ever included in this feed. Because it’s against the law!! (I didn’t know that.) These chickens are treated well (conventional and organic free-range) and are happily laying the eggs we feed to our own family.
Love the eggs! And, now onto my new favorite egg dish.
Chorizo and White Bean Shakshuka with Feta!!!
What you need:
- 3 TBS olive oil
- chorizo (3 large sausage links, casing removed)
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1-2 red bell pepper, diced
- 2 cans of diced tomato (not drained)
- 1 can of white beans (drained)
- 2 TBS of tomato paste
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp paprika
- pinch of cayenne
- pinch of sugar
- salt and pepper to taste
- 6-8 eggs
- 1/2 cup of fresh parsley, chopped
- 1/2 cup of feta
- pita bread or other bread
What you do:
- Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a large, heavy-bottomed skillet. Add the chorizo and cook until slightly crisp.
- Add chopped onion and peppers, sauté five minutes, or until tender. Add the garlic and cook 2 more minutes.
- Add the undrained tomatoes and the drained beans. Add the spices and tomato paste and stir.
- Stir well, bring to a boil, then lower the heat and let simmer for 20 minutes, or until slightly thickened.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Use the back of a spoon to make an small well in the tomato sauce and carefully crack an egg into each hole. Repeat with the rest of the eggs.
- Once the eggs seem to be mostly cooked through, cover the skillet to cook the top of the eggs.
- Cook eggs to your desired doneness. I like the whites fully cooked and the yolks just set.
- Remove from heat and garnish with feta and parsley.
- Serve with pita or crusty fresh bread.
I would like to say a big thank you to the Ohio Poultry Association for generously hosting such wonderful trip to Columbus and all the amazing fun and delicious food.
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