Brunch at home is a beautiful thing. For one, you don’t have to wear pants (or scarves or coats or any of the other million things required for this terrible weather). For two, you don’t have to wait in line, or worry about having to squeeze into a tiny corner table, or really worry about anything other than if you have enough champagne for another round of mimosas. And if you’re making this shakshuka, you don’t even have to worry about complicated recipes or a sink full of dishes.
Shakshuka is a staple in North Africa, with variations across the region but the same basic formula: eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce, usually cooked with onions, chili peppers and cumin. The New York Times’ Melissa Clark added feta and I, in a moment of inspiration, also added some sausage. Merguez would be ideal, but I used the hot Italian that had been sitting in my freezer and it was delicious.
But what really makes this dish sing is the combo of the spicy, smoky tomato sauce and the runny egg yolk. As I’ve said before, baked eggs are miraculous. No sweating bullets over the stove, trying to swirl the perfect poach or counting seconds while boiling your eggs accidentally solid. Baking eggs gives them that perfect firm-egg-white-plus-velvety-yolk texture, and as long as you check your eggs every few minutes, you’ll be set. Which means more time for you to binge another episode of Making a Murderer in your PJs … aka #heaven.
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PinIngredients
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 8 ounces merguez or hot Italian sausage, casings removed
- 1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1–1/2 tablespoons harissa
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
- 1 28-ounce can whole plum tomatoes with juices, coarsely chopped
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
- 4–6 large eggs
- 1 handful chopped parsley, to serve
- warm pita, to serve
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a 10- or 12-inch cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Brown the sausage, breaking the sausage into crumbles with a wooden spoon. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- Lower the heat to medium-low and add the remaining tablespoon of oil. Add the onion and cook gently until it’s very soft, about 20 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes, then stir in the harissa, cumin, paprika and cayenne, and cook for 1 minute.
- Stir in the tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the tomatoes have thickened, about 10 minutes. Stir in the crumbled sausage and feta.
- Create wells in the shakshuka and gently crack the eggs into them. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake until eggs are just set, about 7-10 minutes.* Sprinkle with parsley and serve with warm pitas.
Notes
- *Mine took much longer — almost 20 minutes. I have a finicky oven, but check on the eggs early and often, as they can go from perfectly runny to completely solid quickly.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4
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