A great Israeli Breakfast!
Shakshuka
If you visit Israel, to “Breakfast out” especially on a Friday morning is a social event, families and friends spill out onto the pavement cafes , meeting greeting and eating.
One of my favorite places in Jerusalem for breakfast or brunch was the Tmol Shilshom bookshop restaurant situated in the Nahalat Shiva area of Jerusalem , which is a charming cobblestoned area filled with artisan shops and there hidden from the hustle and bustle.
Tmol Shilshom is hidden up a stone staircase it has an extensive menu , walls lined with books you can read while there and they serve one of the best Shakukas ever.
For those not so fortunate to know my hideaway, here is the recipe to make your own Shakshuka. this recipe serves 2.
Neither making or eating a good Shakshuka can be rushed!
FOR THE TOMATO SAUCE
2 red peppers finely chopped.
3 cloves garlic
One red onion finely chopped.
4 tomatoes finely chopped.
one can tinned tomatoes.
½ red chilli pepper chopped deseeded.
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground coriander
½ cup fresh chopped coriander or freshly chopped flat leaf parsley
whatever you prefer
Good quality sea salt to taste.
Freshly ground black pepper
1 dessert spoon extra virgin olive oil.
½ teaspoon brown sugar
4 large free-range eggs
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan or skillet that has a lid , add the chopped onions, garlic, chopped red peppers, and the chilli, and cook over a low light with the lid for about 5-7 seven minutes until the vegetables are quite soft
Add your tomatoes, tinned tomatoes, the dried spices, and sugar stir and let it simmer for another 10 minutes with the lid on.
Remove the lid, crack your eggs into a glass, check they are perfectly fresh take the lid of your pan, make 4 indentations in the sauce with the back of a spoon and carefully pour each egg into each indentation.
Season with salt and pepper and put the lid back on the pan let the eggs poach in the sauce.
Cook for 5-8 minutes depending how you like your eggs.
Sprinkle with the fresh coriander or parsley serve with an Israeli salad (finely chopped tomato cucumber pepper with a lemon vinaigrette ) Tahini and warm crusty bread , which traditionally you dip into the sauce .
We wish Corinne Rachelle and her family, Mazeltov on the occasion of her grandson's barmitzvah for which she is going to Israel. I hope you get to eat lots of Shakshuka!