Sunday Gravy with yeah right: Shakshuka!

Good morning and welcome back to Sunday Gravy.

Step right up and get your shitty NFL preseason week 2 action this week. Made it through the 1st quarter and into the 2nd quarter of the Vikings game last week and it was…something. One thing about preseason though, between the network games, the local broadcasts – we have 3 local feeds in LA including the Raiders – NFL Network and the replays on NFL Network I pretty much saw every single game last week. Actually a couple of series from every game last week, I’m not a complete fucking lunatic.

Look at all of the familiar uniforms!

The week 2 games are as close to real regular season action as you will get in the preseason with many starters going the full first half.

So many more opportunities for injury!

Get here soon regular season. My ass is getting tired.

Speaking of tired asses…

Actually welcome back to Sunday Gravy is where I was going.

Got a doozy of a menu for you today. A proper wowzer!

We will be making Shakshuka!

Or بيض ومطيشة in Arabic.

Shakshuka is getting its moment in the sun these days. Many trendy brunch spots are starting to offer it as it can be served for breakfast lunch or dinner. It’s very simple to prepare with fresh, healthy ingredients and it’s dynamic in flavor and presentation.

Give us the dealio Wikis!

“Shakshouka is a Maghrebi dish of eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, olive oil, peppers, onion, and garlic, commonly spiced with cumin, paprika, and cayenne pepper. Shakshouka is a popular dish throughout North Africa and the Middle East.

Etymology

Shakshuka is a word for “mixture” in Algerian Arabic, and “mixed” in Tunisian Arabic. The Oxford English Dictionary describes the English version of the word as being borrowed from more than one origin: an onomatopoeic Maghribi Arabic word, related to the verb shakshaka meaning “to bubble, to sizzle, to be mixed up, to be beaten together.”‘

Origin story varies with many stating its origin as Tunisian with nomadic Jewish folks bringing the dish to the Middle East, and Europe.

Regardless, this motherfucker is delicious, healthy, versatile and it packs a fiery finish that will wake your ass up proper.

recipe courtesy of loveandlemons.com

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 cup chopped yellow onion

1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and diced

¼ teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste

Freshly ground black pepper

3 garlic cloves, minced

½ teaspoon smoked paprika

½ teaspoon ground cumin

Pinch cayenne pepper, optional

1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

2 tablespoons harissa paste

1 cup fresh spinach, chopped

3 to 5 large eggs

⅓ cup crumbled feta cheese

This base of this recipe starts with a couple of simple ingredients.

Guess what we do next with them. C’mon.

“Chop them fuckers up” is correct.

Bell pepper too, after deseeding and removing the stem of course.

Let’s introduce our newest player to the line-up.

Sounds exotic. Let’s learn more about it.

Back to you WIKIS!

Harissa (Arabic: هريسة, romanized: harīsa, from Maghrebi Arabic) is a hot chili pepper paste, native to the Maghreb. The main ingredients are roasted red peppers, Baklouti peppers (بقلوطي), spices and herbs such as garlic paste, caraway seeds, coriander seeds, cumin and olive oil to carry the oil-soluble flavors.

I did not expect the French thing.

Most important thing to know is that this shit is fucking delicious. To me the similarities between harissa and gochujang are immense. Same idea. Spicy paste from chili peppers. The flavor is dynamite too. My brain is already percolating ideas for additional uses. You WILL be seeing harissa again.

As long as we’re chopping shit up, chop up about a cup of fresh spinach while you’re at it.

The chopping up the veggies idea is the best way to start the prep. This way everything will be diced and ready when you’re ready to cook. Think of it like your ass is making hash. You want everything lined up so you can bang that shit out without cooking interruption.

Then gather your spices.

Been seeing a lot of that smoked Spanish paprika haven’t you?

I ain’t done with that shit by a damn site! It’s one of my new food obsessions and I’m fully fucking hooked.

Next grab the “3-5” eggs and let them sit out at room temperature for a bit. It will help to cook the whites and yolks more evenly in the finished dish.

Let’s get busy.

Olive oil goes into a skillet and we start to saute the onions and bell pepper. Seven to eight minutes should do.

While the peppers and onions are sweating down mince up the garlic.

Yeah, you’re right. Could have minced this shit with the other veggies during prep. I got distracted.

By beer.

Now add the garlic and dry spices to the pan. Quick stir just to incorporate.

See how the paprika gives it that smoky, sultry shade of red. Dig that.

Then we add the tomatoes and the harissa to the pool party.

Yep, I thought the same thing. Did we just make a spicy marinara? No surprise here, this base very much CAN be served over pasta but NO SPOILERS!

This will simmer for 20 minutes or so.

Next item for your perusal.

Feta!

How do you feel about feta? I fucking fantasize about feta.

Not really but I digress for alliteration. I do very much enjoy feta. It’s a lot like Cotija cheese in that it’s a dry crumbly cheese with salt as a prominent feature. Feta will give a slight melt though and it is perfect for our dish today. It’s also pretty goddamn rocking on a pizza or a gyro.

Crumble some up.

After the sauce has sauteed for 20 minutes, stir in the chopped spinach.

Cook just until the spinach has wilted and everything is mixed together well.

Using the back of your spoon make a well in the sauce in which to place each egg. Evenly space the eggs directly into the still cooking sauce.

Figure out some damn way to cover this fucker and cover it.

I’m using one of my biggest skillets and don’t own a lid that fully covers it. Foil is just fine.

Cook for 5-7 minutes depending how runny you like your egg yolks, then uncover and remove the pan from the heat.

Finally finish with a sprinkle of some fresh parsley and scatter the feta chunks liberally over the dish.

[Quick note: if you’ve seen shakshuka photos around the internet there’s a good chance that you saw the dish presented in its finished state while sitting in a cast iron skillet.

Those dumb motherfuckers.

You all know why that’s a short-sighted moronic thing to do yes? Exactly! Cast iron is reactive. You put a tomato or red pepper based sauce into cast iron you will have 2 reactions, both fucking wrong. The first thing you will get is a metallic taste, which is shit and not what we want. The second stupid thing will be your cast iron skillet losing it’s “seasoning.” You know how long it took me to have the current seasoning finish on my cast iron skillet? Too goddamn long to fuck it up by doing something idiotic like cooking tomatoes in it, that’s how long.

Anyway, that’s why I’m not using it today.]

Grab a hunk of bread or toast and give it a taste.

Want to try some?

Absolutely one of my favorite ways of eating and sharing at the same time.

Remember back when we made Khachapuri?

Where you tear off the edges of the bread and dip it in the middle? This serves up just like that. Put the skillet in the middle of the table, have the guests gather around, hand out slabs of bread and invite everyone to just dive the fuck in and swim.

Strike that swim thing this would sear your goddamn face off, but you get the idea. It’s a community meal that you eat with your hands and isn’t that the best way to eat anything? I fucking LOVE eating this way.

Lastly let’s see how our egg yolk turned out.

Perfection.

At the end of the meal, once the eggs have been removed, should you find that you have leftover onion/tomato/red pepper sauce still in the skillet, place the leftovers in a container and save for another use. Really. I promise I’ll even show you how.

This meal is fantastic. It feels and eats healthy. The smoky fiery finish is just enough to make you feel fully alive without overdoing it. Not a single digestive issue was to be had! It’s simple to prepare and a fantastic way to share food with friends and family. Do this fucker. You’ll love it.

This week’s “fun” holidays courtesy of “A Bit of Good News“: “August 17 is International Geocaching Day, International Homeless Animals Day, World Honey Bee Day, National I Love My Feet Day, National Nonprofit Day, National Pineapple Day, National Thrift Shop Day, Baby Boomers Recognition Day and Black Cat Appreciation Day.”

Make something with pineapple! Try that fresh pineapple, jalapeno salsa I made with the Kahlua pork! Now you have a mandate to do so.

Thanks for following along everyone. Just a couple more weeks until Labor Day, then? NFL real season football returns. Shit howdy!

Be well and safe everyone. Enjoy your Sunday.

See you next week.