Our kitchen floor is covered with bags of vegetables — I hadn’t been to the Carmel Market in weeks, due to our trip to the U.S., and the attempt to empty the fridge that preceded it, so when we went this Friday, I got a little overexcited. The advantage to this is that everything is in plain sight, which means I’m more likely to use all the fresh vegetables. So this Saturday, we wound up with a spinach shakshuka for brunch.
This one is a little different than the last one that appeared on my blog, in that it’s a little more faithful to a traditional shakshuka, which is usually pan-fried with lots of tomatoes. In fact, the only thing untraditional about it is the ginger, which adds a nice kick. And, perhaps, all that spinach.
A little trick to separate eggs: Crack each egg, remove the top part of the shell while holding the egg upright, let as much of the whites as possible drip out, and then pour the remaining yolk and whites into your hand — the rest of the whites will ooze out through your fingers. I find this way more effective than passing the egg yolk back and forth between the two broken halves of shell — I inevitably break the yolk on a jagged edge.
For two people:
1 onion
6 garlic cloves
1 tomato
spinach
1/4 t ginger
1/4 t cumin
1/4 t pepper
1/4 t hot paprika
salt
3 eggs, separated
olive oil for frying
Dice the onions and stir-fry olive oil in a frying pan, until the onions are translucent. Add the chopped or minced garlic, fry some more until fragrant, and then the tomato, also diced. Mix in the spices. Once the tomatoes have begun to lose their shape, add the spinach, chopped, and cover so that it steams. Once the spinach decreases in volume, mix it in with the tomatoes, and pour the egg whites on top. Cover again, until the egg whites are cooked. Arrange the egg yolks on top, and cook, covered, for another minute until the yolks are very slightly cooked on the outside.
(In the photo: That green thing is pesto goat cheese.)
