Shakshuka

Updated Date:
June 8, 2023

Hi guys! Quick post today so I can tell you about my latest obsession: shakshuka. It’s kind of a round-the-clock dish, just as appropriate for breakfast as it is dinner… which is how we’ve been enjoying it in our household. All three meals of the day, that it is.

A little bit of background, shakshuka is North African in origin, and it means ‘mixture’ in Arabic (thanks Wiki). And that it is. It’s essentially an egg dish, but it’s got a whole mess of tastes and textures to fill out all its nooks and crannies: slippery onion and bell pepper, a spicy and fragrant tomato sauce, salty briny crumbly feta, the cleanness of fresh scattered cilantro leaves. And to top it all off, barely-set eggs that tumble into puddles of yolk when prodded. Doesn’t that sound amazing? To me, it’s a dream.

A couple other items of note: our cast-iron skillet is monstrous in size and has a permanent place on the stovetop because it’s too big to go anywhere else. My efforts always feel so dwarfed by it—like I should be preparing dinner for six rather than dinner for two. This recipe, then, is perfectly-sized. And you’ll want to use your extra-large skillet so you too can make an extra-large batch to enjoy for multiple meals.

Also, for those of you who are, like me, efficiency nazis, I LOVE how easy this dish is to prepare! It’s one of those one-pot meals that Deb often extols. I totally get her. Even if I don’t do the dishes, I am a huge fan of the simplicity of One-Pots (deserving of capitalization, I think). They’re a whole class of recipes in themselves.

Alright, well, I feel awkward for checking out so abruptly, but… have great rests of the week and let’s re-convene next week, sound good?

Oh, before I forget, I wanted to tell you all about the nonfiction book club I’ll be helping moderate! Check it out! It’s headed by lovely Eva over at Adventures in Cooking, and the other moderators are Carrie, Izy, and Brianne. A fabulous group, right? The first book we’ll be tackling is The Disappearing Spoon, starting next week. Come join us! It’ll be fun.

SHAKSHUKA

Adapted from Melissa Clark for the New York Times

serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, sliced thinly
1 large bell pepper, deseeded and sliced thinly
3 garlic cloves, sliced thinly
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes with juices
salt and pepper to taste
1-1/4 to 1-1/2 cups crumbled feta
6 large eggs

cilantro, hot sauce, pita bread (or any bread really), hummus for serving

Directions:

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-low heat. Add the onion and bell peppers, and cook until very soft, about 20 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or so until fragrant, then stir in the spices. Cook another minute, then pour in the tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper, and let simmer for about 10 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Stir in the feta cheese.

Gently crack in the eggs evenly around the pan over the sauce. Top them with a little more salt and pepper, then simmer until the eggs are just set, about 10 minutes. Serve with lots of pita bread to mop up the sauce.

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In an Instagram Minute

Recipes

Christiana George

Updated Date:
January 6, 2026

Just when I though May was busy, then came June. I have not had much time to breathe yet. Every weekend has been taken up by family events. The most important one being my daughter’s birthday. So of course I was busy making treats for her. Here is what I have been doing for those that don’t follow my on Instagram.

First up were some treats for her party at school. I made some cookie dough cupcake pops. You can find the recipe and the how-to here.

Then I made some cupcakes fop her party at a miniature golf place with her friends and cousins. I just used a Funfetti cake mix and made some buttercream frosting. I used some green candy melt to make the leaves. I drew the leaves on a wax paper and then peeled them off when the candy melt set.

Pink and green glittery sprinkles added the final touch. My daughter thought they were pretty, which is not bad considering she mostly likes boys stuff and her favorite color is blue.

When I asked her what she wanted on her cake for the family party we were having after her friend’s party, she said she wanted an outer space theme. Yes, leave it to my daughter to make my life challenging. She has a fascination with outer space, planets, constellations, and stars ever since Santa brought her the Children’s Atlas of the Universe two years ago.

I didn’t want to disappoint her, so I racked my brain for a way to make it work. For the frosting, I bought a can of blue frosting and added some black frosting to it to make it darker. I swirled on some extra black frosting to give the cake more dimension and brushed on some edible glitter dust for added effect.

For the planets, I used an Oreo and cream mixture to form the balls. Then dipped them in candy melt and painted on them with gel food coloring. They were not the best looking things, but not bad for someone who does not do cake decorating for a living. My daughter was pretty impressed and thrilled that she had planets on her cake.

Of course, when she saw me adding the little pearl balls for the stars, she asked me to make some constellations. Seriously? I just busted my hump making these planets. Sheesh! I did try to make some, but it wasn’t really that easy. Those little pearl candies are very slippery creatures. I also couldn’t find a way to make edible rings for the planets, so I had to resort to vellum paper from my scrapbooking stash. Other than that everything was edible.

The inside was a just a white cake (from a box) that I filled with some homemade dulce de leche and strawberries. I got lots of props on the cake the day of the party. I was able to make it all the way through to the blowing out of the candles when out of nowhere, I got slammed with a stomach virus. I had to quietly slip away from the party and spent the rest of the day in bed. Not cool.

At least this time, the virus did not cause me to pass out face first and smash up my face. But it did put a kink in my Father’s Day plans. I was not able to indulge in all the yummy food my mom made for brunch.

Now I am almost back to my regular eating. I am trying to keep it healthy. But I am dying to get back to baking some yummy treats. Next week is my last week of work, after that I will have more free time to do the things I love. So stay tuned!