Shakshuka
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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Biscoff Caramel Pretzel Bon Bons
OK, so this is how it all started. I had a bag of pretzel m&m’s that I wanted to use. I didn’t want to make cookies, I was thinking more along the lines of a ball. I know I wanted to use crushed pretzels. The pretzel/peanut butter combo has already been done, so I wanted to do something different. Biscoff and pretzels sounded good, but the combo had to be tested. Out came the jar of Biscoff and in I dipped the pretzel. Mmmm. We had a winner.
So I proceeded to crush the pretzels to tiny bits in the food processor. I measured out 2 cups and threw it in my stand mixer. I figured 1 cup of Biscoff would be enough to mix with the pretzels. Boy was I wrong. The consistency was too dry. I couldn’t form it into balls. I didn’t give up. Instead I walked over to the pantry to see what else I could use. Hmmm. Fluff! Yes, fluff works with almost anything. All right, I added 1 cup fluff. Nope not enough. 2 cups fluff? Still not enough. Darn it!
Think. That’s what I did. How about melted butter? OK, I added 3 tbsp melted butter. Although the batter was slightly stickier, it still didn’t hold well. Time to pull out the big guns. I went back to the pantry and found a jar of Granache caramel spread I brought back from Canada at Easter. I hadn’t even opened it yet. Well, I was getting desperate. Into the batter went 1 cup of caramel spread. Finally the batter was the right consistency. But did it have the right flavor? Better than I expected. I couldn’t wait to dip it in chocolate!
I also couldn’t wait to try out my new toy. A cake pop mold from My Little Cupcake. I already had the cupcake pop mold and loved it. This one is even easier to use. Here is where the m&m’s came into play. I filled half the mold with batter and pressed in the pretzel m&m and then packed on some more batter and closed the lid and squeezed out the extra.
I did end up with a lot of little bon bons from this recipe even though I was eating the batter all along. Sorry, but it was really good. For the coating I didn’t have any dark chocolate candy melt on hand, so I used vanilla flavored and it worked out just fine.
But I wasn’t done yet. These little beauties had to be decorated. I melted some of the caramel spread and vanilla candy melt together to drizzle over the tops. For toppings I used dark chocolate sprinkles, bits of left over pretzels, chopped walnuts and some I left with just the caramel drizzle. Don’t they look purty?
Now it was time for another taste test. Just look at that bite. Oh goodness! How do I describe it? Well, if a Twix bar and a pretzel got together and had a baby, then this would be it. The sweet Biscoff blended with the salty pretzel and a hint of caramel and covered in chocolate was pure bliss. Just look at this guy, he agrees with me.
Biscoff Caramel Prezel Bon Bons
by The Sweet Chick
Prep Time: 20-30 min
Keywords: no bake dessert biscoff pretzels caramel dark chocolate
Ingredients (about 36 bon bons)
For the Bon Bons
- 2 cups crushed pretzels
- 1 cup Biscoff spread
- 2 cups marshmallow fluff
- 3 tbsp melted butter
- 1 cup caramel spread
For the Coating
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
- 1 cup vanilla flavored candy melt (or dark chocolate)
For the Drizzle
- 1/2 cup caramel spread
- 1/2 cup vanilla flavored candy melt
For the Toppings
- dark chocolate sprinkles
- chopped walnuts
- pretzel bits
Instructions
In a food processor chop up the pretzels until you have 2 cups crushed pretzels.
Place the crushed pretzels in a stand mixer and add the Biscoff, fluff, melted butter and caramel. Mix well, until batter becomes a dough like consistency and can be molded.
Using your hands or a cake pop mold, shape the batter into balls and place on wax paper. Place the balls in the fridge for 1-2 hours until they are firm.
In a deep bowl, melt the chocolate chips and the candy melt together in the microwave at 30 second intervals until melted. Stir well so there are no lumps.
Using a fork or a candy dipping tool, carefully dip the balls in the chocolate melt until well coated and then place on a clean wax paper until the chocolate hardens. If needed, place balls back in fridge for a few minutes.
Once chocolate is set, melt caramel and candy melt in microwave at 30 second intervals until melted and stir well until smooth. Place caramel in a frosting piping bag with tip or a ziplock bag snipped at the corner to drizzle the caramel over the balls. Sprinkle with toppings if desired.
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