Shakshuka

      The first time I ever had shakshuka was my first week in the I.D.F.. I thought shakshuka was just about the worst meal you could ever have. What they had served was eggs baked over hard in tomatoe paste. Yes, baked. Later I would learn that just getting a meal from a kitchen is a treat but at the time it was pretty gross. After I had finished training, I heard some of the guys talking about Shakshuka. I told them I had it at my previous base and it was disgusting. They said Army shakshuka is not the real shakshuka. On our next weekend off one of the guys took me to a morracan/Israeli restaurant. We feasted on my first taste of real shakshuka and morracan BBQ'd organ meats (chicken livers, hearts ect.). That meal showed me what real shakshuka really was, delicious. I've tried my best to recreate a delicious shakshukah recipe. The key is making it all from scratch. 

Here's what you'll need-

About 9 Roma tomatoes

1 head of garlic 

1 poblano pepper 

1 red bell pepper sliced

1/2 of 1 onion diced

1 small zucchini 

Olive oil

A small bunch of fresh basil

1 tsp crushed red pepper

Salt and Pepper to taste

6 eggs

Preheat your oven to 425

Cut the top off the head of garlic. Place on baking sheet with tomatoes and poblano. Brush everything with olive oil and bake for about 1 hour. 

When you are about 10 minutes out, start to sauté the onion, bell pepper and zucchini in a tall sided pan.  When the tomatoes are ready, remove from oven and place in a separate pot over medium heat. Squeeze out about half of the roasted garlic into the tomatoes ( you can use all the garlic if you like a lot of garlic in your food). Add the basil, crushed red pepper and a little salt and pepper. Stew for about 5 minutes and then use an immersion blender to create a pasta sauce like consistency. When your onions are translucent and zucchini look cooked, slice the roasted poblano pepper and add to pan. Then add your tomatoe sauce. Note- you will probably have too much tomatoe sauce. I like to store the remaining in the refrigerator and serve later over pasta. Stirr the sauce and veggies together. Bring the sauce to a boil. Once boiling, make a small divet with a spoon in the sauce. Crack an egg right into the divet, careful not to crack the yolk. Repeat this step with all the eggs. Cover pan and cook just until the whites are cooked, looking like a poached egg. Scoop on to a plate (with plenty of sauce) and serve with some toasted pita. 

Enjoy

Or as we say in Israel-

!בתיאבון / beteavon!