Shakshuka

A friend made this for us many years ago, and it was affectionately named “delicious breakfast.” It’s a relatively quick, simple, but delightful meal for a lazy summer Sunday brunch. (We don’t have those anymore with little kids, though, ha!) You can use any tomatoes in this recipe, we just love to flavors of the heirlooms. It makes for a thinner sauce, but we just enjoy that leftover sauce in a pasta dish another day. I also don’t really eat eggs, so I just enjoy the rest of this around the eggs, so if you are like me in that way, it’s still good. Serve with some delicious crusty bread.

• 2 pounds of heirloom tomatoes, roughly chopped

• 1 small onion or shallot finely chopped

• 1 small fennel, cored, finely chopped

• 2-4 cloves or garlic crushed

• 2 tsp cumin

• 1 TBSP harissa OR smoked paprika

• 1 tsp coriander

• 1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

• 2 TBSP olive oil

• 6 eggs (or however many you want)

• 1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

• 1 bunch parsley, finely chopped

• fresh baguette, toasted (or other delightful bread)

(The larger and wider the cooking pot you use, the more space for the eggs on top.) Sauté the onion/shallot, fennel, and garlic in olive oil until nice and soft. Add the chopped tomatoes, cumin, harissa/smoked paprika, coriander, (optional) and red pepper flakes, and let the sauce simmer for awhile on a high-ish, medium heat, probably about 10 minutes. (Stir to avoid sticking/burning on the bottom, and lower the heat if a lot of sticking is happening.) Crack the eggs around the top of the sauce, sprinkle with salt and pepper, cover the pot, lower the heat to a lower setting. Cook until the egg whites have just set, probably around 10 minutes or so. (Don’t stir the sauce once the eggs have been added.) Once the eggs are cooked, sprinkle with feta and parsley, and serve. Ladle eggs and sauce on plates to dip crusty bread into. Enjoy!