(This post is sponsored by the FeedFeed and Vitamix).
My favourite weekend brunch includes this Middle Eastern egg dish called Shakshouka. This dish is a feast for the palate with a myriad of spices simmered in a slow cooked tomato sauce with an abundance of chili’s, and topped with farm fresh eggs poached directly in the pan over this magical sauce. It’s adorned with an assortment of fresh herbs and sheep’s feta cheese.
The inspiration for this dish came from a recent dinner I have with the FeedFeed and the Vitamix team here in Toronto a few weeks ago. It was a lovely dinner with the entire meal prepared with Vitamix’s Winter Spice Seasoning. Delicious notes of cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves, peppercorns and dried oranges complemented and highlighted each course. It is such a lovely spice mix that I have incorporated it into my Shakshouka recipe and can’t wait to try it next in Indian spiced chai.
This spice blend was made in my new beautiful A3500 Ascent series Vitamix machine and took less than five minutes to make! This machine is a workhorse and has been an absolute delight to use.
The features for this machine are outstanding, I’ve never had a smoothie so rich and smooth and ready in under 1 minute. My kids love it and with the pre-set program settings it’s so easy for them to use!
I hope you enjoy the recipe and when you make it, please tag me on my social channels with my hashtag, #hautesucre as I would love to see your recreations.
Winter Spiced Shakshouka Recipe
The Shakshouka sauce can be made ahead of time especially if you’re making it for a large crowd and want to prep in advance. It can be warmed up to a gentle boil, ensuring the sauce is bubbling so that the eggs set. You want the whites to be just set while the yolks are still soft and runny. There’s no other way to serve this other than with a nice chunk of bread to scoop up the sauce.
Ingredients:
3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 chiles or 1jalapeños, finely chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 tbsp sugar
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 1/2 tsp Winter Spice Seasoning
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp red chili powder (spicy kind)
1 tbsp. paprika
2 cups crushed tomatoes (passata)
2 cups cooked chickpeas, drained
1/4 cup water
4-6 large eggs
2 tbsp cilantro, dill, parsley, chopped
2 Tblsp Sheep’s Feta Cheese
Fresh crusty bread or pita
Directions:
- In a deep skillet, heat the olive oil, add onions and sugar and cook about 6 minutes until translucent (do not brown)
- Add crushed garlic, chopped chillies, and cumin seeds ~ fry 2 minutes.
- Add the Winter Spice mix and the rest of the ground spices and cook 3 minutes, stirring to incorporate everything.
- Add the crushed tomatoes, chickpeas and 1/4 cup water (if using passata, do not add additional water). Cover and cook for about 10-15 min.
- Smooth mixture into base of skillet and gently crack 4-6 eggs on top. Spoon some of the tomato sauce over and around the eggs. Immediately cover and cook approx 4-5 min or until eggs are cooked through to your desired preference (runny or semi solid yolk).
- With a large spatula, gently remove sauce and eggs onto plates and top with chopped herbs and serve with crusty bread or pita. Enjoy!
Haute Sucré 