I'm traveling for work, and this project has me staying in a tiny mountain town in Treasure Valley for a few weeks. The work is hard and the hours are long, but at least it's quieter than the city and the people are a lot more friendly. And since the town is so small, there aren't any hotels to speak of....so they set me up in a small "tiny home" cabin on the hillside overlooking the construction site. It's not a bad gig.
There is one issue, though: I don't really have many food options. There's a 24-hour truck stop gas station on the interstate a few miles away, where I can get stuff like fried chicken strips and hot dogs. And there's a diner in town that makes a pretty good chicken fried steak or burger, if I can get there before it (and indeed, everything else) closes for the evening. It's fine, but not what I should be eating three times a day, every day, for weeks. Two days into the deployment, I was craving a fresh, home-cooked meal.
My cabin has a microwave, a toaster oven, and a hot plate...not much, but I can make it work. And the town does have a small grocery store with excellent produce (this is late summer in a farming community, after all). Last night after work I picked up some
beautiful heirloom tomatoes, peppers, and eggs. So what's a clever moogle to do?
Add a little olive oil, herbs, and feta, that's what.
Shakshuka
Ingredients and prep:
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion, slivered
- 1 red bell pepper, slivered
- 1 hot pepper, slivered (I think this one was a scotch bonnet?), probably optional
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp red pepper flake
- 2 Tbsp sweet paprika
- 6 very ripe tomatoes, chopped and mashed. About 4 cups of pulp? I didn't measure it.
- 6 eggs, one of mine even had a double-yolk!
- Toppings: fresh herbs (I used parsley and cilantro), cheese (I used feta), olives (I used canned black olive slices), etc., whatever you like
Instructions:
- Heat the olive oil in the battered cookware you found.
- Add the onion, peppers, cumin, and coriander. Cook about 10 minutes until the onions are lightly browned.
- Add the garlic and paprika, cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, then reduce the heat and simmer until thickened, about 20-30 minutes. I forgot to check my phone.
- Make little depressions in the mixture with the back of the spoon, and crack the eggs directly into the sauce. Spoon a little more of the bubbling sauce over the whites of the eggs, leaving the yolks uncovered.
- Cover and simmer for 8-10 minutes, or until the egg whites are set and the yolks are cooked to your liking.
- Add your toppings, and maybe drizzle with a little more of the olive oil.
- Dish it up with toasty bread.
It made enough for three breakfasts but let's be honest, it'll be gone by tomorrow morning.
Speaking of toasty bread. No bread knife? No problem! Just twist off some pieces of baguette with your bare hands, drizzle with olive oil, and cook them in the toaster oven.
imgur.com
