I’ve been branching out with my cooking lately, trying to find a few new recipes to add to heavy rotation and some fun things that are slightly out of my comfort zone (read: not asian.) 😉

Monday night, we tried out a totally new dish for dinner called shakshuka. It’s basically eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce and eaten with crusty bread. It’s of Tunisian origin, but has become a popular dish in many cultures and has endless variations.

It’s pretty simple to put together too. You start by toasting the spices in oil…

Next, add diced onion and garlic and allow to soften in the spices.

When the onions are soft, add a huge can of whole peeled tomatoes and mash em’ up.

While the sauce was warming up, I got some bread ready to toast. I drizzled on olive oil and then seasoned it with salt and pepper before placing under the broiler.

Last step is to poach the eggs. You can crack them right into the sauce and just let them go until they’re as done as you like. I kept them a little runny cuz that’s how we like em’.

The original recipe calls for feta sprinkled on top, but I chose to use goat cheese and a handful of peppery arugula.

Use the toasted bread to scoop it up!

Shakshuka

A north African dish of eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce with crusty bread for dipping.

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 to 6 eggs
• 1 28oz. can whole peeled tomatoes
• 5 cloves of garlic (minced)
• half an onion (diced)
• 1 tbsp. paprika
• 1 tsp. red pepper flake
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1/2 tsp. ground coriander
• salt and pepper to taste
• top with goat cheese and arugula
• bread for dipping

Cooking Directions

1. Toast spices in olive oil. Add in onion and garlic and allow to soften.
2. Add canned tomatoes and mash into sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste. Heat through.
3. Crack eggs into sauce and allow to poach to desired doneness, at least 5 minutes.
4. Top with crumbled goat cheese and arugula.
5. Serve with toasted bread for dipping.

Protip: Let the shakshuka cool off a bit before eating. Jeff and I both burnt our hands on runny molten-hot tomato lava. It was totally worth it though, this recipe is delicious!

Who knew I could cook North African food?

What’s your favorite “ethnic” dish?

July 20, 2011 Alayna Discussion, Recipes 2 comments

Good morning!

Puffed wheat made an appearance at breakfast again. I’m in love with this stuff, it has the texture of popcorn with the flavor of wheat. I sprinkled it on top of fig yogurt with blueberries and puffed amaranth. Apparently, I really like puffed foods.

Tried something a little different for dinner last night. I make miso-glazed salmon about once every other week. As delicious as it is, it’s getting old. This time I used black bean sauce instead and it was really good!

This is the sauce, it’s very salty and slightly sour, not beany-flavored at all. I just spread a thin layer of the sauce over the salmon and baked it at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

And served it with a stir fry of yo choy sum and shiitake mushrooms…

To make this, I heat sesame oil in a wok and first stir fry the chopped yo choy sum stems. Then the mushrooms and scallions go in, followed by some pre-cooked rice. Once the rice is toasted I toss in the yo choy sum leaves and add a splash each of rice vinegar, mirin, and soy sauce. I also threw some seaweed flake and sesame seed in this one for some added flavor.

This whole dinner is done in 20 minutes. It’s one of my favorite meals to make because it takes very little effort for a very nice result. That and I love cooking with my wok, it’s a fun toy!

Today I’m polishing up a few new blog features that I’ve had in the works for a while. I completely overhauled my About page because the story I had there has absolutely nothing to do with what I blog about now. And maybe you noticed that I changed my header image. Well, I don’t like it and I’ll probably change it again soon. The bright block of green is just too jarring.

What types of header images are your favorite?

July 20, 2011 Alayna Discussion 2 comments

Here’s an awesome lunch Jeff and I had on Sunday. We had very little food in the house but I still managed to make something special out of some basic items that I usually have lying around.

I buy pre-cooked udon noodles that come in a vacuum-sealed package with a packet of soup mix. If you’ve ever had ramen noodles you’re probably familiar with that little seasoning packet it comes with. These are like that except that the seasoning packet is actually full of delicious wholesome freeze dried real food as opposed to just salt, MSG, and bouillon.

Boiled up a few eggs to add on top using the same hard-boiled egg method that I used for the Chinese tea eggs I made recently. I only needed two, the other two became snacks for later.

Liam was perched on top of the refrigerator the entire time. Whenever eggs, fish, butter, or cheese are present, he’s sure to be lurking around nearby hoping for a windfall.

See how he tries to be cute so I’ll give him a boiled egg? Weirdo.

I am so bad at peeling eggs…

The udon only really needs to heat through, if you cook it too much it will get soft and fall apart. Never mind that I did exactly that…

I swear I can get no peace from these two. Liam promptly moved himself directly under my feet as I started to slice the eggs and Lucas alighted to the top of the fridge to glower at me for not giving him any.

Lucas, I realize now that you have yet to have an egg in your life. No wonder you’re so upset! I’m obviously a bad mother.

I am such a sucker for these creamy under-boiled eggs. They tend to soak up the flavors of the broth, so yummy!

Topped it with toasted sesame seeds and shichimi togarashi, a spicy Japanese condiment made specifically for topping soups.

Udon noodles with creamy egg

An instant soup is dressed up with perfectly cooked eggs and fresh scallions.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1 package prepared udon noodles with seasoning
• 3 cups water
• 3 thinly sliced scallions
• top with sesame seeds and togarashi

Cooking Directions

1. Hard boil eggs. Peel and slice.
2. Boil noodles in water with seasonings according to package directions.
3. Top with sliced scallions, sesame, togarashi spice, and sliced egg.

This was a great way to make a special lunch out of a bunch of odds and ends. There is no shame in using packaged noodles and instant broth so long as you can find one with wholesome and authentic ingredients.

What is your favorite way to eat noodles?

July 19, 2011 Alayna Discussion, Recipes 9 comments