You know when you're tired, hungry, really can't be bothered to cook and you come home and all there is to eat are some moldy random vegetables in the back of the fridge, a few eggs (a couple of days off their sell by date) and a tin of chopped tomatoes? Well that is what it was like here at the Spicery today. We've run out of ingredients for the 'to do' list so it's using up time! Today we are faced with this rather uninspiring lot.....
This is when spices completely come in to their own. They can jazz up the most mundane of ingredients and rather than spending £20 on a takeaway you can make yourself a delicious meal for free! Today shakshouka is on the menu with some cumin roasted wedges on the side. The spices I used in the shakshouka were 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp smoked paprika, and 1/2 tsp chilli flakes (try the very trendy aleppo) but you can use standard paprika, ground cumin, caraway or turmeric in any combination you choose. Here is the recipe I made today but vary the veg as you like and if you have a bit of chorizo lurking in the fridge it makes a very fine addition. Shakshouka (serves 4) 4 eggs 2 cloves of garlic 1 peppers 2 onions 2 sticks of celery 400ml tin of chopped tomatoes Potatoes for 4 cut into wedges 1. Put the potatoes in an oven proof dish, add a good glug of oil, 1/2 tsp salt, some spices and cook in a hot oven for around 40 minutes until brown and crispy round the edges 2. Chop the onions, peppers, garlic and celery however you wish (it is equally delicious finely chopped or chunky) and fry them with the spices in a glug of olive oil until they are gorgeously sticky and caramelised. 3. Add the tin of chopped tomatoes and cook for another 20 minutes or so until you have a thick, rich sauce 4. Make little spaces in the sauce and crack the eggs in. Poach in the sauce until the whites are set but the yolk is still runny. Sprinkle with sumac or dukkah (if you are lucky enough to have them in your spice cupboard - if not you can try a teaspoon size pack by following this link) and serve with the potato wedges to dunk in the egg yolks. Egg and chips Spicery style!
Latest Blogs
