If you can perfect the art of cooking eggs, you can ace anything in the kitchen. Or so Gordon Ramsay’s theory correctly goes. The accent here is on the perfecting.
In his own British case, Ramsey often starts his students on scrambled eggs — so easy to look at, so hard to define — and a Middle East equivalent would necessarily involve shakshuka.
Defining shakshuka is actually the easy part. The word is dreamily onomatopoeic, redolent as it is of the hot shuks of the region and their spice-filled airs, its precise culinary meaning being a dish of eggs tucked into a fiery bed of olive oil, peppers and tomatoes.
As the resident linguist at Haaretz adds, the word is also vaguely suggestive of unholy links between big business and government. This must be a joke, I guess, because corruption of any sort is of course completely and utterly unknown in Israel, the place where the dish finds some of its most enthusiastic purchase these days.
Shakshuka comes in many versions, but anything worthy of the name requires at least three things to get it halfway perfect:
SPICES
Chilies, sweet paprika, harissa and turmeric are pretty much mandatory. Claudia Roden, who’s right about almost everything, suggests smoked paprika, but she’s wrong on this, because the dish requires sweet things (including sugar) as a balance to the acidic sauce. I like turmeric for the taste and because it’s healthy.
VEGETABLES
Tomatoes, obviously, but — just as obviously — these shouldn’t be from a can. Nor should they be anything other than over-ripe. Bell peppers are usually favored as the other main vegetable ingredient, but my heretical taste runs more to mushrooms. Also, the onions work best if they’re almost overcooked during the sauté part.
EGGS
These really need to be poached. The yolks simply must be soft. For every two whole eggs, an additional yolk should also be beaten and mixed in with the sauce, which adds a creamy undertow.
Today, as noted, the dish finds one of its best homes in Israel, a country where lots of things are italicized in fire to begin with, particularly in ancient Jaffa, and it’s from there that it seems to be gaining in popularity in the coastal United States. In Israel, the Arab town of Jaffa attracts a steady stream of epicurean pilgrims for its famous (and rather overrated) Dr Shakshuka joint, which serves little else, for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
The most memorable serving I’ve enjoyed in the same city was up the road from Dr Shakshuka’s at a place called Finjan. It’s located in Jaffa’s must-see Flea Market. A few months ago I sat outside on the restaurant’s cute terrace with my friend Judith Guetta squinting at a menu that appeared to be printed in the strangest Hebrew lettering I’ve ever seen. Judith then pointed out I was trying to read it upside-down. Not that that really mattered: I knew what I was after — a “green,” or heavily spiced, shakshuka. There was nothing incomprehensible about that. It was superb.
Though shakshukologists may have their own nominees, my own pick for one of the least convincing adaptations of the dish goes to the cutely named Sweet Vanilla Café, in Wellington, New Zealand. There the “shakshuka” (at least on the morning I swung by) appeared to be like little more than a can of chopped tomatoes heated up, inexplicably topped with peanuts — peanuts! — and seasoned with a bit of salt and pepper. At first I thought I had accidentally been served a soup brewed in some student apartment. Then I discovered a couple of small eggs submerged somewhere below in the lukewarm sauce.
I really should have stayed home and done it as I did here last year for some friends in Auckland.
INGREDIENTS
* 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
* 1 medium onion, peeled and diced
* 3 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
* 1 bell pepper (red, orange or yellow), diced
* 3/4 teaspoon sweet paprika
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin
* 3/4 teaspoon turmeric
* 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
* 1-1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
* 1 teaspoon sugar
* 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
* 1 pound over-ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
* 1/2 cup heavy cream
* 3 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
* 4 eggs
* 2 egg yolks
* handful chopped coriander
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Sauté the onions for five minutes until they’re almost brown. Then add the spices, sauté for another couple of minutes, and then the tomatoes and tomato paste. Now let it simmer for eight minutes or until the sauce has thickened. (While this is happening, heat the oven to 180 degrees.)
2. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the beaten egg yolks. Now, using a spoon, make four indentations and carefully crack an egg into each. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Remove the lid, and transfer the pan (obviously it needs to be cast-iron) to the oven. Let it broil for five or so minutes, or until the whites are clearly done (keeping in mind the need to keep the yolks soft).
4. Now take it out, sprinkle on the chopped coriander and serve with brown bread, a small green salad and tahini (not the rubbish tahini they sell at most western supermarkets, but something made up from one of the imported Lebanese or Israeli brands).
Gordon Ramsay will be proud.