Today was absolutely freezing. Thankfully we didn’t have any more snow last night, I think the five or six inches which fell the day before was quite sufficient. So to chase away the cold I decided to try an Alan Coxon recipe featured the other night on Great Food Live. I’m not the greatest fan of Alan Coxon, I find watching him makes me nervous as he is so hyper on screen but I do often really like his recipes.
I liked the sound of this rich, spicy and warming stew, it seemed like my kind of no nonsense cookery.
In the original recipe Alan Coxon served the Shakshouka with a chickpea curry, fresh tomatoes, fresh mint (which I dislike) and used homemade harissa but I really wasn’t in the mood for messing around with chickpeas (besides Stewart really loathes them), I would rather used canned tomatoes when they’re not in season and I decided that store bought harissa would suffice.
So here for you folks is my take on Alan Coxon’s recipe for Shakshouka..
SHAKSHOUKA
INGREDIENTS
- 2 Skinless chicken breasts
- 1 Tin chopped plum tomatoes
- 1 Heaped Tbsp harissa paste
- 1 Tsp sugar
- 1 Red pepper, sliced
- 1 Yellow pepper, sliced
- 2 Medium onions, sliced
- 3 Cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 2 Large fresh eggs
- 2 Tbsp Fresh corriander, chopped
- Salt and pepper
- Olive oil
PREPARATION
- Heat the olive oil gently in a frying pan and add the onions, peppers and garlic. Cover with a lid and allow to cook slowly in the olive oil until soft but without colouring. (In the original recipe a tagine was used here but I just used a deep non-stick frying pan with a lid). This step will take about 15-20 minutes.
- Add the tinned tomatoes, the harissa and the sugar and mix well.
- Score each chicken breast three times and add to the pan and replace the lid. Allow the chicken to cook slowly for about 1 hour until cooked through.
- Remove the lid and add the chopped corriander, mix thoroughly.
- Make two small indentations into the sauce and crack an egg into each. Replace the lid and allow to cook for a further 5-6 minutes.
- Serve with plain boiled rice or fresh crusty bread to soak up all of the spicy sauce.
Pille | 25-Jan-07 at 8:34 pm | Permalink
I’ve heard that name shakshouka so many times (it sounds really cute when I listen to it in Estonian, if you know what I mean), but never actually eaten it! Looks lovely on your photo!
And I really-really love your new blog design!
Pamela | 25-Jan-07 at 8:41 pm | Permalink
Thanks Pille! There is a bit of a formatting problem as you can see with my posts which has presented itself since I upgraded to the new version of Wordpress this evening.
Marla | 26-Jan-07 at 1:19 am | Permalink
I usually only comment on flickr, but I thought I’d pop over here to see what looked so tasty! I don’t like mint either, and we’re not big on chickpeas, so I would have done the same thing. Nice to have a recipe that uses harissa–I bought a jar of it since I loved eating merguez w/frites (moroccan sausage and fries on a baguette) topped with harissa when I lived in Marseille.
Pamela | 26-Jan-07 at 7:11 am | Permalink
Thanks for popping over Maria!! I agree about the harissa, I’m always on the lookout for recipes which use it. The only other thing I’ve eaten using it was an Ainsley Harriott recipe involving grilled lamb marinaded in harissa and served in a toasted pitta with rocket and lemon juice. That was really good too!
Hope you visit again!
Mae | 26-Jan-07 at 10:29 am | Permalink
Shakshouka… sounds so cute indeed! The dish sounds really comforting. Especially if you have 6 inches of snow outside. I think if Jersey ever have that much snow, it would ground to a halt! Which i wouldn’t mind at all - a day off work to cuddle up in a duvet wouldn’t be so bad especially if there’s a stew cooking in the kitchen!
Brilynn | 26-Jan-07 at 5:24 pm | Permalink
Fun to say and it looks great for this cold weather!
e | 26-Jan-07 at 11:42 pm | Permalink
This dish looks delicious. I dislike mint also, so I will take your recipe variation to the kitchen. Thanks for sharing a great dinner idea.
Ellie | 27-Jan-07 at 11:18 am | Permalink
That looks and sounds delightful! Perfect meal for snowy winters!
Food Bloggin | 28-Jan-07 at 2:59 pm | Permalink
[...] If you like it spicy then you’ll enjoy this. You’ll find the recipe here. [...]
MeltingWok | 28-Jan-07 at 11:28 pm | Permalink
Delicious indeed, sure compliments the winter cold blues really well. ooh, you got a great one-pot-meal there, Pam
Thanks for sharing 
Andreas | 29-Jan-07 at 12:30 pm | Permalink
Howdy!
When I saw that recipe on Friday, I immediately printed it out. Tried it yesterday… It’s absolutely fab, especially since I like it a little spicy too(Swiss understatement of the year) and it’s ideal for lazy cooks like me Made it with rice (electric cooker) since I had no canned chickpeas and cooking up a batch would have taken too long. Sans mint, avec egg. :oD
Talking about harissa, seems us Swissies aren’t the only ones putting everything in squeezetubes: “Le Phare du Cap Bon” fills it not only in cans but also in tubes.
http://www.chilliworld.com/SP6.asp?p_id=112
Coop has it, not sure about Migros. But then there are plenty Turkish/Arab shops around…
Pamela | 29-Jan-07 at 12:42 pm | Permalink
Melting Wok - Thanks for your comments
Andreas - I agree, great lazy cook dish. I think you’ll see many more of these no hassle dishes on the leadup to the baby coming
We were busy all weekend working in the nursery and I couldn’t be bothered cooking something complicated so we had this again on Satuday lol! I did the same as you had it with rice but instead of cooking it seperately I added the rice direct to the stew and this time omitted the egg. Was delish!
joey | 30-Jan-07 at 4:55 pm | Permalink
Fantastic new blog design!
I love it! And that is one tasty looking stew…especially with the egg on top. I really love this sort of dish, except it never gets cold here! So I just have to enjoy it with the A/C 
Pamela | 30-Jan-07 at 7:15 pm | Permalink
Thanks Joey!!! Crank that A/C up and enjoy!!