Earlier this week, Zac and I found ourselves at the end of the day without any plan for dinner– we’d spent the day building a greenhouse table (him) and getting the vegetable beds ready for fall planting (me). We were starving, and getting grouchier by the minute (I’m particularly guilty of that one). Reader, it was a moment that called for convenience food.

There’s no food more convenient than an egg, except maybe a jar of home-canned tomato sauce. Luckily, we have both in great supply here at the farm.

I’d been repeatedly running across recipes for shakshouka, the North African breakfast dish of eggs poached in tomato and pepper sauce. I showed the recipe to Zac– it’s from Yotam Ottolenghi’s wonderful cookbook Plenty– and he told me he could adapt it to work with canned tomato sauce.

Here’s what you do.

Start by toasting off the cumin seeds in dry pan. This will really build the base flavor for the entire dish.

Leave the onion and pepper sliced large because they will cook for a long time and you want them to hold their shape. I also like to leave the spicy peppers in large pieces so that the whole dish does not become too spicy but there are still burst of spicy flavor.

Now cook both types of peppers and the onions in the pan with the cumin.

Add all of the spices and the sugar to coat the cooked pepper and onions. This helps to spread the flavor and make sure they are well incorporated.

Once the spices fully coat the peppers and onions add the tomato sauce and cook slowly. Do not add eggs until the sauce doubles in thickness.

Make little nests in the sauce to hold each egg. This helps the eggs to better poach in the sauce.

Once the eggs are set, serve with some crusty or flat bread. The dish makes a great hearty breakfast or a quick solution for dinner.

Ingredients

3 bell peppers
2 small red onions
4 jalepeño peppers
1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
1 small bunch basil, minced
4 sprigs fresh thyme, minced
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon salt
2 cups plan tomato sauce
4 eggs

Recipe:

Start by toasting the cumin seeds in a dry medium sized skillet. Once the seeds start to brown and become very aromatic add large julienned onion and bell peppers. Cook on a medium low heat until the onions become translucent and the peppers begin to brown. At this point add all of the remaining dry spices, thyme, and basil. Combine until the spices cover the peppers are onions. At this point add the brown sugar stir to combine and then quickly add the tomato sauce to prevent the sugar from burning. Now reduce the pan to a low simmer and cook until the sauce becomes at least twice as thick. Once thickened remove from heat and create 4 small nests in the onions and peppers that will hold the eggs. Add each egg quickly so that they will cook at the same speed. Return the skillet to a low heat and cook for 10-12 minutes slowly simmering. Once the eggs are cooked but still runny (you can cook the eggs all they way through if you prefer) remove from heat and serve with crusty bread.