Shakshuka

Along with the Potato and Feta Bourekas I made Shakshuka.  This is a dish that consists of eggs baked in a sauce containing tomatoes, peppers, onions, and spices.  It originated in Tunisia but is a very popular Israeli breakfast.  If you live in NYC there are a few restaurants that serve a mean shakshuka. Hummus Place and Hummus Kitchen are two places that I know of.  I originally got the idea of making this dish when my friend Kim sent me a link from Smitten Kitchen.  It seemed pretty easy and I remember loving this dish when I was young and spent summers in Israel.  Not only is this meal delicious and easy to make, it's super healthy and low in calories too!  I basically followed Smitten Kitchen's recipe with a few minor changes and I doubled the recipe too.

Shakshuka

(makes enough sauce for 1 dozen eggs)

1/2 cup olive oil
3 Jalapenos, chopped
2 large onions, chopped
2 red peppers, chopped (optional)
2 green peppers, chopped (optional)
3 dried spicy red chilles, broken in half
10 cloves garlic, crushed then sliced
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons spicy paprika (you can use regular paprika too)
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes (omit if you don't like it too spicy)
2 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes, undrained
Kosher salt, to taste
12 eggs
1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley, for sprinkling
Warm pitas, for serving


Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add jalapenos, chiles, onions, and peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden brown, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, and paprika, and cook, stirring frequently, until garlic is soft, about 2 more minutes.

Add crushed tomatoes and their liquid to skillet along with 1 cup water, reduce heat to medium, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, about 15 minutes. Season sauce with salt.
Crack eggs over sauce so that eggs are evenly distributed across sauce’s surface. Cover skillet and cook until yolks are just set, about 5 minutes. Using a spoon, baste the whites of the eggs with tomato mixture, being careful not to disturb the yolk. Sprinkle shakshuka with parsley and serve with pitas, for dipping. Enjoy!

The recipe says to bake the eggs in a skillet, however if you don't have a large enough skillet, you can do what I did.  I made the sauce in a large pot and then transferred the sauce to a baking dish, placed the cracked eggs in the dish, and baked for about 10 minutes in a very hot oven, about 400 degrees.  Serve and Enjoy!

Whoops I forgot to take a photo of the finished dish, sorry, my friends were hungry and I was overly excited!!

Happy 100th Post!!

It's finally here!!  My 100th post!!  I celebrated this past weekend with a bunch of friends and now it's time to write all about it.  Sorry it took me so long to get it up!  Anyways, I can't believe it's been nearly 8 months of blogging!  I've had one giveaway and a couple of shout outs on Mile-Posts, a blog written by my runner friend Dorothy, and I'm scheduled to do a Thanksgiving-themed cooking demo in November!

I've cooked and baked more than ever before and have fed a lot of friends and family, and of course sisters (and brothers).  I've thoroughly enjoyed all your comments, suggestions, and ideas on the blog and on my Facebook fan page!  Please keep up all the good work and continue.  Also, if you make any of my recipes I'd love it if you could upload pictures to the FYS Facebook page.

I am currently at 192 Facebook fans.  My goal is to get many more fans and to do that I need your help!!  Please visit the page, you can access it by clicking here.  Once you are there under the profile picture (Which is a picture my new apron that I got as a gift from my friend Sarah at my 100th post celebration.) there's a link that says Suggest to Friends.  When you click on that you can invite friends to join Feed Your Sister on Facebook!  Let's see how many fans we can get together!

Now onto the menu for the 100th post celebration.  I decided on going back to my Israeli roots and making a Meditteranean/Israeli themed meal.  On the menu was potato and feta bourekas, shakshuka, and a carrot and cucumber salad.  For dessert I made a non-dairy pumpkin pie (I chose this dessert because it's one of the recipes I had to try out for the cooking demo). Here's a few pictures of some friends enjoying my good eats!

Potato and Feta Bourekas

(makes 18 bourekas)

1 box Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry, thawed

8 medium yukon gold potatoes (or any potato you like)

1 pound Israeli Feta, crumbled (or any feta you like)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup olive oil

1 egg + 1 tablespoon water, scrambled (for egg wash)

1 cup sesame seeds (for topping the bourekas)

all purpose flour for dusting

NOTE: You can either peel the potatoes before boiling or after.  If you choose to peel before boiling, peel and then cut into large chunks to speed up boiling process.  If you choose to peel them after, boil the potatoes whole and once cooked peel skins off.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Once the water is boiling, place potatoes in the pot and let cook until fork tender, about 30 minutes (or sooner if they were cut in chunks). Drain and let potatoes cool slightly and peel the skins off.  Place peeled potatoes back into the hot pot along with the olive oil, salt, and crumbled feta.  Mash together until smooth.  (If you want to make a smoother consistency you can add more olive oil or butter or cream, if you like that.)  

Set potato mixture aside.  Sprinkle flour on a marble surface or piece of parchment paper.  Roll the dough to make a large rectangle and cut pastry into 9 squares. 

Place about 2-3 tablespoons of the potato mixture in the center of each pastry square.  

Fold square corner to corner, to make a triangle shape, and seal with the prongs of a fork around the edges.

 Use a pastry brush to brush on egg wash over each bourekas and sprinkle generously with sesame seeds.

Repeat all steps using the second sheet of puff pastry from the box. 

Bake bourekas on a greased baking sheet for about 40 minutes or until golden brown.  

To Freeze: Do not bake!  Freeze them on a baking sheet for about 2 hours and then transfer frozen bourekas into ziploc bags.  To cook, thaw out and bake as directed above.

Enjoy!

Stay tuned for the other recipes coming this week!

Israeli Style Tomato and Cucumber Salad

Israeli Style Tomato and Cucumber Salad

1 container of grape tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise

5 persian cucumbers or mini seedless cucumbers, cut into large chunks (or 1 large seedless cucumber)

juice of 1 lemon

1/4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and toss to coat vegetables completely in sauce. Let sit 3-5 minutes and serve immediately!  ENJOY!