If you ogle food photos on the regular like everyone ever, you’ve probably come across Shakshuka. After initial thoughts of “HEY WHAT A FUN WORD” subside, you have a choice: Make the Shakshuka that basically just undressed you with its eyes, or button up and move along to more food porn. Being a BWOACIS (Bitch Without A Cast Iron Skillet) myself, I always thought Shakshuka was just another unreachable dream. The dragon of my post-meal stupors.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, “WOW SHAKSHUKA IS STILL SUCH A FUN WORD,” but also “Hey Molly, just buy a cast iron skillet already.” Excellent argument. But they look so heavy and I don’t have a car. The better, equally extremely obvious answer is just use a baking dish. Dipshit. So that’s what happened. What an exciting turn of events!

Let’s talk about Shakshuka (FUN!) for a bit. It’s a Tunisian dish of poached eggs in stewed onions, tomatoes, peppers, flavored mostly by cumin. Sort of a breakfast dish, sort of a breakfast-for-dinner dish, and not at all a lunch dish (you monster!), it’s a dream come true. It’s also nutritionally excellent, high in protein, low in carbs and low calorie.

I adapted my recipe from the NY Times Shakshuka with Feta by forgetting to buy a bell pepper and instead adding in Upton’s Naturals Seitan Bacon and some shakes of chives. The “bacon” adds that extra little satisfying bit of saltiness and a whole lot of extra protein. I’m not very used to cooking eggs so a couple of mine were a touch overcooked (still tasty) but the other two had that great poached egg creamy yolk that you’re looking for.

Fun Fact: this is clearly not a vegan dish. My blog is not specifically vegan – as its quiche-y origins would suggest – and, well, I’m not even a vegetarian in real life. So there’s that.

Now, in the words of the Queen of New York, “Baby, I’m just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, I shakshuka, I shakshuka.”

SHAKSHUKA with SEITAN BACON and FETA

serves 4

ingredients

1 onion, halved and sliced thin

1 package of Upton’s Naturals Seitan Bacon, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, sliced thin

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 28oz can of whole plum tomatoes, chopped with juices

salt and pepper

4 ounces feta

4 eggs

chives, chopped

Shakshuka. Shakshuka.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Set aside a baking dish or casserole dish. Congratulate yourself on not schlepping around a cast iron skillet.

Grab a wok or skillet and give a generous douse of cooking spray. Heat up to medium heat and toss in your onions. Stir them around around a bit and then lower the temperate so they can cook down gently for the next 10-15 minutes or so. They should be super soft and translucent. Meanwhile, heat up another little skillet, give it a spritz of cooking spray, and fry your seitan bacon. Cook until it’s crispy. Add it to your onions. Toss in the garlic and let it cook a minute. Add in the cumin, paprika, and red pepper flakes. Cook another minute. Add in the tomatoes and juices. Add 3/4 teaspoon or so of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Stir stir stir and simmer for about 10 minutes until it’s all thickened. Stir in the feta.

Transfer this mixture to the baking/casserole dish. Carefully crack an egg in each quarter quadrant. Top with some chives and a little more salt and pepper. Cook for 10 minutes or until the egg has just set. (Note: The NY Times recipe says 7-10 minutes, I cooked mine for like 15 minutes I think due to a couple things: 1. the baking pan – had it been in its hot skillet the whole time, I think it would have cooked faster. 2. I’m also personally very afraid of undercooked eggs because I don’t understand how eggs work. Basically just keep an eye on it.)

Serve hot.

NUTRITION

per 1/4 serving

254 calories

17g carbs

10g fat

17g protein

7g sugar

3g fiber