Back in the day, college students cooked up ghastly dinners of fast-boiling rice, beans and canned mixed vegetables that I suspect were scraps from the assembly line. We dumped grated Parmesan cheese from a green cardboard jar over it. “Survival food,” we called it.
Today, students are more intentional, globally sophisticated. Recently, a grad student introduced me to the meal that sustained her and classmates: North African shakshuka, a skillet of eggs poached in tomatoes with peppers and onions, warmly spiced with cumin, paprika and cayenne. Breakfast, lunch, dinner or a midnight snack when cramming for exams. One skillet. One knife. One cutting board. An advanced degree in good eating.
Garlic, basil and red pepper flakes season the tomatoes, used as a poaching medium, for this dish, “eggs in purgatorio” named for the heat. It is often referred to as “Italian shakshuka.”
The basic dish is known internationally as a nutritious, meatless comfort food. Spices and additions vary by country. Technique and the central ingredients of eggs and tomatoes remain.
Huevos rancheros, the Mexican version, uses tomato salsa as the cooking medium, spiced with hot peppers, black beans and avocado chunks. The results are served over (or wrapped in) a warm soft tortilla.
Onions, green peppers and espelette pepper (available online) give eggs and tomatoes a French accent in piperade. Add a small baguette on the side.
Personalize it by swirling crumbled mild goat cheese or salty feta into the hot tomatoes just before adding eggs. It gives the whole thing a creamy finish. Bulk it up with protein — ground lamb, cooked chickpeas or white beans.
In other parts of the world, cooking methods vary for the eggs.
Instead of poaching the eggs, the Turkish version scrambles them into the sauce. Local pork products, chorizo sausage and serrano ham star in the classical Spanish version. A handful of peas joins the scramble of eggs and tomatoes.
Don’t like tomatoes? Instead, sauté up a base of leafy greens like kale, baby spinach or chard, singly or all together. Add a few whole fresh herb leaves, like basil, cilantro, mint or parsley. Scramble in the eggs. Maybe scatter cheese over the top? Indian food aficionados spice the greens with turmeric, cumin and chili powder.
NORTH AFRICAN SHAKSHUKA
Makes 4 to 6 servings.
Hint: To keep yolks intact, crack the eggs on a flat surface (not against the edge of the counter) and drop the contents into a cup. Slide eggs individually from the cup into the skillet. (If a yolk breaks, no worries. Just continue.) I drizzle a tiny bit of good fruity olive oil over the top.
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil, to cover the bottom of a nonstick skillet
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 red, orange or yellow bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
28-ounce can whole, peeled or chopped tomatoes
4 to 6 large eggs
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the bell pepper and onion. Cook, stirring, three to five minutes, until veggies have softened. Add garlic and spices. Cook a minute or two until the garlic gives up its aroma and turns golden. (Do not brown.)
Add tomatoes and their juices to the pan. Reduce heat to medium. Cook, stirring, five to seven minutes, breaking up large chunks of tomato with a spoon. The mixture will begin to thicken.
Using a large spoon, make four to six wells in the mixture. Drop an egg (yolk and white) into each one. Cook until whites are opaque and yolks just begin to firm up while still creamy inside.
Take the pan off the heat. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and parsley. Spoon into shallow bowls. Serve with warm pita to sop up the juices.
Linda Bassett lived in Marblehead for years and has worked as a cook, trained up-and-coming chefs, studied food history and led food tours. Her book, “From Apple Pie to Pad Thai,” is about local cooks and cooking.
