It’s the most important meal of the day and yet, according to YouGov, us Brits tend to stick to cereal and toast for breakfast most days.
It makes sense. Life is busy, mornings are often chaos for a lot of us and who has the time to put together a proper cooked breakfast?
Well. Mary Berry does and as somebody who hates getting up earlier, I think I might just do it for this meal, especially since I don’t need to pick up any extra ingredients.
It’s hearty, healthy, has a slight kick to it and can be eaten with crusty bread. It’s called ‘shakshuka’ and Mary’s version sounds like the rich, nutritious start to the day that we all need.
A fancy breakfast that’s easy to cook and doesn’t require an extra trip to the shops for me? Sold.
Mary Berry’s simple shakshuka recipe
On her website, Mary described this dish as: “a popular Middle Eastern and North African dish, this can now be found on many breakfast menus. The name means ‘mix up’ in Arabic.”
Once you feel confident cooking it, Mary added that there are many variations and additions to this historic recipe; some add aubergine, feta or spicy sausage.
First of all, you will need a deep frying pan or sauté pan with a lid for this recipe.
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 onions, roughly chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely diced
- 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
- 1 heaped tbsp sundried tomato paste
- Scant tsp caster sugar
- 4 eggs
- 2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
Method:
- Heat the oil in a deep frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the onions and fry for 5 minutes
- Add the garlic and chilli and fry for 30 seconds
- Stir in the chopped tomatoes, sun-dried tomato paste and sugar and bring up to the boil
- Reduce the heat and simmer gently, without a lid, for about 10 minutes, until the sauce has reduced and thickened and the onion is tender
- Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Using the back of a spoon, make four dips in the sauce and carefully crack an egg into each one
- Cover the pan with a lid and simmer on the hob over a gentle heat for about 6 minutes, or until the whites are set but the yolks are runny
- Serve immediately from the pan with pitta or crusty bread
As an extra tip, Mary added that the tomato base can be made up to 8 hours ahead. Heat before adding the eggs.