Shakshuka Plus

Last night I decided to make myself a Shakshuka, but no real surprise, I tweaked it into something a bit different. Shakshuka is "poached eggs on tomato sauce."

Most people eating shakshuka mop up the sauce with bread or pita, but since I do my best to stay away from delicious carbohydrates like breads of all varieties, I knew that I needed to add something more filling to the "sauce." And to be honest, my sauce wasn't really a sauce.

 My "sauce" consisted of two tomatoes, an onion, some garlic, a squash, a couple of slices of fresh ginger, some peppercorns and a pepper sauteed with some oil in a covered pan.

Once the vegetables were well cooked, I added the eggs and covered it again. I didn't bother making the vegetables into more of a sauce, since having something to chew is more filling. And when you're trying to lose weight, you want a low-calorie low-carb meal to be as filling as possible.

Yes, the shakshuka I made for dinner is very similar to my breakfast "vegetable omelets." But the shakshuka was made with more vegetables, and recently I've been eating a different sort of breakfast. That means that I can eat eggs as protein at other times of the day. After years of being maligned, eggs are finally being rightfully praised by nutritionists as fantastic, healthy and easy to digest proteins.

After adding the eggs, I turned off the heat, since eggs cook quickly in a hot pan. You may certainly add herbs and spices and other vegetables to your shakshuka. It's one of those great dishes that lends itself to all sorts of creativity.

My Dinner Shakshuka was delicious.

Pepper Mushroom Omelet

Most every vegetable can be added to an omelet. In this omelet, I had:

• onion
• orange pepper
• garlic
• ginger

As usual I sauteed the vegetables with some oil in a covered frying pan, and when they were almost fully cooked I added my eggs. And when the eggs were almost hard, I turned off the flame. That way they finish on their own "steam." Yes, literally.

Add your usual/favorite seasonings and enjoy!

Morning Eggs with "Trimmings"

My usual morning eggs are/is a simple oniony "sunnyside up." I don't break and beat the eggs before adding them to the sauteeing onions, which are no more than an opinion unevenly cut and placed in a frying pan with some oil and then cooked covered for a bit. When I can smell it cooking, I add the two eggs, cover again, turn off when the yolk is solid and then that's it. I sometimes (in the summer) add a tiny bit of coarse salt, coarse ground pepper and some turmeric. But the other day, I was in the mood for "adventure," so I added some green cabbage to the onion, and then when I served it, in addition to the pepper and turmeric, I added some pesto* and horseradish**.

It tasted fantastic.

*I had prepared some "instant pesto" for Shabbat, and some was leftover. 
** The horseradish had been made/prepared for Passover. My husband "grinds" the horseradish root in the coffee bean attachment to our old Passover Moulinex Blender and then adds vinegar to it. It stays fresh and potent for months stored in a glass jar in the fridge. 

Baked Onion Omelet and the Story Of Course

The other day in the middle of cooking I realized that the time had come to change gas canisters.  In Israel most of us  have individual arrangements with gas companies.  The gas company hooks up each home to a pair (or more if water and heating are done by gas) of canisters aka "balloons."  You're supposed to keep only one open at a time and then close it when it's empty, open the waiting full one and quickly call the gas company to order a new one. 

Of course there are periodic foul-ups, usually planned by "Murphy's Law," just when there's about to be a holiday and the gas can't be ordered.  It has happened to me that either we forgot to order or somehow both were open and then empty out simultaneously.  When that happens I have to get immediate help from neighbors.

Well this time when I went to change balloons, yes, the canisters, I noticed that the "full" one seemed a bit on the light or empty side.  I also smelled gas and discovered that the nob attaching it wasn't fully closed.  I closed it and then called the gas company to order more gas and complain.  I was told that I'd have to wait as few days, and he'd send an inspector to check that all the connections were good.

But in the meantime I was afraid that I'd run out of gas, so any cooking that could be done in the oven was done in the oven, including my morning eggs.

I placed a sheet of parchment paper for baking on our handleless frying pan.  As you can see above, I put the cut onion and eggs on it and dripped a bit of oil to mimic "frying."

I placed the frying pan in the oven on high with the fan going to speed things up.  It almost looks "fried."  Doesn't it?  And of course I added the usual seasonings.

My Baked Onion Omelet really tasted good!

PS the gas canister did arrive on the day promised, and so far the "almost empty canister" is still cooking...

Something Else To Waste My Time On...

Yes, the facebook stuff.

I went over to my friend sitting shiva, and again I ran back home and made her lunch. This time I cut up some onion and sliced a carrot and squash, added a garlic and oil, covered and mushed it around a bit. When it started getting soft, I added one egg, covered again and when it was ready, I put it on a disposable plate, sprinkled pepper and paprika, covered it and sent it off with my husband. So he got a double mitzvah out of his visit.

Now, I ought to make us some lunch and do the side dishes for Shabbat. Actually, it's pretty easy, sort of, since tonight we're eating at neighbors' and tomorrow we're having a few guests.