This past weekend, while paying a much-anticipated visit to a cousin whose daughter happens to have the exact same birthday as me (minus 40 years), we got to talking about the issue closest to our hearts – food, of course. She then happily shared her recipe for a favorite breakfast treat before making it for us.
Although Ari, who is my first cousin once removed, is not a world traveler and was unaware of the world famous dish called Shakshuka, her breakfast version was super close to this beloved dish. As I watched her prepare our breakfast, I was reminded of all the different, delicious versions of Shakshuka that I have enjoyed over the years.
My introduction was in Cappadocia, Turkey at the 5-star luxury Gamirasu Cave Hotel, in which we had just spent a night in a completely enclosed, albeit luxurious, cave carved into a tufa mountain. The original inhabitants didn’t have the luxury of an en suite bath or electric light, but even so, I was uncomfortably conscious that we were sleeping tucked inside a mountain. Tufa is volcanic ash built up over millennia out of which the hotel spaces (previously monk cells) were carved.
Ravenous in the morning, we headed for the breakfast room that, unlike our bedroom, was open to the bright blue sky and soft warm summer breezes issuing from the verdant hills lazily rolling beyond the hotel.
We seated ourselves on brightly colored, patterned cushions, decorated with fabrics crafted by locals to cover the rough stone seats that were also carved out of the ubiquitous tufa. Our host asked what we wanted for breakfast, and we said, “Surprise us! What do you eat for breakfast?”
Without a word, we watched as he busied himself over a stovetop burner set up on the far side of the kitchen as he deftly cut onions, green peppers, and ripe red tomatoes fresh from his garden, sautéing them together in extra virgin olive oil.
As the veggies cooked, he added local spices and fresh herbs, stirring it all became a rich sauce over which he cracked eggs and placed the pan under a “salamander.” He cooked the mixture until the whites had solidified and the yokes were still soft and runny. With a smile and a warning that the pan was hot, he deposited it in front of us with a generous helping of his fabulous homemade crisp bread to sop up the oh-so-gorgeous sauce.
He graciously expressed the hope that we would enjoy this dish that the locals traditionally ate for breakfast. Like it? We loved it!
This was a never-to-be-forgotten moment in time as we sat in this cozy cave with the stunningly beautiful view before us and the aroma of fresh, lovingly prepared food. He called this heavenly dish “Menemen” in Turkish. To misquote Shakespeare: “A rose by any other name . . . is Shakshuka.”
I had this dish in many locations during my travels – all different and all wonderful. Another notable version of Shakshuka was on a visit to the exotic island of Malta.
On this occasion, our chef was from Israel, and although he made the dish with the same ingredients, his version contained tomatoes from a sauce instead of garden fresh. The eggs were immersed in the sauce until hard-cooked. Again, the dish was served with lots of freshly baked crusty bread.
It was absolutely delicious, so I understood that wherever and however the dish was prepared, it was going to always be finger-licking good.
I had yet another slightly different version in Greece. There, it’s known as “strapatsatha” and adds long slices of sweet orange or red peppers (Capsicum) and lots of white feta cheese made with milk from either sheep or goats or a blend of milk from both animals. Everything is then sprinkled with dry oregano.
Back to Ari and her version, she cut sweet and delicious Campari tomatoes, the small flavorful pomme d’amour available in most supermarkets that taste like they were just plucked off the vine. Ari’s version used iron-rich spinach and lots of dried spices, including garlic, thyme, and parsley, along with fresh basil. It was topped with grated Mozzarella and Parmesan to make her mouth-watering dish.
But if truth be known, my all-time favorite is the version that calls for sautéed onions and red bell peppers, spiced with fresh garlic, cumin, and hot paprika along with a touch of cayenne or Harissa, coarsely chopped whole plum tomatoes, eggs (of course), and covered with fresh chopped cilantro and crumbled feta cheese (lots of it)!
De rigueur is a good amount of crusty rustic bread and a hearty appetite. Bon appetit!
Barbara Angelakis is one of the founders of LuxuryWeb Magazineand its Senior Travel Writer. She travels the four corners of the world with a thirst for knowledge and a twinkle in her eye, seeking out the history of people and places and sharing her experiences. She specializes in culture and history along with luxury destinations, hotels/resorts/cruises/spas, and most recently Jewish Heritage, exploring the historical connection between Jews and their host countries. She has been recognized for outstanding coverage as “Journalist of the Year” by the Tanzania Tourist Board and is the recipient of the MTA Malta Tourism Press Award, the first American to receive this honor. For the past 25 years, Barbara has written extensively for LuxuryWeb Magazine, and her work can also be found at The Jerusalem Post, Jewish Link, Epoch Times,and Vision Times.
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