This fall break, I channeled my inner Alison Roman and made shakshuka (but there is a twist.)

Shakshuka is, like, the best breakfast food. It’s delicious, it’s comforting, it’s healthy but doesn’t taste healthy, and it’s indulgent but not overwhelmingly so. It’s the best morning-after food – cures a hangover just like that but is deceptively easy to prepare, and cooking time is swift – perfect to impress the person in your bed, asking dreary-eyed: do you have breakfast for me? It’s also insanely versatile, as I will demonstrate with my aforementioned twist. This recipe is by no means authentic but that’s the beauty of it: create a fancy brunch dish that you’d otherwise get for $17 plus tip plus tax with ingredients you probably already have or can buy for cheap.

Ingredients:

  • 1 can of diced tomatoes – whatever fits in your skillet
  • However many eggs you and your breakfast buddy(s) can eat
  • Meat optional but highly recommended. My favourite is Italian sausage
  • The twist: Gochugaru! Alternatively, anything spicy. Those chilli packets from pizza takeout that you throw in a drawer and give to your parents when you move out at the end of the year! Your roommate’s hot sauce! Something that you stole from John Jay’s!
  • Some type of oil
  • Garlic and onion optional

Directions:

  1. Heat up some oil in your skillet. I’m not a real chef and I also don’t know your particular stove situation so I can’t tell you how hot it should be but basically, it should be hot but not too hot – you want to brown but not burn your sausages.
  2. Remove sausages from casing and break into pieces. Brown the sausages in the oil. Optional: throw in some minced garlic and chopped onion if you had the time to chop them.
  3. Add in the gochugaru/spicy element!
  4. Once sausages are brown, pour in the can of tomatoes. Add a couple of cherry tomatoes if you have any I did and literally they made everything so much better.
  5. Cover and simmer. Crawl back in bed for 7 minutes of Grey’s Anatomy/cuddles. Or just drink some water and scroll through Reddit.
  6. TASTE. At this point, the tomatoes should taste lose the metallic canned taste and the liquidy part should have merged with the tomatoes to form a nice thick stew. SALT YOUR TOMATOES NOW.
  7. Crack your eggs into the tomato sauce!
  8. Turn the heat on low and simmer till the eggs whites are set but the yolks are jiggly. Top with whatever cheese you have. Literally anything other than the radioactive yellow stuff will work. Honestly maybe American cheese slices might taste bomb on this stuff but I’ve been too scared to try that.
  9. Make some TOAST and smear a cut clove of garlic on it. I love bread!
  10. Serve directly from the skillet. Remember to put a coaster down on your dining table so you don’t burn it.
  11. Receive compliments.

heaven via Andrew’s new phone