
How often do you have eggs for dinner? I’ve found myself making eggs for dinner more often in the past 7 months, since I’ve started this Weight Watchers journey than I’ve ever done before.
Eggs are filling. They are full of nutrients. Eggs fit incredibly well into a weight loss program. If you’re on Weight Watchers, one egg will cost you just 2 Weight Watchers Points Plus values. If you’re counting calories, an egg is just 70 calories.
What a bargain! Now, don’t get me wrong, they’re high on the fat scale, so it’s probably not a good idea to eat them everyday, but like all food — moderation is the answer.
I’ve seen recipes for the Israeli dish called Shashuka online and in cookbooks recently and just last night came across the dish twice while catching up on the blog posts that have accumulated in my reader while I’ve been busy driving up and down the East Coast this week. I also ran across it in a fabulous new cookbook I picked up — Plenty,by Yotam Ottolenghi. More on that in a future post.
I went to bed thinking about Shashuka and thought about the dish all day today and although the recipe was right there on page 87 and in a variety of blogs I follow, I decided to make it my own using ingredients I had hanging out in my fridge.
Having been at the beach last weekend and turning right around and heading up to Pennsylvania on business for a few days, there wasn’t much in the produce drawer that was still fresh enough to cook with, but I made it work and it was as delicious as I’d imagined it would be when I was behind my desk putting together reports and wrapping up the week before heading home for the weekend.
As usual, I didn’t stay true to any one recipe. Most of the recipes I ran across called for red and yellow bell peppers which I had in the fridge, but I wasn’t in the mood for that flavor profile, so I used a nice, hot jalapeño instead. It gave the dish a little heat without the power of a bell pepper.
And instead of fresh tomatoes, which I didn’t have, I opened a tin of diced San Marzanos. The result was fabulous and it paired perfectly with a couple of roasted corn tortillas.
You’ve seen this trick here before … many times. It’s the best way to heat a tortilla if you want to reduce the number of points or calories and stay away from added fat. Just be careful — these suckers will go up in flame without warning, so they need your undivided attention.
When you get home from work or school after a busy day and you just don’t feel like futzing around in the kitchen, whip up a pan of Shashuka and tortillas for a satisfying meal that won’t wreck your weight loss progress.
~The Weight Watchers Points Plus value is 9 ~Calories 328 ~Halve the recipe and you've got a hearty brunch ~Add 1 point for each tortilla
Ingredients
1/2 teaspoon Cumin Seeds
2 teaspoons Olive Oil
1 very small Onion, sliced
2 cloves Garlic, smashed
1 Jalapeño Pepper, diced
1 12 ounce tin of plain, diced tomatoes -- preferably fire roasted
1/2 teaspoon ground Cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried Thyme or 1 sprig Thyme Leaves
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground Black Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
2 teaspoons Demerara or Brown sugar
2 Eggs
1/4 cup fresh Cilantro, roughly chopped, divided
Instructions
In a small pan, or casserole, dry fry the cumin seeds for 2 minutes on medium heat
Add oil
Add onion, garlic and jalapeño pepper and cook until translucent (sweat) for 1 - 2 minutes -- take care not to brown the onion or garlic
Add tomatoes, herbs (reserving a sprinkle of cilantro), salt and pepper and stir to combine
Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring and reducing the sauce until the tomatoes break down, adding water to thin the sauce if necessary
Taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary
Making a small indentation in the sauce with the back of a spoon, taking care not to clear the sauce to the bottom of the pan -- you want to cook the egg on top of the sauce, not on the pan
Carefully crack an egg onto the top of the sauce
A few inches apart, crack another egg
Cover and cook for 8 - 10 minutes, or until the egg is set and still shimmies when you move the pan
Remove from the heat, sprinkle the remaining cilantro on top and serve with roasted or steamed corn tortillas
http://thinrecipes.com/2011/09/24/recipe-for-shashuka/