Food: Easy, warming Shashuka recipe for a hearty midweek meal

I enjoy cooking but I have found it a bit tiresome planning what everyone is going to eat several times a day, taking into account each of our dietary needs, which I've talked about here, and when I'm trying to fill seemingly bottomless pits. 

I love a recipe when you can pop lots of things in one pan and it comes out tasty, bubbly and fills a bowl with comforting goodness.

I've been making Shashuka, which is an Egyptian recipe, for a long time now but I often forget about it for months and then it pops back into my head.

I do like to freestyle sometimes with cooking and this recipe works so well with that!

Recipe

I started by chopping onion and as I only had red that's what I used

I added two cloves of garlic

I had one green pepper left to use and two red chillies so off they popped into the pan too

Then I added some spices and raided the rack to add turmeric, ground ginger, ground garlic, paprika (lots) and cayenne peppers. 

I seasoned really well with salt and pepper

When the spices had cooked down and the onion was caramelised, I added a few tins of beans. I happened to have cannellini, red kidney beans and haricot in the cupboard, but I usually just add whatever is available.

Then a good squirt of tomato puree and a can of chopped tomatoes

I find a little bit of balsamic vinegar works well in most tomato based dishes as well

I then left that to cook down whilst I griddled some halloumi. Half the halloumi was sliced and half was cubed to add to the shashuka.

I added the cubed halloumi and half a block of cubed feta to the pan

Then the last step I added four eggs into little wells I made around the pan. The best way to ensure your eggs don't break is to crack them one at a time into a little bowl.

Whilst it was cooking, I opened up two white pittas and put some feta and a drizzle of honey, pinch of thyme and pinch of dried mint in each and then griddled them like a toasty.

Once the egg white had set but before the yolks had gone hard, I took it off he heat to serve up in great big pasta bowls and with a slice of halloumi and a bit of the feta and honey pitta on the side.

Absolutely yummy and a real hit with everyone. As my youngest is egg and dairy free, I simply took out a portion of shashuka before I added the cheese and egg. He then had a dollop of Koko dairy free yoghurt in the middle of his and some plain pitta.

It really feels like a warm hug of comfort and its full of filling protein to stave off the late night munchies.

What's your favourite warming dish for the whole family?