LA LA Land

I just got back from an amazing trip down to LA with the girls. Thanks to Kim for being such a wonderful host!  We lounged in the sun, ate a lot of delicious food and discovered Magnolia Bakery.  Unfortunately West Hollywood wanted a little souvenir and decided to keep my camera battery.  Sneaky! I'll have to settle for cell phone pictures for a few days until Amazon ships me a replacement.

We went to LA staple Toast for breakfast and I had to order the Shakshuka after reading the description - Exotic breakfast treat of a slow roasted tomato, peppers and garlic stew, topped with over medium eggs - delicious! Sold. Google tells me that this is a traditional Israeli dish, my guess would have been Italian except for the name. One of my favorite food websites, Smitten Kitchen was actually the first search result so I decided to follow their recipe.


Waiting for the eggs to cook

  

I wish my camera was working...

With  garlic-blasted broccoli

Shakshuka  [Eggs Poached in Spicy Tomato Sauce]

Inspired by Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• 4 tablespoons mild green chilies
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, diced (or more!)
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 6 eggs
• Fresh, chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions:  Heat olive oil in a skillet (or a wok) over medium. Add chilies and onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent and lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until garlic is soft, about 3 more minutes. Add diced tomatoes and their liquid to skillet, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, about 15 minutes. Crack eggs over sauce so that eggs are evenly distributed across the surface of the sauce. Cover skillet and cook until yolks are just set, about 5 minutes (I skipped covering the skillet). Using a spoon, baste the whites of the eggs with tomato mixture, being careful not to disturb the yolk. Sprinkle the Shakshuka with parsley and serve.  Enjoy!