A 'yummy' Breakfast Dish, or Brunch, or Lunch, or Dinner, or Supper, in fact Anytime!! Another of my 'Recipe in Images'

Late in starting to write this today as so busy trying to find a buyer online for some silver bits and pieces I no longer need; the cash, a necessary addition to the house purchase fund.  I am scraping together every penny at the moment; in fact, the tax man will have to wait for his share!

However, lets get on with this recipe.  @kleryk200 posted a rather interesting dish called Shatshuka.  This is a tomato based sauce which has eggs broken into it, which are then cooked in the sauce.  I really liked it but, as I am won't to do, change things and adapt to suit my taste, and it was good too!

Here is my very different interpretation of Shatshuka.

The night before, soak a dried bean of your choice for cooking the next day.  I love chickpeas so they are to be my choice.  When rehydrated, put in plenty of water and cook until soft.  Drain and leave on one side.

Remember the tip for soaking dried beans - put a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda in with the beans and cover them with boiling water.  The next day you need to thoroughly wash the beans before cooking them your usual way; otherwise they will give a slightly 'soapy' taste  to your dish if you don't rinse  them well.  Do this and the beans will cook in half the time - chickpeas especially will actually go soft!

Now, take a sausage (I use Chorizo), and slice it into rings about the size of a coin.  Put them into a large frying pan with some olive oil added, and cook until coloured on both sides.  This only takes a couple of minutes as the slices are quite thin.  When browned, take the chorizo slices out and place to one side.

I have also used 'lardons' of bacon (ham) here too; it works just as well.

In the same pan, with all of those lovely flavourings from the sausage, add chopped chilli, diced onion, and mashed garlic, to taste.  Cook on a low heat until the onions are translucent.

Then chop up about 6 large tomatoes and one pepper -  the chunks not too big as you want them to cook quickly.  

I don't even bother pealing or deseeding my tomatoes, it will all disappear within the sauce.  I do though remove the white core at the top where the stem goes, it can be bitter; just cut out a triangle when you have cut the tomato in half.

Add the tomatoes and pepper to the onion mixture in the pan with about a cup of water.  Put a lid on and simmer until your tomatoes have dropped.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

I use a large glass lid from one of my big pans to cover the frying pan.  Even if it is a little smaller than the rim of the pan it will still work as the sides slant in with a frying pan.  The glass lid enables you to see the stages of cooking without disturbing the contents of the pan.

Now add the cooked chickpeas and chorizo to the tomato sauce and stir everything together.  

Let this simmer until everything has combined into one lovely, yummy, beany sauce.  

You might want to add a little more water during this part, or your sauce might become too thick.  I like it just a bit runny.

Re-check the seasoning for the last time.

As I am on my own here, I make a large amount and put it in the fridge to use at will, or freeze bagged in portion size.

Portion your servings into a frying pan and heat until bubbling.  Add a little more water if too thick. Don't forget the coffee as the dish is nearly ready to eat!

Break your eggs on top of the bean mixture.  

Put on the lid and let the eggs cook until the whites have set - not the yolks, you want them runny.

With the glass lid on the pan the yolk of the eggs skin over beautifully, and remain runny inside; while the white cooks through quickly. 

You can grate some cheese on top at this stage and flash under a hot grill to melt the cheese until golden brown.  I decided not to today.

Plonk the pan down in the middle of the table with a large basket of thickly buttered bread chunks for dipping in the beans, and wiping up your plate at the end; it really is yummy; not really the same dish anymore, but still ........!

Eat together with this sharing pot and enjoy!!

I do not give quantities with this kind of recipe, you just use what you think you will need for the amount of people eating.

So until the next time

From 'sunny' Almeria Province, Spain - Adios Amigos. X