Smoky Harissa Shakshuka with Feta and Herb Yogurt

Yield: 4 servings

Brunch for friends, straight from the pan to the middle of the table. The eggs get the photos, but the sauce makes the dish, so we give it smoke and heat with harissa and smoked paprika, then cook it down until a spoon leaves a path that stays open. That thick sauce is the move that matters: it holds every egg in its own well. Feta goes on near the end so it softens without melting away. Harissa and paprika bring smoke and slow heat, tomato the brightness, feta the salt, and a lemony herb yogurt the cool, and the za'atar toast does the mopping up.

Ingredients

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Before you start

Read through the recipe before heating the skillet. Gather the skillet and lid, spoon, bowls, small cup, toaster and measured ingredients.

Directions

Eight eggs and prepared vegetables sit beside measured ground spices and an empty skillet.

Measure everything before the heat

For the whole recipe

Read through the recipe and gather the equipment. Use the ingredient lines to prepare and measure everything, keeping the harissa and spices together in a small dish and the eggs and small cup by the stove. Everything is prepared and measured before the skillet goes on the heat.

Translucent onion slices and softened red pepper strips glisten beside a wooden spoon in a skillet.

Soften the onion and pepper all the way

For each skillet

Heat 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat until it shimmers. Add the onion, bell pepper and 1/4 tsp fine salt. Cook, stirring now and then, until the pepper is limp and the onion is soft and translucent, about 10 minutes.

Why it works: soft vegetables before the tomato

Tomato acid slows softening, so a pepper that goes into the sauce firm tends to stay firm. Getting the pepper limp and the onion translucent first is what makes the sauce silky.

Garlic slices, onion and pepper strips are coated in darkened tomato paste inside a skillet.

Bloom the harissa and spices

For each skillet

Add the garlic, tomato paste, 2 tbsp harissa paste, 2 tsp smoked paprika and the cumin, and stir constantly over medium heat until the garlic smells sweet and the paste darkens a shade, about 1 minute.

House call: harissa and smoked paprika

Harissa brings chile heat with garlic and warm spice already built in, and smoked paprika adds a campfire depth plain paprika can't. Together they make the sauce taste like it cooked much longer than it did.

If it goes wrong: the paprika smells sharp

Paprika and harissa scorch fast. If the pan smells sharp or the paste starts to blacken, add the tomatoes right away to cool it down.

A wooden spoon leaves an open path through thick reduced tomato sauce in a skillet.

Cook the sauce down until the spoon path holds

For each skillet

Stir in the tomatoes with their juice, 1/4 tsp fine salt and black pepper to taste. Bring the sauce to a simmer, then turn to medium-low heat and simmer, stirring every few minutes so it does not catch, until a spoon dragged across the bottom leaves a path that stays open, about 12 to 15 minutes.

Why it works: the spoon path

A loose sauce lets the whites spread and run into each other. When a spoon dragged across the bottom leaves a path that stays open, the sauce is thick enough to hold a well, and each egg cooks as its own neat island.

A tasting spoon holds thick tomato sauce above the skillet beside salt and pepper flakes.

Stir together the herb yogurt

For the whole recipe

Meanwhile, stir about 6 oz plain whole-milk Greek yogurt, 2 tbsp fresh cilantro, 2 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, 2 tsp fresh lemon juice and fine salt to taste together in a small bowl, then refrigerate it until serving. The yogurt is smooth and flecked with green.

Swap: labneh for the Greek yogurt

The yogurt is there to cool the heat and add tang. Labneh is thicker and tangier and does the same job; loosen it with a little more lemon juice.

Eight raw eggs sit in tomato sauce wells inside a dark skillet beside an empty cup.

Taste the sauce now, while you can still stir

For each skillet

Taste the sauce over medium-low heat. Aim for bright, savory and smoky, a little sweet, with heat that builds slowly, and round rather than sharp. If it tastes flat, add fine salt to taste. If it is too mild, add harissa paste to taste. If it still tastes sharp or sour, stir in the sugar, if using, until it dissolves. The sauce tastes round and balanced.

House call: season now, not later

Once the eggs go in, the stirring is over, so this is your last real chance to fix the sauce. Taste it like a soup: salt for flat, harissa for mild, a little sugar only if it still tastes sharp.

Eight eggs have opaque whites and matte firm yolks beneath a spoon beside the lifted lid.

Make wells and slide in the eggs

For each skillet

Turn the heat to low heat and make one well in the sauce for each egg with the back of a spoon. Crack each egg into the small cup and slide it gently into a well. Season the eggs with fine salt to taste and black pepper to taste. Each egg sits whole in its own well.

Cooked eggs in tomato sauce are topped with feta and parsley, with sliced bread beside the skillet.

Cover, add the feta, cook the eggs through

For each skillet

Cover the skillet and cook over low heat until the whites around the yolks start to turn opaque. Crumble about 3 oz feta over the sauce between the eggs, cover again and cook until the whites are fully opaque with no clear, jiggly patches and the yolks are firm when pressed with a spoon, about 10 to 12 minutes in all.

If it goes wrong: the whites stay clear

The whites closest to the yolks set last. Spoon a little hot sauce over any clear patches and cover again until they turn fully opaque.

Why it works: feta under the lid

Feta added at the start of a long simmer breaks down into the sauce. Crumbled on once the whites begin to set, it warms and softens under the lid but keeps its salty, creamy bite.

Toast the bread with za'atar

For the whole recipe

Meanwhile, toast 4 slices crusty bread until golden and crisp. Brush them with extra-virgin olive oil to taste and sprinkle with 1 tbsp za'atar, if using. The toast is golden, crisp and fragrant.

Top with yogurt and herbs and serve from the pan

For the whole recipe

Take the skillet off the heat. Spoon some of the herb yogurt over the sauce, sprinkle with 2 tbsp fresh cilantro and 2 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil to taste. Serve from the skillet as 4 servings of 2 eggs each, with more herb yogurt on the side and the za'atar toast, if using. Eat the eggs right away; refrigerate only leftover sauce, and reheat it to 165°F (74°C) before cooking fresh eggs in it. The shakshuka is topped and ready to serve.

Make ahead: the sauce keeps, the eggs don't

Make the sauce and the herb yogurt ahead if you like; those are the parts that hold. Refrigerate the sauce, reheat it to 165°F before you crack fresh eggs into it, and cook the eggs only when you're ready to eat.

Make it yours: from safe to wild

Safe: stir drained chickpeas into the sauce as it reduces to turn brunch into dinner. Bolder: go green, swapping the tomatoes for wilted chard and spinach with a green chile. Wild: brown crumbled merguez first and build the sauce in its spiced fat.

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Recipe url: https://isthebestrecipe.com/breakfast/shakshuka
Name: Smoky Harissa Shakshuka with Feta and Herb Yogurt
Servings: 4
Recipe yield: 4 servings
Recipe ingredient: 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, 1 whole medium yellow onion halved and thinly sliced, 1 whole large red bell pepper stemmed, seeded and cut into thin strips, 1/2 tsp fine salt, 4 cloves garlic thinly sliced, 1 tbsp tomato paste, 2 tbsp harissa paste mild or hot, 2 tsp smoked paprika, 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1 can whole peeled tomatoes (28 ounces, 794 g) crushed by hand, with their juice, to taste black pepper freshly ground, about 6 oz plain whole-milk Greek yogurt, 4 tbsp fresh cilantro chopped, divided, 4 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley chopped, divided, 2 tsp fresh lemon juice, 8 whole large eggs, about 3 oz feta crumbled; choose feta made from pasteurized milk
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