Green Shakshuka — The Dinner That Does Not Require Thinking

Last week of school. The kids are feral. The teachers are ghosts. We are all running out the clock together and pretending it's educational. I gave my class an end-of-year project where they each made a "yearbook page" about themselves — favorite food, favorite thing they learned, favorite memory. Marcus drew a picture of his mom. Aaliyah wrote five sentences about her cat. Devonte made a list of every snack I had ever given him from my desk drawer. I framed his page. It's on the wall above my desk now. It will be there for a decade.

I went over to my parents' Wednesday after work. Wally was in his chair watching the Cubs spring schedule on a delay on the TV. He was awake. He looked at me when I walked in and said "Myszka, where are the babies?" I said they're at daycare, Dziadek, but I'll bring them Sunday. He said "good." He said it like a benediction. I sat with him for an hour. We watched the game. He said the Cubs were going to be terrible this year. He always says this. He has always been right.

Mom and I made dinner together — a chicken and rice casserole, the easy one with the cream of mushroom soup and the dry rice cooked in the broth, the one Babcia Rose used to make on Sunday afternoons in the seventies. Mom said it was a "tired food." I said yes it is. We ate it at the kitchen table. Wally had a small bowl. He said "good, Patty." Mom looked at him and didn't cry, which I think was a victory.

I cooked at home Friday — a sheet pan of sausage and peppers and onions over rice, the kind of meal that feeds four people on twelve dollars. The blog post was the sheet pan: "the dinner that does not require thinking." Forty-four comments. People are tired. The blog audience is mostly tired women, which is mostly who I am writing for, which is mostly who I am.

The sheet pan sausage is what made it into the post, but it was the green shakshuka I made Sunday night — after I’d brought the kids to see Wally, after the drive home, after they were finally in bed — that I keep thinking about. One pan, a handful of greens, eggs cracked right in. The kind of meal that asks almost nothing of you and still feels like something. That’s the recipe I’m leaving you with, because I think most of you know exactly what kind of Sunday I mean.

Green Shakshuka

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 jalapeno or serrano pepper, seeded and minced
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 5 ounces baby spinach (about 4 packed cups)
• 1 can (15 ounces) white beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth or water
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped, plus more for serving
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
• Salt and black pepper, to taste
• 4–6 large eggs
• Crumbled feta cheese, for serving (optional)
• Crusty bread or pita, for serving

Instructions

1. Saute the aromatics. Heat olive oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and jalapeno and cook 1 minute more, until fragrant.
2. Add the spices. Stir in the cumin, coriander, and red pepper flakes. Cook for 30 seconds, letting the spices bloom in the oil.
3. Build the greens base. Add the spinach in large handfuls, stirring and letting each addition wilt before adding the next, about 2–3 minutes total. Stir in the white beans, broth, parsley, and cilantro. Season generously with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium-low and let the mixture simmer for 5 minutes until slightly thickened.
4. Add the eggs. Use a spoon to create small wells in the green mixture. Crack one egg into each well. Cover the pan with a lid and cook until the egg whites are set but the yolks are still runny, about 5–7 minutes. For fully set yolks, cook 2 minutes longer.
5. Serve. Remove from heat. Scatter feta and additional fresh herbs over the top. Serve directly from the pan with crusty bread or pita for scooping.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 280 | Protein: 16g | Fat: 13g | Carbs: 24g | Fiber: 7g | Sodium: 480mg