Sprout & Pea

When I trav­eled to Israel last April, I expe­ri­enced my own lit­tle food heaven, which included, amongst other tasty delights, a plethora of humus dishes, an intro­duc­tion to Lab­neh and one of my favorite break­fasts, Shak­shuka, or eggs baked with a tomato sauce. Upon my return to the states, I had long for­got­ten about this incred­i­ble break­fast dish, that is until some very spe­cial eggs were gifted to me. My friend and co-​​worker Corey just so hap­pens to raise (along with bees) some beau­ti­ful chick­ens in his back­yard in Brook­lyn. I’ve been beg­ging him for some fresh eggs for over a year now, and the other day, a beau­ti­ful lit­tle box of them arrived on my desk. Ecsta­tic, I knew I needed to do some­thing spe­cial with these eggs — some­thing that allowed them to shine in all of their unique fla­vor, and so my mind was brought back to Israel and the eggs baked with toma­toes. After brows­ing for a recipe, I came across another idea and decided to pur­chase a large tomato, cut the top off and crack the egg inside of it with some parme­san cheese and bake it. It’s true that fresh eggs have a much bet­ter taste. The dif­fer­ence is hard to explain but I will say that they do taste fresher with less of that “eggy fla­vor” and scent. These tasted like they were fed the healthy diet that they were. As for the dish– it was a bit lighter than the one I remem­ber in Israel but a per­fect refresh­ing and savory meal that’s great for break­fast, lunch or din­ner. Most impor­tantly, it allowed me to expe­ri­ence the home-​​raised, fresh dif­fer­ence of these spe­cial eggs. Here’s how I made this…

1 large tomato
1 egg
2 tbsp fresh grated parme­san cheese
Salt and pep­per to taste

Cut the top off of the tomato and remove any of the hard inside– leave some of the juices. Sprin­kle the inside with a lit­tle bit of the parme­san, crack the egg into the tomato and place on a bak­ing sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for about 25 min­utes. Remove from oven, sprin­kle the remain­ing parme­san on top of the egg, and bake for about another 5 min­utes or until egg whites are cooked and yolk is still a bit runny.

Egg from Corey’s chicken, next to two store bought eggs

The lit­tle chicks before they were all grown up (photo by Corey Towers)

All grown up! (photo by Corey Towers)

Only Corey would take such won­der­ful pho­tos of his chick­ens (photo by Corey Towers)