So many places, usually available for wholesale only, or trade only, are now offering delivery to everyone. Grocers, food cupboard staples, a bit of everything.
Sous Chef have always offered this, and it’s been somewhere that I’ve created a wishlist for, but for some reason, never actually placed the order. I’m not really sure why. I suspect in part it’s because they offer so much choice, it’s really hard to narrow it down to just a few things and not the whole website. There’s a limit to what my kitchen (and bank balance) can handle.
Because that’s the thing, they have everything you could want to get creative in the kitchen. Peppers, salts, and spices. Chocolates, sweets, baking treats, tea and coffee. Even home brewing and cocktail making. I can fall down a rabbit hole of choice.
Luckily, they’ve taken the plunge for me, by offering to send me a couple of treats to play with. The first, a gorgeous blue bowl, you may have seen in previous posts, or even on social – it’s become a bit of a staple for my videos and images, here being used as a bit of an ice bucket.
The second was a real treat, nduja. This paprika laden pork is rich, spicy and soft, making it so versatile. Stir a spoonful into a pasta sauce, to add depth and spice. Slather it on toast (it works beautifully with runny poached eggs), or dollop it onto a pizza, to work it’s magic with soft creamy mozzarella.
I’ve even spiced up plain old supermarket mince with it, to turn them into spiced burgers. This little jar, goes a long way.
It’s delicious stuff. I obviously wanted to play with a recipe for it, but what? Loads has been done already. Just put ‘recipes with nduja’ into Google and there’s another rabbit hole you can lose yourself in. In my case, my veg box leapt to my rescue with a pile of fresh chard already wilting in the heatwave we’re experiencing. So I added tomatoes and a pepper, and made shakshuka.
It’s one of my favourite breakfasts. Spicy tomatoes, sweet peppers, baked eggs – keeping them runny enough to dunk thickly sliced sourdough into. Delicious.
This was a little greener than most, with the chard added, but there’s something about the bitter earthy green cutting through the sweetness of the red sauce I appreciate. Crumble on some feta, and it was a feast.
Here’s my recipe, ideal for two, to share over the breakfast table.
Shakshuka with Nduja
Ingredients
- 1 Red, orange or yellow pepper, diced.
- 1 medium onion, diced.
- 2-3 Cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1/2 tsp Ground coriander
- 1-2 tbsp Nduja (depends how spicy you like it!)
- 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
- 4 Large eggs
- Big handful of chard, stalks separated and chopped, leaves shredded
- ` tbsp Vegetable/olive/coconut oil for frying
- 100 grams Feta, crumbled
- 1 Tin of chopped tomatoes
Instructions
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Heat the oil in a large heavy frying pan, on preferably with a lid.
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Once it's nice and warm, add the onions, garlic, and spices.
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Fry gently until the onions are translucent. Then add in the nudja, and cook out. It will almost melt in the pan.
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Add the peppers and the chard stems, and cook for a minute or so, until softened.
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Now in with the chopped tomatoes, and warm through, before adding the chard leaves.
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Once the leaves are wilted and soft, check the seasoning and add salt/pepper as needed.
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Now make four spaces in the pan for the eggs. Break them in one by one. Once the whites have started to set, put the lid on the pan, and either leave it on the hob, or put it in an oven to finish cooking (190°C/Gas Mark 5) for 10-12 minutes. In either case, check it relatively often, once those whites set, you're good to go.
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Remove from the heat, remove the lid, and crumble on the feta, before serving with sourdough or flatbread, and dollops of Greek yoghurt drizzled with olive oil.
