FOOD: Spice up family lunchtimes

My mother’s family have gathered in North Devon for a get together. We are coming together from Ireland, France, England, Serbia and South Africa. Five houses are cooking various meals every day, and it’s very exciting to ramble around and taste the various dishes.
Our house survives on staples such as kids’ pasta, plain and buttered for Louis, a tin of tomatoes simmered up with garlic and chili for Penny. Lunches are Mezze plates of fried haloumi cheese, roasted discs of sweet potato, cherry tomatoes in oil and balsamic, crusty breads and roasted red peppers.
Since we introduced a roasted red pepper hummus some month ago our house has been eating more roasted red peppers than ever! They certainly vary in sweetness and flavour, some peppers also having more retained water than others.

Lunchtime shakshuka
One red-pepper dish we keep returning to is shakshuka, meaning ‘shaken up’ in Tunisian. A Middle Eastern and North African dish originally consumed at breakfast, it can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, or supper. It is a form of poached eggs with fragrant red peppers and a tomato sauce, with influences of paprika, cumin, and cayenne. Adults love it, kids love it!

What you need
6 free-range eggs
2 red bell peppers
1 medium white onion
2 cloves garlic
1 can of chopped tomatoes
½ tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp sweet paprika
Pinch dried oregano
Handful freshly chopped coriander
Olive oil for cooking
Seasoning

What you do
Peel and chop the onion and sauté for three minutes in a pan. Add washed and finely sliced red peppers that you have deseeded and sauté for another two minutes. Peel and crush the garlic under a knife and add to the pan, and cook altogether for another three minutes.
Mix in the sweet paprika, ground coriander, ground cumin and oregano. Now place a lid on top of pan and simmer for 8-9 minutes. Remove the lids, using a spoon make wells in the mix and crack the eggs into it. Ensure there is enough liquid or oil. Cover with the lid and cook over a low heat for about 6-8 minutes, until the eggs are firm all the way through. Taste and season. Use the freshly chopped coriander to dress the servings on top.
Serve out with crusty breads – great for mopping up – or else boil some rice for a more substantial serving.
If you feel like it, add crumbled feta cheese on top for a salty, tangy taste. Healthy millennials may use sliced avocado to dress their dishes, and this works well too!

Redmond and Sandra Cabot live in Lanmore, outside Westport, with their children, Penny and Louis. Fresh, seasonal foods are their passion – shopping at country markets, growing their own veg and producing their own dips and sauces and for sale.