Braised eggs with beef, smoked aubergine and tomato

For a long time, I have been wanting to make this braised eggs for sometime. You are right, I'm quite a sucker for eggs if you get what I mean :) Eggporn does get me really excited with the oozing of the egg yolk. Yums!!

This post is one of the few backposts I have and should have posted sometime back already. Yes I'm trying to get to them. Be patient, they will come shortly.

This recipe is from Yotam Ottolenghi. Although Ottolenghi was born in Jerusalem, he resided in UK but yet his cooking style is very much rooted in his Middle Eastern upbringing. Think mediterrean, you are probably somewhere there.

Ingredients:

4 aubergines
1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
1 large onion, finely chopped
6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
1/2 ground cinnamon
1/2 ground cumin
2 tsp tomato paste
300g minced beef
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 tsp finely chopped preserved lemon
4 eggs
3/4 tsp sumac paprika as I didn't have sumac
1 tbsp chopped parsley
salt and pepper

Tahini sauce:

40g tahini
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 garlic clove, crushed

Method:

1. Pierce the aubergines with a sharp knife in a few places and place each directly over a naked flame on your stovetop. Cook on medium heat for 20 minutes, turning occasionally with metal tongs until the outside is totally burnt and the aubergine starts to collapse on itself. (I didn't think this method is safe enough so I used the oven baking method) Alternatively, place the pierced aubergines on a tin foil lined tray under a hot grill in the oven for an hour, turning every 20 minutes. Remove from and place in a colander. Cut a single slit in each aubergine, from top to bottom and allow the juices to strain. Once cool enough to handle, scoop out all the flesh, avoiding all black skin, and set aside. You should have about 370g aubergine flesh. 
2. Prepare the tahini sauce by simply whisking together all the ingredients with ¼ teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of water. It needs to be thick and rich, but you may need to add a splash of water if it is stiff or too dry. 
3. Next heat up the olive oil in a medium, heavy-based frying pan. 
4. Add the onion, garlic, chilli, cinnamon and cumin and tomato paste and sauté on a medium–high heat for 6 minutes to soften and colour a bit. 
5. Add the minced beef, 1 teaspoon of salt and some black pepper and brown well, 5–6 minutes, stirring, on high heat. 
6. Mix in the tomatoes, preserved lemon and aubergine flesh and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add up to 90ml of water if the sauce is becoming very thick. 
7. Make 4 small wells in the mix and break an egg into each. Cook the eggs on low heat for about 10 minutes, until the egg whites are cooked but the yolks are still runny. 
8. Covering the pan with a lid will hasten the process but make the yolks look a bit cloudy. 
9. Remove from the heat and dot with dollops of tahini sauce, sprinkle with sumac paprika and finish with the parsley and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve at once.

As you might have guessed it, this did knock Mr G's socks off a little. It was really good and moist with the tomato paste and tahini sauce and the egg porn all over. I will definitely attempt this again. It is perfect for a lazy Sunday brunch if you ask me :) Try it. I'm sure you won't regret.

I'm submitting this post to Simply Eggcellent #13 - a celebration of eggs organized by Dominic of Belleau Kitchen.

I'm also submitting this post to Cooking with Herbs - March - Easter and Spring Herbs organized by Karen of Lavender and Lovage.