Tom's Baked Shakshuka with Sumac & Za'atar Labneh

Tom’s Baked Shakshuka with Sumac & Za’atar Labneh

Tom Aikens

Featuring:

Tomato

Effort:

Complexity:

Cost:

In season now

Serves: 2

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 50 mins

Ingredients:

300g cherry tomatoes cut in 1/2

1 small onion, finely chopped

100ml white wine

50ml white wine vinegar

80ml olive oil

12g sea salt

2g crushed pepper

4g chopped fresh thyme

15g sugar

4 cloves garlic finely chopped

20g tomato paste

For final assembly

2 eggs

Little chili oil

50g of yogurt

Large pinch of sumac

Large pinch za'atar

3 tbsp of tomato sauce

5-6 leaves of ripped coriander

1 piece of grilled sour dough (thick slice sourdough bread, olive oil, (Maldon) sea salt)

Method:

Heat a pan on a medium heat add the olive oil and the onion, garlic, thyme salt and pepper and cook for 3-4 minutes until a little translucent but no colour at all then add the white wine and white wine vinegar reduce till it has almost all gone, add the cherry tomatoes and the sugar bring to a simmer and cook for 15 mins stirring now and again, add the tomato paste and cook for a further 15 mins then this will reduce and thicken so stir the sauce now and again, check the seasoning at the end once it has thickened.

Drizzle a 1.5cm thick cut slice of sourdough with olive oil and a little (Maldon) salt, place onto the chargrill, then caramelize well till a nice dark colour, on both sides.

Place the relish in the middle, the tomato shallot sauce around, add the ripped basil over it,, add the yogurt in the middle, sprinkle over the yogurt sumac & zaatar crack the eggs inside on top of the yogurt, season well with salt & pepper, bake for 6- mins till soft, scatter the coriander leaves over the eggs, sprinkle with more Sumac & Zaatar, drizzle in a little chili oil, place the sour dough on the side.

Engaging Kids

Kids who engage regularly with veg through veg-themed activities, such as arts and crafts, sensory experiences, growing and cooking are shown to be more likely to eat the veg they engage with. Encouraging kids to engage and play with veg is the handy first step to them developing a good relationship with veg and life-long healthy eating.

Kids in the kitchen

The eventual aim, if possible, is to get kids in the kitchen. Don’t worry, this doesn’t have to mean they are with you from start-to-end creating mess and rising stress levels! It can be as simple as giving them one small job (stirring, measuring, pouring, grating, chopping…) ideally involving veg. They can come in to do their little bit, and have fun with you for a few minutes. Getting them involved, making it playful and praising them plenty for their involvement, perhaps even serving it as dinner they “made”, makes it much more likely they will eat the food offered, not to mention teaching them important life skills. Find ideas, safety tips, videos and even a free chart in our Kids in the Kitchen section here.

Activities

While getting kids to interact with veggies for real and using their senses to explore them is best, encouraging hands off activities like arts & crafts, puzzles & games or at-home science experiments can be a great start, particularly for those who are fussier eaters or struggle with anything too sensory. Use these veg-themed activities as a stepping stone to interacting with the veg themselves. We have loads of crafty downloads here, puzzles here, and quirky science with veg here.

Sensory

Once you feel your child is ready to engage a little more, you can show them how to explore the veg you have on hand with their senses, coming up with playful silly descriptions of how a veg smells, feels, looks, sounds and perhaps even tastes. Find ideas, videos and some simple sensory education session ideas to get you started here.

Serving

The moments before food is offered can be a perfect opportunity for engagement that can help make it more likely a child will eat it! Giving children a sense of ownership in the meal can make a big difference to their feelings going into it and the pride they take in it. You know your child best, but if you aren’t sure where to start, we have some fun and simple ideas for easy roles you can give them in the serving process over here.

Tom Aikens

Tom Aikens is one of the UK’s most acclaimed British chefs. He became the youngest British chef ever to be awarded 2 Michelin stars, has opened restaurants all over the world and written 3 books.

TomAikens.co.uk

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