Recipes change as they cross the world and are adapted by various cookery writers, as has happened to these two breakfast dishes, writes DOMINI KEMP

IT’S FUNNY HOW some recipes make me extremely suspicious when I read them, yet others have me thinking that I’ll sail though with hardly any need for tweaking or researching. Well, two “breakfast” dishes that looked good on paper caught my eye recently and the introductions to both Skye Gyngell’s lemon and poppy seed loaf and Yotam Ottolenghi’s “Shakshuka” led me to believe they’d be worth making.

Reading Gyngell’s recipe and comparing it to a similar loaf by Diana Henry, I was worried that the cake mixture was going to be too wet. I was convinced that, in my particularly harsh oven, it was going to burn on the outside and be doughy and raw inside. But it turned out very well indeed with hardly any changes needed, and was perfect to serve as a breakfast loaf or with a cup of tea in the afternoon. Also, it didn’t require any research into provenance.

The same cannot be said for Ottolenghi’s Shakshuka, which called for saffron (which I didn’t have) and 250ml of water, which the recipe didn’t need. It also had me researching provenance on various different sites, all with conflicting stories. The dish appears to be Middle Eastern, or Tunisian. But it made its way to Israel, and the entries posted on the internet make it clear that it has very much become an Israeli dish, at least as far as Israelis are concerned. One amusing article caught my eye from Liel Leibovitz, in The Jewish Week. He was writing about a bunch of Israeli soldiers, not only stuck in a tent but also stuck for something to eat while on a month-long training exercise.

Thanks to one resourceful soldier, it looked as though breakfast was a possibility and, after garnering a few eggs and tomatoes, the soldier declared he was going to make Shakshuka.

The conversation banters along between the soldiers, each one of a different nationality and each one dismayed at the thought of another country claiming Shakshuka as its own.

There were various claims being hollered around the tent. One soldier said the dish originated in Tripoli and was brought to Israel by Libyan Jews, another that it was Moroccan. A third disagreed and said his grandmother, from the Ukraine, made the best Shakshuka, so it had to be Russian in origin. The claims continued back and forth until the soldiers eventually agreed that the best thing to do was swap recipes instead of arguing about the provenance of the dish.

The writer continues that each country’s variation was nearly identical, except for the odd pinch of salt or dash of oil. He himself comes to the conclusion that maybe Shakshuka is an “extended metaphor for Israeli society”, of “multiple origins, immigrated from different countries and cultures and . . . infused with foreign influences”. It seemed a nice way to describe such a humble dish.

Slow cooking is the key to the delicious red pepper and tomato base. I made it in a large non-stick frying pan with tall enough sides and one that a lid could fit on. This vegetarian dish has become a supper favourite instead of a breakfast one.

Shakshuka

Serves two people if you’re starving, but you could increase the eggs to six and serve three people, but have slightly less sauce

½tsp cumin seeds

50ml olive oil

2 onions, peeled and sliced

3tsp muscovado sugar

good pinch smoked paprika

4 peppers (I used 2 red and 2 yellow)

Few sprigs thyme

4-6 large tomatoes, roughly chopped

splash Tabasco sauce

salt and pepper

4 eggs

In a large non-stick, deep frying pan (which you have a lid for) dry roast the cumin for a minute or so until you get the best smell. Then add the oil and chopped onions and slowly sweat for about five minutes until they’re soft but not coloured.

Add the sugar and paprika and stir so that the sugar melts and starts to caramelise. Add the peppers after a minute and, after another minute or so, add the thyme, tomatoes and Tabasco. The heat will start to break up the tomatoes. At this stage, put the lid on, turn the heat down low and cook for about 10 minutes, occasionally stirring, until it starts to turn into a lovely thick pasta sauce. Taste and season well.

You can either cool it down now and keep until the next day, or keep going by cracking the eggs into the mixture and leaving them to “poach” on the surface of the tomato sauce. This will take a while, and I found myself tipping the pan to try and get some of the tomato juices to run over the tops of the egg whites to get cook them more. Putting a lid on also helps the eggs to cook.

When ready to serve, carefully scoop out so the eggs stay intact. Delicious with some salad and bread.

Lemon and poppy-seed loaf

Makes 6-8 slices

115g butter

275g cream flour

175g caster sugar

zest of 3 lemons

1tsp vanilla extract

2tbsp poppy seeds

2½tsp baking powder

230ml milk

4 egg whites

Icing

juice of 2 lemons

300g icing sugar

Preheat an oven to 170 degrees/gas mark three. Line the base of a 23-centimetre x 13-centimetre loaf tin with parchment paper. Butter and flour the sides. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the zest, vanilla and poppy seeds. Sieve the baking powder and flour onto the butter and sugar, beat in and then gradually add the milk and beat. Whip the egg whites until they form soft peaks and then fold into the cake mix. Pour into the tin and bake for over an hour, or until a skewer comes away clean. We covered the cake in foil towards the end, to stop it burning.

Make the icing by heating the lemon juice in saucepan and stirring in the icing sugar. When the cake has cooled, turn on to a wire rack. Serve warm with a bit of icing drizzled on top. This kept fine (without any icing) well wrapped in cling film, for a few days.

See also itsa.ie