Gordon Ramsay’s green shakshuka swaps the usual tomato sauce for kale, asparagus, peas and courgette. Eggs bake on top in a herbed cream base. Ready in 20 minutes.
The recipe comes from Ramsay in 10, where he calls it extremely healthy and really quick. He also cooks it on YouTube, and the two versions differ. Those differences taught me more than either one alone.
The technique is the lid. Three minutes covered on the hob sets the whites and keeps the yolks runny. No oven involved. Ramsay’s own line in the video: “Have you ever seen an egg cook that quickly?”
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Gordon Ramsay Green Shakshuka
Course: BreakfastCuisine: North AfricanDifficulty: Easy2
servings10
minutes10
minutes620
kcal20 min
Baked eggs over greens in a cream cheese base, from the Ramsay in 10 cookbook. One pan, no oven, serves two generously.
Ingredients
100ml (scant ½ cup) double cream
60g (generous ¼ cup) cream cheese
2 tbsp chopped soft herbs (basil, chives, tarragon or parsley)
Olive oil, for frying
1 banana shallot, peeled
50g (2 oz) asparagus, trimmed
50g (2 oz) kale
100g (⅔ cup) peas
100g (scant 1 cup) sliced courgette
4 eggs
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- To serve:
3½ tbsp natural yoghurt
1 tsp chilli oil
Large handful of rocket or watercress
1 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan
Toasted sourdough or flatbreads
Directions
- Make the cream base: Whisk the cream and cream cheese together in a large bowl. Stir through the chopped herbs.
- Start the pan: Place a flameproof casserole dish over medium heat. Coat the bottom with a thin layer of olive oil.
- Build the vegetables: Grate the shallot into the dish and cook for 1 minute. Add the asparagus and cook for 1 minute, then the kale, peas and courgette for another minute.
- Add the cream: Pour in the cream cheese mixture, season with salt and pepper, and mix well.
- Cook the eggs: Make four wells in the vegetables and crack an egg into each. Cover with a lid and cook for 3 minutes, until the whites are firm and the yolks still runny.
- Finish: Off the heat, drizzle over the yoghurt and chilli oil. Sprinkle with the rocket and Parmesan, and serve with toasted sourdough or warm flatbreads.
Notes
- Ramsay says you can substitute any green vegetables you like or have in the fridge. Frozen peas work straight from the freezer.
FAQs
What does Ramsay do differently in the video version?
Plenty. He slices the shallots whole instead of grating them, adds mint to the herbs, drips infused chilli oil between the vegetable layers rather than just on top, and cracks three eggs instead of the book’s four. He also seasons every single layer as it goes in.
The book keeps it simpler and quicker. I make the book version on weekdays and add the video’s layered chilli oil at weekends, that drizzle changes the whole dish.
Why do the courgettes go in first on YouTube but last in the book?
“They’re going to take the longest to cook”, Ramsay says in the video, and he’s right. Thick angled slices need the head start. The book gets away with adding them later by slicing thin.
Cut thick, start them first. Cut thin, follow the book. Match the order to your knife work.
Can I swap in different vegetables?
Yes, and the book says so directly: use any green vegetables you have knocking around in the fridge. Spinach wilts in even faster than kale. Broccoli needs the courgette treatment, in early.
Snap your asparagus rather than cutting it, the video shows why. It breaks exactly where tender meets woody. Extra spears go into his asparagus soup the next day, another spring dish where the tips get cooked apart from the stems.
How do I keep the yolks runny?
Three minutes under the lid, no more. The trapped steam cooks the whites from above while the base bubbles below. Take the dish off the heat the moment the whites turn firm.
No lid for your casserole? An upturned frying pan does the job, that’s exactly what Ramsay uses in the video. The same rule holds for his perfectly fried egg, whites set and basted, yolk untouched.
What do you serve green shakshuka with?
Toasted sourdough or warm flatbreads, straight from the book. Rub the bread with olive oil and season it before it hits the griddle. The yoghurt on top is not optional to me, that cold tartness against the warm chilli oil makes the dish.
His spicy black beans with feta and avocado belong beside this at brunch, cumin and cinnamon warmth against all this green. And if the table is hungrier, the full English breakfast sandwich turns brunch into an event, though give it the hour and a quarter it needs.
From the same book at the other end of the day, the super green pasta blitzes the same kale into a dinner sauce. One bag of kale covers both.
