Once upon a time there was a little Jewish girl living in the South and doing the best she could with what she had. She knew that bread was forbidden on Passover but didn’t quite understand that things like crispy chicken nuggets were still made out of bread products. She realized she was still breaking the laws of Passover the way most not-so-religious kids do —- whilst eating chicken nuggets from McDonald’s at an orchestra competition during her sophomore year of high school. She remembers it like it was yesterday — sitting there in her long, black satin orchestra gown-like uniform, munching on her McNuggets, telling everyone it was Passover so she couldn’t eat cheeseburgers (and feeling super holier-than-thou) when another kid looked at her and said, ‘You know there’s breading on that McNugget, right?” No. No she did not know that. Oh yeah? Well, these French fries are so let’s Super Size that, please.

Spoiler alert: that little closer orch. dork was me. Things have changed quite a bit since that time. Not only am I HIGHLY aware of the intricacies of the law of kashrut (especially Passover kashrut), but we don’t even eat at McDonald’s anymore (and if you think I didn’t mourn the loss of my usual order of a double cheeseburger, you are dead wrong). As my kids are getting older and their tastes getting pickier, cooking for Passover has required an insane amount of research and creativity. While I’m completely fine with a week of salads and the occasional matzah pizza, the kids are not-so-fine with this setup. We eat a decent amount of potatoes (we love a good DIY baked potato bar), but we also eat a decent amount of eggs. The oldest has FINALLY accepted the fact that shakshuka is incredible so last year, I started experimenting with other kinds of shakshuka. I created the recipe below based on my favorite order at our local dairy kosher restaurant except I added riced broccoli from Pardes Farms as a way to bulk it up and add some delicious texture. The addition of feta and cream and a whole load of herbs gives this spring-time treat a French meets Mediterranean flavor. I hope you enjoy!

Green Shakshuka with Riced Broccoli + Feta

Ingredients:

4 tbsp oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium onion, diced
3 cups baby spinach, chopped
1 cup Pardes Farms riced broccoli – thawed and dried*
1 cup chopped Italian parsley
1 cup chopped dill
1/4 cup white cooking wine
1 tbsp black pepper
1/2 tbsp kosher salt
1 – 2 cups heavy whipping cream (depending on your liking)
1/2 cup chopped feta cheese
1 tbsp chili flakes (optional)
4 – 5 eggs

Directions:

Place oil in medium size, oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. Place onions into skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are translucent (roughly 5 – 7 minutes). Add garlic to skillet and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Next, add the defrosted and thoroughly dried riced broccoli and saute for an additional 2 -3 minutes.

Turn the heat down to medium. Add spinach and stir quickly to make sure the spinach is evenly heated. Remember that spinach shrinks as it cooks so that’s why you’re adding so much! Immediately add all the herbs to the pan along with the spinach and stir for 2 – 3 minutes. Deglaze the pan by pouring the white cooking wine into it and sauteing the greens for 2 minutes. Season the herbs with salt and pepper and stir for an additional 30 seconds.

Turn oven on to broil. Add 1 cup of heavy cream to the pan and stir to evenly disperse. If you feel like you’d like your green shakshuka to be a little creamier, continue to add more heavy whipping cream 1/2 cup at a time making sure to stir along the way. Bring mixture to a boil and turn down to a simmer. Make 4 divets into your mixture using the back of a spoon and crack an egg into each one. Cover the pan and let simmer for 5 minutes.

After eggs have simmered on low for 5 minutes, remove cover and place under the broiler for 3 -5 more minutes, checking along the way to make sure your egg yolks are still a bit runny. Too long and your yolks will harden. Promptly remove the pan from the oven. Sprinkle chili flakes on top and serve hot with your favorite matzah!

*Dry your riced broccoli by pouring out thawed broccoli onto a dish towel. Squeeze the dish towel out over a sink as hard as you can.