Deniz's Kitchen and Good Eats

Hello everyone,

This is a classic dish from my grandma’s kitchen named menemen and have thousands of variations according to the region of Turkey. The basic idea is eggs baked in tomato sauce or simply chopped tomatoes. Considerably low in fat and high in protein. I usually prefer it to serve it in a pan and in the middle of the table, so everybody can grab a piece of fresh bread and dig in. That is the fun part of cooking for friends without stressing the plating and pace of courses like in a restaurant service. All the food is in cooked one pot, brought to table, a simple salad and fresh bread, everybody sits at the same time and serves themselves. It is supposed to be fun remember, not a show off or a challenge.

For this dish you will need;

350 ml tomato sauce (you can find my recipe in this blog)

50 gr kalamatas (unpitted)

4 eggs

50 gr preferably goat’s feta (or any kind of cheese you wish to sub)

1 jalapeno, thinly sliced

10 fresh basil leaves

Set your oven temperature to 400F. In a pan bring your tomato sauce to a gentle simmer. I always choose to use unpitted olives;  just like any other pickle, flesh exposed to acidic brine without the skin will start deteriorating the texture of the olive. Unless the brine is more salty rather than acidic, but that is a whole another subject to be studied. Olives have pits in them naturally, you might as well serve them as is.

Get the pan off the heat. Sprinkle jalapeno slices, olives, stir in the basil leaves. Make 4 small nests in the pan and crack the eggs. Sprinkle the feta cheese around. Season the eggs lightly with salt and black pepper. Put the whole pan in the oven. It should take about 7-10 minutes depending on the oven. When your egg whites are creamy and cooked, yolk is slightly thickened and runny, serve with fresh bread. The egg white texture actually resembles pasta, so it is as satisfying I would say. You can substitute any type of tomato sauce or meat ragu as you wish.

Afiyet olsun