Spring Green Menemen
Spring Green Menemen
Our wholesome Spring Green Menemen is a versatile one-pan breakfast, lunch OR dinner and checks all of the boxes: healthy, satisfying and nutrient rich!
Ingredients
- 2 TBSP olive oil
- 1 vidalia onion, sliced thinly
- 1 jalapeño pepper, deseeded and chopped
- 1 green pepper deseeded and chopped
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 4 spears asparagus chopped
- 2 green onions chopped
- 4 cups baby spinach
- 4 eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 TBSP fresh chives, minced
- 6 oz creamy plain yogurt (I used Siggi's Skyr Plain Yogurt)
- 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 TBSP garlic powder
- a sprinkle of red pepper flakes or Aleppo pepper, if available
Directions
- Step 1 Prepare your yogurt sauce by whisking yogurt with garlic powder and lemon juice. Set aside.
- Step 2 Heat olive oil in a cast iron pan over medium heat. Sauté chopped onion, garlic, jalapeño and green pepper until soft, about 3 minutes.
- Step 3 Add ground cumin and smoked paprika and cook for 1-2 more minutes, stirring frequently.
- Step 4 Add asparagus, green onions, and baby spinach and continue to sauté over medium low heat, for about 5 minutes. When the spinach is wilted, remove half of the vegetable mixture to a bowl and reserve.
- Step 5 Return pan to low heat and add beaten eggs. Cook, stirring frequently, until eggs are just barely set. This will happen fast, only about 1 minute. Immediately remove from heat and gently fold in reserved vegetable mixture. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with fresh chives, if using.
- Step 6 Serve immediately, with the yogurt sauce, hot sauce of your choice (Ssam Sauce for me!) and fresh crusty bread. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes or Aleppo pepper (optional) – ie. Turkish red pepper flakes.
Almost any food blogger these days has caught on to the shakshuka craze (and my dad on the other hand is still googling shaka-whatcha?!). This traditional Middle Easter egg dish has become so mainstream that there are even restaurants with whole menus devoted to it. So of course, I have been dying to make it myself for about the last 9 months (approximately the entire time I’ve been pregnant). But, herein lies my dilemma: the dish hinges on the fact that the eggs are perfectly poached – ie. firm whites and silky, runny yolks. Yes, this makes for one heck of a delicious dish, not to mention buzz worthy instagram photos, but it is a problem for me these days.
I’m sure most of you mama’s out there are aware that one of the big no-no’s when you’re pregnant is that you cannot eat a yolk unless it’s fully cooked, due to the risk (albeit very small) of harmful bacteria. The risk is small so I’m sure some people don’t let it stop them, but I’m too paranoid to ignore it. (I just had a romaine scare last week so don’t get me started on taking unnecessary risks!)
So what’s a chef to do?! Just suck it up and wait 6 more weeks (baby’s almost here!) OR rely on tried and true friends like my high school friend Avery, who not only remembered that I was shakshuka-deprived, but searched high and low for an appropriate substitute… enter: Menemen! Weeks after I mentioned my shakshuka dilemma in a passing comment, she sent me an article from 177milkstreet.com, featuring, you guessed it, Turkish Menemen, a dish of eggs scrambled just until barely set, which is traditionally mixed with tomatoes, chilies, and tons of olive oil.
Of course, I always want to add my own spin on our dishes, and Menemen was no exception. Since it’s spring and green shakshuka is now all the rage – I thought, why not Green Menemen?! This seemed like the perfect way to recreate this dish, satisfy my shakshuka craving and “eat the seasons!” The fun part about making this dish yourself is its versatility. Mine is spring themed, chocked full of asparagus, green onions and spinach, but you can go as crazy as you want with green veggies. Artichokes and leeks would have been great this time of year too. You really you just need to pick anything that’s in season and at this time of year the possibilities are endless.
Ready in under 30 minutes, this dish is also incredibly easy and mess-free. You can also just add more eggs and bulk up the recipe to feed a crowd. I made it on one of the my busy weeknights – when I literally had ONE hour to make dinner, feed Gryffin and then run back to work for an evening event – but it’s perfect when you’re whipping up a family weekend brunch too. I love to eat it with a side of garlic yogurt and some good crusty bread (like a homemade load from Marc’s breadmaker).
