Green Shakshuka with Creamy Pesto and Feta

I first met this green shakshuka at one of my favorite brunch places in Paris. It was called green eggs and feta. It’s a simple dish consisting of baked eggs in spinach, leeks, onions, garlic with crumbled feta and pine nuts on top.

It was so damn delicious that I’ve ordered it every time I’ve been back to Paris. But I don’t get to go as often as I like. So what’s a girl to do?

Well, I’ve replicated apapted it to pig out on at home. Instead of leeks, I use a whole lot of spinach and flavor it all with a quick-and-easy pesto sauce.

Using only spinach shortens the cooking time which is great because, let’s be honest, who wants to chop a bunch of veggies in the morning? Not I. And the pesto adds a creamy flavor that makes for the perfect savory breakfast.

As you can see, it’s not really a shakshuka, per se, as there are no tomatoes. But it is wholesome, healthy, easy to make, and so delicious. Served with a side of crusty, rustic bread, it is perfection.

Green Shakshuka Ingredients

This is a simple recipe that consists of just about 3 parts – the shakshuka, the pesto, and the various garnishes.

The things that will take the most time are toasting the pine nuts (roughly 5 minutes) and making the pesto sauce (about 5 minutes). If you want to save yourself 10 minutes, use ready-made pesto sauce, straight from the jar. And skip toasting the pine nuts. They’re perfectly good raw. The toasting just adds more flavor so it’s worth it for me but it’s also totally fine to skip.

For the Shakshuka

• 1/2 onion, diced (about 3/4 cups)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 260 grams fresh baby spinach (6 cups packed)
• 3 eggs

For the Pesto

For the creamy pesto sauce, we’re going to be blending:

• 1.5 tbsp toasted pine nuts
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves, packed (about a 30 gram packet with stems removed)
• 3 tbsp of freshly grated Parmesan
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly-ground black pepper
• 50mL (almost 1/4 cup) of extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp water to help mix

I’m using a little more salt than I normally would for pesto because the spinach and onions won’t be flavored at all. There’s also no garlic included since the pesto is added at the end, with no time for the garlic to cook even a little. To avoid the spice of raw garlic, I’ve left it out of this recipe. If you don’t mind the pungent bite of raw garlic, feel free to add in a clove or two.

Toss all the ingredients into a blender or food processor and mix until blended and creamy.

For the Garnish

There’s the shakshuka itself, the pesto we’ll be adding to it, and then there are the various garnishes that take this dish from good to great. You’ll want to add:

• 1.5 tablespoons pine nuts
• 1/4 cup feta cheese
• Fresh dill

I’ve used about 1/4 cup feta cheese because I don’t want it to be overpowering but feel free to use as much as you want.

And that’s it! Let’s get to cooking some green shakshuka…

How to Make Green Shakshuka

This recipe takes around 20 minutes from start to finish but if you want to cut that in half – skip toasting the pine nuts and use a ready-made pesto sauce instead.

If you want to do it exactly how I did, here are the exact steps!

Toast the pine nuts

Start by toasting the pine nuts. We’ll need 1.5 tbsp for the pesto and 1.5 tbsp for garnish so 3 tbsp in total.

Heat a skillet over low heat. Add the pine nuts. Stir constantly. I let the pine nuts sit for a couple seconds and then stir and repeat. As you toast, the pine nuts will start smelling nutty and buttery.

The key is constant vigilance because these babies can burn fast. Toast for 3 to 4 minutes total.

When done, set aside half and put other half in the blender.

Note: It typically takes me about 4 minutes to get lightly roasted pine nuts. Because I want to avoid burning them, I usually leave it at that. The result is not so evenly toasted pine nuts. That’s good enough for me and for this dish.

But if you’re a perfectionist and have more time to spare, you can also bake them in the oven. It takes longer but can be worth it for more evenly toasted nuts. Plus, you can do a bigger batch. Just preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). When hot, put a single layer of pine nuts on a baking sheet and bake for about 4 to 5 minutes. Check frequently.

Pine nuts go from perfectly toasted to burnt rather quickly.

Blend the Pesto

The pesto is going to be quite creamy for this recipe so we’ll be whipping it up in the blender. It’s quick, easy, and results in the perfect pesto sauce for the spinach.

Fill your blender (or food processor) with:

• 1.5 tbsp toasted pine nuts
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves, packed (about a 30 gram packet with stems removed)
• 3 tbsp of freshly grated Parmesan
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly-ground black pepper
• almost 1/4 cup (50mL) of extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp water to help it all blend

Mix until blended and smooth. Set aside.

Note: We don’t want to be cooking with the pesto because the heat will change its flavor. So we’ll be adding it in right at the end, which is also the reason why we’re not using any garlic in this pesto recipe.

Make the Green Shakshuka

Heat a skillet over low-medium heat, add drizzle of oil and onions. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes until onions are softened and more translucent.

Add roughly chopped garlic and stir through to cook for another 2 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon of butter and mix through.

Then, start adding the spinach. You’ll need to do it in batches. I do it 1 to 2 cups at a time, first packing it down with my hand and then using a wooden spoon or tongs to stir the spinach so all the leaves gets exposed to the butter and heat, helping it to wilt faster.

When the pile of fresh spinach wilts and reduces, add another cup or two and so on. It takes about a minute to do each batch. The total time to cook 6 cups of spinach this way is about 5 minutes.

When the spinach is mostly wilted, clear several spots in the spinach and crack in the eggs. Put the lid on and let cook for about 3 to 4 minutes.

When the eggs are just about done to your liking, turn the heat off.

Add generous dollops of pesto on top of the spinach. Crumble as much feta as you want. Top it off with pine puts and dill. Serve immediately.

Mix the pesto as you eat so you get some pesto and feta with every bite. Use some crusty, rustic bread to soak up the sauce with!