A few weekends ago I started planning my next holiday. It was the week after I got back from my last holiday and in a state of post-holiday blues, I decided I needed to start thinking about my next travel adventure. I dont actually have another holiday booked yet or even really planned, but I still like to think about where I would like to go, who I would like to go with, when I would like to go. What I will see, what I will eat, who I will meet. For me, one of the best parts of a holiday is the planning – when a million destinations and possibilities lay in front of you. I bookmark pages, I email myself links, I jot down places in the Notes section on my phone.
One of the places on my list for my next holiday is Israel. Various movies and books, particularly cookbooks, have piqued my curiosity about this land and caused my feet to itch. Now its just a matter of sorting out when and where exactly to go – queue holiday planning! Oh, and to start saving. Yes, that might also help a little.
When I was in Melbourne recently, we went to a little cafe bar by the river for breakfast, and I ordered the Israeli breakfast dish. I strongly suspect that the name was derived because of the inclusion of hummus in the dish. I very much doubt this would be a traditional dish that one would find in Israel, I suspect that may be more along the lines of this (I will report back once I return from my trip to Israel ;) Otherwise, ingredient and presentation wise, its pretty typical of most Australia cafe egg dishes. That said, the hummus worked great and was lovely for a change to the normal hollandaise or chutney/relish that would be served alongside eggs here.
I recreated it recently, and here it is – my (not-so-traditional) Israeli breakfast dish.
Israeli breakfast dish
1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved
4 large field mushrooms, stems removed
150g baby spinach
4 free-range eggs
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
Olive oil
4 slices sourdough bread
Hummus (store bought or make your own)
Fresh oregano leaves to serve
Preheat oven to 200C (390F). Prepare a baking tray with parchment paper. Spray with olive oil and arrange tomatoes and mushrooms. Spray with extra olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Cook 25 – 30 minutes.
In a small pan over medium heat, add a small glug of olive oil. Reduce heat to low-medium, and add garlic. Cook, stirring until fragrant bu not yet starting to brown. Add spinach, stir to combine and then remove from heat (the spinach will continue to wilt from the residual heat).
Bring a pot of water to a light simmer over medium heat. Carefully add the eggs to the water, and cook 2 (for soft centres) to 4 (hard) minutes.
To serve, lightly toast sourdough and top with the hummus. Arrange tomatoes on top, and garnish with fresh oregano (you could use another herb here but I think the oregano goes particularly well). Add spinach and mushrooms to the plate. B’Teavon!
Serves 4
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