Algerian Chakchouka with Merguez and Bread

Ingredients

• 8 oz merguez sausages, cut into 1-inch lengths
• 4 large eggs
• 2 bell peppers, sliced
• 3 ripe tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tbsp neutral oil
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp harissa
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• 4 thick slices crusty bread
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges
• 1/2 tsp fine salt, plus more to taste
• 2 tbsp chopped cilantro or parsley

Steps

1. Heat the oil in a wide skillet over medium heat and brown the merguez for 5 to 6 minutes, turning, until crusted outside and the spiced red fat has rendered into the pan. Lift the sausage out and leave the fat behind.
2. Add the onion and peppers to that fat with a pinch of salt and cook for 10 to 12 minutes over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until completely soft and sweet.
3. Take the pan off the heat, add the garlic, harissa, cumin, and paprika, and stir for 20 seconds in the residual heat. Paprika and harissa scorch over a direct flame and turn the sauce bitter.
4. Return the pan to the heat, add the chopped tomatoes and the salt, and simmer for 12 to 15 minutes, until the sauce has darkened and thickened and the oil separates and pools at the edges.
5. Return the merguez to the pan and simmer for 3 minutes so its fat runs back into the sauce.
6. Make four wells in the sauce with the back of a spoon, right down to the pan, and crack an egg into each.
7. Cover and cook over low heat for 6 to 8 minutes, until the whites are fully set and opaque but the yolks still wobble when the pan is nudged. Check from 6 minutes, as carry-over heat keeps firming them.
8. Scatter with the cilantro and serve straight from the pan with the bread for scooping and lemon wedges.

Allergen note: Contains egg and gluten.

Use the listed quantities as a guide, adjust seasoning to taste, and cook proteins to a safe internal temperature.