The Chicken or the Egg? The Brunch Princess Says “Both”

Possibly Brunch Princess
has had too much coffee

Once upon a time, I was playing an RPG with my family in which we got to choose what kind of princess we wanted to be. I chose the Brunch Princess, because brunch is tied with linner as the best meal of the day. What’s not to love? You’ve already had some coffee and time to relax, plus it sets the tone for a lounge-y, vaguely self-indulgent day. The fact that empty nesting is in the foreseeable future means that we might actually do some morning-ish entertaining (though if I’m honest, I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you). Brunch is also a good time for me to pretend I’m living out my dream of running a bed-and-breakfast, albeit with considerably less housecleaning and laundry.

While David is a committed hash brown/sausage patty/over easy eggs kind of guy, I like to venture further afield. I may or may not be embarrassed to admit how many cookbooks I have that are entirely dedicated to breakfast (thanks to a recent post-garage sale find, we have….considerably more cookbooks overall). And because I have all these single-subject cookbooks plus a ridiculous number of general cookbooks with breakfast sections, I found my new favorite recipe online.

Despite my raging, out-of-control sweet tooth, I’m really all about savory breakfasts. My actual favorite breakfast in the world is cold leftover Chinese egg rolls eaten straight from the refrigerator, but those aren’t brunch. (If you would say that they’re not breakfast either I’ll fight you.) This latest discovery, however, most definitely is brunch, or weekday breakfast or lunch or even, arguably, dinner if you paired it with a couple of sides. It’s good hot, cold, or room temperature; it scales up easily for future weekday grab-and-go breakfasts; and it’s got me experimenting with new spice mixes that I’ll probably be sharing sometime soon.

Properly it’s called Tajin Sibnekh, but I don’t speak Derja so at our house it’s That Chicken and Egg Thing, You Know, That Tunisian One. That’s a bit of a mouthful so possibly I should revisit the Derja thing. It’s inspired me to make harissa and ras el hanout, both of which are turning out to be very useful spices to have in my kitchen; while harissa in a tube is certainly easier to use, I like the flavor of the homemade version much better.

There are many versions of this dish including ones with liver (eeew) but the main ingredients seem to stay more of less the same. The hardest part is dicing the potatoes and the only trick is to spoon the chicken into the eggs a little at a time so your eggs don’t start cooking in the bowl. If I ever master a flatbread recipe it’s definitely going to be paired with this; but it really doesn’t need anything playing second fiddle. Happy brunching!

This particular version was found at allrecipes.com.

Tajin Sibnekh, or Tunisian Chicken and Eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
8 oz diced chicken breast
1 large onion, diced
1 Tbsp harissa
1 ½ tsp ras el hanout
½ cup water
1 ½ tablespoons tomato sauce (this is super annoying, so I use half that amount of tomato paste and thin it with water)
1 Tbsp butter
1 bunch fresh spinach, chopped
8 eggs (I often end up using 1 or 2 more – you should be able to see and taste egg in the final product)
1 cup frozen peas
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese (if someone is being fussy about not liking cheese you can either omit this or sneak it in when they’re not looking)
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 and grease a 9x13 baking dish. I personally like thicker slices of this so I use an 8 ½ x 11 Pyrex dish that I found at a garage sale years ago. It’s a weird size and I’ve never seen another one (granted, I haven’t really looked) but it’s great for recipes in which the standard size is just a little bit too big.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Fry the potatoes in the hot oil until golden brown and tender, about 7 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel-lined plate. Stir the chicken into the remaining oil, and cook until white on the outside, but still pink on the inside, about 2 minutes. Add the onion and continue cooking until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the harissa, ras el hanout, water, tomato sauce, and butter. Bring to a simmer, then stir in the spinach until wilted. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl until smooth. Stir in the peas, Parmesan cheese, and fried potatoes. Stir in the chicken mixture a spoonful at a time, season to taste with salt and pepper, and pour into the prepared baking dish.

Bake in preheated oven until the mixture is firm and golden brown. Check it after 15-20 minutes; it will definitely need a little more time if you’ve used a smaller pan.