Adapted from Ottolenghi Simple

I am only one recipe into Ottolenghi’s new cookbook, Simple, but if I can get permission, we’ll have to do a whole week from that book. It looks so delicious. This is a recipe from the brunch chapter that I thought would transition great to dinner too. While leeks may not be a common ingredient in your crisper, they are worth getting to know, and perfect with eggs. They have a gentle oniony flavor, almost creamy? And you truly don’t have to do much to them to coax out their amazing flavor. His original recipe calls for preserved lemons, which I will guess you don’t have, or maybe not be an easy ingredient to procure. We’re just going to do a squeeze of lemon juice, while I know that is not the same flavor, it just simplifies things. Between the cumin seeds and za’atar, I figured we were getting exotic enough. You can find a za’atar blend at spice shops, health food stores and online. You can also make your own - a simple version being a blend of dried thyme, sesame seeds and sumac. Lastly, pressed for convenience, any dried green herb is fine, while perhaps not as interesting as the original written recipe.

The yield here may easily be halved, or braise the leeks and do less eggs than needed (as pictured, we did four and it all works out fine). Any leftover leeks are great folded into scrambled eggs, smashed onto toast or tucked into a sandwich.