Baking

This is not a post about blood oranges. And no meyer lemon was harmed in the making of this dish. No bee pollen was purchased, no bizarr-o flour was milled, and no oak-tarnished wooden knives were wielded. This is a recipe for da people! Made with all that normal crap in your fridge and cooked in a regular, run-of-the-mill oven in a pretty averagely-appointed kitchen. <br /> <br />Maybe it’s the recession’s fault, or YouTube’s, or maybe I’m just getting older and this is the natural course of life, but things are getting really … simple. I mean, identity is still a toughie. But, it just costs so much to be plain these days! Food magazines charge $18 for images of a single pine cone, or a bundle of dirty carrots on a picnic bench, or just a bird, sitting there, not even flapping. The trendiest restaurants offer five items. Girls I know upcycle their grandparents’ sweaters, … “upcycle” became a word…and did you know there’s a store in the Outer Sunset that sells six oz, handleless, plain white mugs for $30? <br /> <br />And then there are some simple things that became really complicated: cleaning up your own mess – lots ‘o countries just can’t get this right; putting things back where you found them – husbands and sons everywhere, struggling with this one for eternity. Buying yogurt from the store – really? You’re going to actually make yogurt? It doesn’t…just…come like that? Bottled vinegar – I don’t want to make anything in my kitchen from scratch that requires a “mother,” unless it’s a human baby. Sometimes I just want to see recipe instructions that are under 15 words: add all the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir. Bake at 375 F. I wish that worked for everything. <br /> <br />So, look. This recipe is simple. Don’t complicate it. Make the dish and then dip some bread in it. Enjoy! <br /> <br />This recipe is adapted from Drizzle and Dip. It's my riff on her baked feta dish to make it a little more like the famous Shakshuka breakfast I grew to love while living in Jerusalem. Super grateful that I found her version for inspiration!

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