Tony Benjamin learns how to cook up a Middle Eastern classic with the help of Edna Yeffet from Bristol’s St Stephen’s Café. Pics Matt Collins.

Two years ago Israeli chef Edna Yeffet set about transforming the café at St Stephen’s Church, right in the centre of Bristol. “It was OK, a classic greasy spoon – you know, bacon butties and that – but I wanted to have somewhere offering healthier eating with good vegetarian food, freshly made. I wanted to cook the food I love, using Fairtrade food as locally sourced as possible.” It was a big change but word soon got around that the St Stephen’s café was one of the best places to get Middle Eastern food in Bristol. Edna’s homemade mezze plates, soups, wraps and other hot and cold meals have been in demand ever since, especially when summer days mean you can sit out in the church’s garden and hide from the urban bustle. For her the food is “home cooking”, the kinds of dishes she learned growing up as a Yemenite Israeli and fed to her own family in England. “Israeli cuisine is integrated and global because of all the different people who came there.”

Though this is the first café she’s ever run, Edna has worked in catering off and on since the 80s, preparing Middle Eastern foods like falafel and hummus for farm shops and delis. She’s also made arts and crafts to take round music festivals and the café’s ‘stained glass’ salt and pepper pots are a reminder of that side of her career. The dish she’s preparing – shakshuka, eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce – reminds her of those festival summers: “Shakshuka is a food you cook over a fire when you’re camping, so it was always our festival breakfast, a great start to a working day. I still think it tastes so much better outdoors than inside. It’s originally a Tunisian recipe but they eat it in a fresh baguette with lots of harissa. Jews from Tunis brought it to Israel and I cook the Israeli version, dipping pitta bread into it.”

The dish’s combination of heartiness and a spicy glow have made it an established favourite, with the adventurous few who first tasted it soon urging their friends to give it a go. Edna is very confident about its appeal: “Those that try it always come back again, you know. I even have a few addicts that eat nothing else. Maybe I shouldn’t give the recipe away, after all!”

ST STEPHEN’S CAFÉ 21 ST STEPHEN’S ST, BRISTOL, BS1 1EQ, OPEN WEEKDAYS 10AM-3.30PM (AND SATS IN SUMMER).

RECIPE Shakshuka

INGREDIENTS Serves 4

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• ½ green chilli, seeds removed & chopped
• 2 cloves garlic (optional) finely chopped
• small bunch of fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 tsp each ground cumin, paprika, garam masala
• ½ tsp salt
• 6 large ripe tomatoes chopped
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 4 large eggs

 
INSTRUCTIONS

	1	Heat the oil in a frying pan on medium/high heat.
	2	Sautee onion with chopped chilli for 5 minutes.
	3	Add garlic (if using) with half the parsley and continue frying for a couple of minutes.
	4	Stir in spices and salt, continue frying another 1 minute. Add tomatoes, stir, then cover with a lid and leave to simmer for about 10 minutes.
	5	Stir tomato puree into what should now be a wet sauce.
	6	Break the eggs into the pan a little way apart. Carefully stir to spread out the egg white but keep the yolks whole. Carry on stirring for about five minutes until the yolks are cooked.
	7	Stir in the rest of the parsley and serve in warm bowls with warmed pitta or flatbreads.

What can go wrong? “Nothing! It’s really easy – in Israel children learn to make it for themselves. You could make it simpler by using a tin of tomatoes but the fresh ones really make the flavour work.”

Pimping it up? “It doesn’t need it, but some people add chopped green or red peppers to sautee with the onion. You could put the tomatoes in hot water and peel them before chopping, I suppose!”

Matt the photographer’s verdict: “Delicious – I’m an instant fan! And it’s so simple I’m sure I would find it easy to cook.”

Copyright Tony Benjamin 2011; pics copyright Matt Collins

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