A few weeks ago, Seasonal Pantry focused on shakshuka, a dish popular throughout the Middle East in which eggs are poached in a spicy tomato sauce, often in a clay pot known as a bram. You can read that column here. If you find yourself in New York City, consider a visit to Jack’s Wife Freda, a little restaurant at 224 Lafayette St. in Soho, that has the most delicious green shakshuka imaginable. The recipe in Seasonal Pantry for green shakshuka is from the restaurant (with a few of my own variations). Typically served at breakfast, it makes a great lunch, brunch or dinner, as well, especially when you use eggs from local pastured chickens

Green Shakshuka, at Jack’s Wife Freda

Shakshuka for one, from The Good Cook’s Book of Tomatoes (Skyhorse Publishing, 2015). Photo by Liza Gershman

You can prepare shakshuka in any sturdy oven-proof container, such as a cast iron frying pan, as shown in the photo in the article. But it is even more delicious when prepared in a bram or other clay pot. A bram is an Egyptian pot, glazed on the inside but not the outside. I like to use small brams for individual servings, though you can use larger brams for family-style service. In Egypt, they are used by restaurants as to-go containers, where customers either keep them to use at home or return them to get their deposit back. When it comes to clay pots, we’re so lucky here in Sonoma County, as we have Bram Cookware, located on the square in Sonoma. The extraordinary little store has an amazing selection of clay cookware, with beams that they import directly from Egypt.

A small bram, from Bram Cookware in Sonoma