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Bell Farm
Tomato Shakshuka
Tomatoes · Bell Peppers · Farm Eggs

This is the dish that opens America's winter board, and the one that makes the strongest case for cooking with the calendar instead of against it. Three of its ingredients — tomatoes, bell peppers, eggs — are at their best in Palm Beach County between November and February, and all three can be bought within a few miles of the farm the truck is anchored to. Below is the recipe exactly as we run it, the technique notes that make the difference at home, and the local shopping list.

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4
Servings — 6 eggs in one pan
~15 min
Prep — almost all of it knife work
~30 min
Cook, start to finish on one burner
Nov–Feb
When it belongs on the board
Bell Farm Tomato Shakshuka — six eggs poached in a cast-iron pan of crushed winter tomatoes and sliced bell peppers, topped with parsley, served with griddled cornbread
Page 2 of America's seasonal menu — the winter board's opening dish.
Why This Is a Winter Dish Here

Shakshuka travels well because it asks very little: a pan, a heat source, and tomatoes worth simmering. That last condition is the whole argument. A shakshuka made from a February tomato in most of the country is a dish built on cold storage and a long truck ride. Made in Palm Beach County in February, it is built on a tomato picked down the road that week.

South Florida's growing year runs opposite the rest of the country's — the limiting factor here is heat and water, not cold — so November through February is our peak harvest, not our off-season. Tomatoes, bell peppers, onions and the brassicas are all running hard through those months. This county grows more sugarcane, fresh sweet corn and sweet bell peppers than any other county in the United States. A dish whose two headline vegetables are winter tomatoes and bell peppers is, in this specific place, the least exotic thing on the menu.

The eggs close the loop. Six of them sit in the middle of the pan, and they are the ingredient people taste the difference in first — a pasture-raised yolk from a farm five miles away behaves differently in a hot sauce than one that has been in a distribution chain for two weeks. That is the entire reason this dish leads the winter board instead of sitting in the middle of it.

One note on what makes our version ours: we serve it with griddled cornbread rather than the pita or crusty bread you will see on most shakshuka recipes. Cornbread is what a Florida farm kitchen actually has, it griddles fast on a flat-top with a hard edge on it, and it stands up to the sauce longer than bread does when a guest is holding a plate outdoors. It is a practical choice before it is a stylistic one.

The Recipe

Bell Farm Tomato Shakshuka · Serves 4 · About 15 minutes prep, 30 minutes cook · One pan, one burner. This is the recipe as printed on page 2 of America's seasonal menu, unchanged.

Ingredients — serves 4
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 red bell pepper, sliced
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp smoked paprika, pinch chili flake
  • 1 (28 oz) can or 6 fresh tomatoes, crushed
  • 6 large eggs
  • Salt, pepper, fresh parsley
  • Griddled cornbread, to serve
Method — about 30 minutes
1 · Soften the onion and pepper
Sauté onion and pepper in olive oil 6–8 minutes until soft.
2 · Bloom the garlic and spices
Add garlic and spices, cook 1 minute.
3 · Build and thicken the sauce
Stir in crushed tomatoes, simmer 12–15 minutes until thickened.
4 · Poach the eggs in the sauce
Make 6 wells in the sauce, crack an egg into each, cover and cook 6–8 minutes until whites set.
5 · Finish and serve
Top with parsley, serve straight from the pan with griddled cornbread.
Source locally: Tomatoes & bell peppers — Swank Specialty Produce or Bedner's Farm Fresh. Eggs — Charmed Life Farm (pasture-raised, Loxahatchee). That line is printed on the menu page itself, and the addresses are in the shopping list further down.
Cook's Notes — What Actually Decides How This Turns Out

The recipe above is complete and you can stop there. These are the things we have learned running it several hundred times off a truck window, offered as general kitchen guidance rather than gospel.

1 · Thicken the sauce more than feels necessary
This is the single most common failure. Eggs release water as they cook, so a sauce that looks right before the eggs go in will be loose by the time they come out, and the wells will not hold their shape. Simmer to the point where a spoon dragged across the pan leaves a track that closes slowly rather than instantly. That is what the 12–15 minutes in step three is buying you.
2 · Use the widest heavy pan you own
Six eggs need six wells that do not touch. A 12-inch cast-iron skillet is the right tool — it is wide enough to space them and heavy enough that the sauce keeps a gentle simmer when six cold eggs land in it at once. A thin pan drops temperature the moment the eggs go in and the whites take twice as long to set, which is how yolks end up hard.
3 · Judge doneness by the whites, not the clock
Six to eight minutes covered is the range, but egg size, pan mass and how hard the sauce is simmering all move it. What you are looking for is whites that have gone fully opaque with no clear jelly at the edges, and yolks that still move when you shake the pan. Pull it there — the residual heat in a cast-iron pan keeps cooking the eggs on the way to the table.
4 · Bloom the spices, don't burn them
Step two is only a minute for a reason. Cumin, smoked paprika and chili flake need contact with hot oil to open up, and garlic needs about the same time — but paprika scorches fast and takes the whole pan bitter with it when it does. If your pan is running hot, pull it off the heat for that minute. The tomatoes go in immediately after and stop the cooking anyway.
5 · Fresh tomatoes vs. the can
The recipe gives you both because both are correct depending on the month. From roughly December through February, six crushed fresh Palm Beach County tomatoes are better than anything in a can and it is not close. Outside that window, a good 28-ounce can beats an out-of-season fresh tomato every time. Fresh tomatoes carry more water, so expect the simmer to run toward the long end of 12–15 minutes.
6 · The sauce is the make-ahead
Steps one through three hold well and improve overnight; steps four and five do not hold at all. If you are cooking for a crowd, build the sauce ahead, then reheat to a simmer and poach the eggs to order in batches. That is exactly how it works on the truck — the pan of sauce is ready before the window opens and the eggs go in when the order does.
Where to Buy the Ingredients — the Local Shopping List

Every recipe on America's menu carries a "source locally" line, because a farm-to-table claim that cannot name the farm is just a font choice. These are the growers we actually buy this dish from, and all of them are open to the public.

Swank Specialty Produce
14311 North Rd, Loxahatchee · 1.5 mi from the farm
Buy here: bell peppers and tomatoes. Our primary source for specialty and tropical produce, and the closest grower to the truck — a mile and a half of road between the field and the pan.
Bedner's Farm Fresh
10066 Lee Rd, Boynton Beach
Buy here: tomatoes, and everything else on the winter board. General produce and U-pick — tomatoes, squash, kale, corn, collards, strawberries and citrus. The right stop if you want to pick the tomatoes for this yourself.
Charmed Life Farm
Loxahatchee · about 5 mi · charmedlifefarm.com
Buy here: the eggs. Pasture-raised eggs, chicken and pork from a hyper-local Loxahatchee neighbor. Six of their eggs are the middle of this pan, and they are the ingredient most worth the drive.
The Bell Farm
16140 Okeechobee Blvd, Loxahatchee
Where the truck lives. Sugarcane is grown and pressed on-site along the west boundary — that is the cane behind the winter board's pork bowl. Visit the farm →

One honest caveat, and it is on the menu's own call sheet: the dry goods and dairy in a menu like this — cornmeal, cheese, rice, tortillas — are not part of the local sourcing plan and come through a standard wholesale distributor. We would rather say that plainly than let a "farm-to-table" label do work it has not earned. The produce, the meat and the eggs are the local part, and those are the parts that decide how the food tastes.

Would Rather Someone Else Made It?

This dish runs off the window from November through February, and it is one of the easiest things on the board to serve to a mixed crowd — vegetarian by default, hot off a pan, and eaten standing up without a knife. America the Food Truck is a state-licensed Mobile Food Dispensing Vehicle (MFD1654011) working out of The Bell Farm in Loxahatchee, and the winter calendar is the busiest one we run.

Private catering starts at $800 per event, wedding and event packages start at $2,500, and a seated private farm dinner at The Bell Farm is $150 per guest with a ten-guest minimum. The catering cost guide walks through what actually drives a quote, and the winter menu page covers what a November-to-February date means for weather, daylight and where a truck can park.

Book a Winter Date — (561) 779-3213 See All 26 Dishes & Recipes → America the Food Truck →

Tomato Shakshuka — FAQ

What is shakshuka?

Eggs poached directly in a simmered tomato and pepper sauce, spiced and served straight from the pan with something to scoop it up. It is a one-pan dish eaten across North Africa and the Middle East and now on breakfast menus everywhere, and it survives translation well because the technique is simple and the ingredients are wherever you are. Our version is built on Palm Beach County winter tomatoes and bell peppers and served with griddled cornbread instead of pita.

How long does shakshuka take to make?

About 45 minutes start to finish for four servings — roughly 15 minutes of prep, which is almost entirely dicing an onion and slicing a pepper, and about 30 minutes of cooking on one burner. The cooking breaks down as 6–8 minutes softening the vegetables, a minute on the spices, 12–15 minutes simmering the sauce, and 6–8 minutes with the eggs in.

Can I use canned tomatoes instead of fresh?

Yes — the recipe is written for either: one 28-ounce can, or six fresh tomatoes, crushed. Which is better depends entirely on the month. Between roughly December and February, fresh Palm Beach County tomatoes win easily. Outside that window a good can beats an out-of-season fresh tomato. Fresh tomatoes carry more water, so plan on simmering toward the long end of the 12–15 minutes.

Why is my shakshuka watery?

Almost always because the sauce was not reduced far enough before the eggs went in. Eggs give off water as they cook, so a sauce that looks right beforehand thins out by the end and the wells collapse. Simmer until a spoon dragged across the pan leaves a track that closes slowly. Fresh tomatoes and a lid that traps steam both push in the same direction, so reduce harder when you are using either.

How do I know when the eggs are done?

Go by the whites, not the timer. The range is 6–8 minutes covered, but egg size, pan weight and simmer strength all shift it. You want whites fully opaque with no clear jelly at the edges and yolks that still wobble when you shake the pan. Pull it there: a heavy pan carries enough residual heat to keep cooking the eggs on the way to the table, which is how yolks end up firm when you waited for them to look perfect in the pan.

What pan should I use?

The widest heavy pan you have, with a lid — a 12-inch cast-iron skillet is ideal. Six eggs need six wells that do not run into each other, and a heavy pan holds its temperature when six cold eggs go in at once. A thin, narrow pan crowds the eggs and drops heat, which stretches the set time and overcooks the yolks.

Is this recipe vegetarian?

Yes as written — vegetables, eggs, olive oil and spices, with cornbread on the side. It is the vegetarian anchor of the winter board, which is the reason it earns its place at an event: one pan feeds the vegetarians in the crowd without a separate cook line. Check the cornbread if you are cooking for someone strict about it, since recipes vary.

Can I make it ahead of time?

Make the sauce ahead, never the eggs. Steps one through three hold in the fridge and taste better the next day. Steps four and five do not hold at all — poached eggs keep cooking and go rubbery on a reheat. For a crowd, build the sauce in advance, bring it back to a simmer, then poach eggs to order in batches. That is exactly the workflow on the truck.

Why cornbread instead of pita?

Practicality first. Cornbread is what a Florida farm kitchen keeps, it takes a hard griddle mark in under two minutes on a flat-top, and it holds together under sauce longer than bread does when someone is eating off a plate outdoors at an event. Pita is perfectly correct if you are making it at home — the recipe does not depend on it either way.

Where can I buy the ingredients locally in Palm Beach County?

Tomatoes and bell peppers from Swank Specialty Produce on North Road in Loxahatchee, a mile and a half from the farm, or from Bedner's Farm Fresh on Lee Road in Boynton Beach, which also runs U-pick. Eggs from Charmed Life Farm in Loxahatchee, about five miles out, which is where ours come from. Those are the same growers named on the menu page for this dish.

When is this dish actually on the truck?

November through February, when its ingredients are harvesting here. America runs a seasonal board rather than a fixed one, so the winter dishes come off when the winter crops do. The winter menu page has the month-by-month crop calendar behind that decision, and the full seasonal menu has all 26 dishes with their recipes.

Can you cater this for an event?

Yes, in season. Private catering starts at $800 per event and wedding and event packages start at $2,500; a seated farm dinner at The Bell Farm is $150 per guest with a ten-guest minimum. America is a state-licensed Mobile Food Dispensing Vehicle (MFD1654011) and an FDACS-registered agritourism operation at 16140 Okeechobee Blvd, Loxahatchee, FL 33470. Call (561) 779-3213.

Related Reading
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The winter board's closing item and the opposite kind of cooking to this pan: baked hours ahead, sealed shut, and handed over with no plate and no fork. Its whole recipe is one problem — keeping water out of a pastry case.
Fresh Citrus Agua Fresca →
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The Full Seasonal Menu →
All 26 dishes across winter, spring, summer and fall — each page with its own recipe and its own local sourcing line, plus the call sheet of farms behind them.
Sugarcane Glazed Pork Bowl →
The next dish on the same winter board — pork shoulder simmered down in cane syrup pressed on the farm's own west boundary, over rice with snap beans and pickled cabbage.
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Winter Menu — Nov to Feb →
Why South Florida's growing year runs backwards, the winter crop calendar month by month, the six dishes it produces, and what a winter date means for weather, daylight and ground.
America the Food Truck →
The hand-converted 1979 Blue Bird bus, the booking process, the instant estimator and the licensing story. State-licensed MFD1654011, anchored at The Bell Farm.
The Bell Farm →
The Loxahatchee farm the truck is anchored to and the ground this menu starts on — farm stays, the natural spring soak, weddings and events.
Private Farm Dinner →
The seated version of the seasonal board — a farm-table meal at $150 per guest, ten-guest minimum, at the farm the produce comes from.
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Per-guest pricing, event minimums, travel and weekend fees, and worked budget examples by guest count — the money side of booking the truck.
AMERICA the Food Truck badge — farm to table, Loxahatchee FL
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