Moroccan Lamb Skewers

I’ve never been much of a beef fan — I’ll take the surf over the turf any day — but ever since I first went to Olga’s as a kid and had the Original Olga, I’ve been crazy about lamb. (I’d love to try mutton, but I guess I’ll have to wait until I’m in the U.K. again to find mutton on the menu.) I like lamb even better now that I can get pastured lamb directly from my farmer. Its flavor is smoother, it’s much less greasy/fatty and is therefore much nicer to press onto skewers or roll into meatballs with my hands, and it’s much more economical (and environmentally friendly) than buying grass-fed lamb shipped in from New Zealand.

These skewers are Moroccan-inspired and feature a few key spices found in North African cuisine: mint, cinnamon, cumin, and coriander. The fenugreek is a welcome addition if you have it, but don’t worry if you don’t. It is a wonderful spice, however, and complements many dishes — reminds me a little of celery salt — and you can find it at any well-stocked spice shop. Look for sumac, too! Likewise, if you’re interested in purchasing grass-fed animal products directly from farmers, you can visit your local farmer’s markets or check out sites like www.eatwild.com to find local farmers in your area. (If you live in Metro Detroit, take a gander at my “Farms & Markets” page to sample some local offerings.)

Moroccan Lamb Skewers

4 wooden skewers (NOTE: pre-soaking required, so plan accordingly!)
1 small onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 lb. ground lamb, preferably pastured
1 egg, preferably from pastured hens
1 tsp. coriander
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. dried mint (or more, if you really like mint; I use 1 full tsp.)
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. fenugreek (optional, but nice)
Sumac for garnish (optional, but has a wonderful lemony tang)

Place the skewers in a rimmed baking tray and fill the tray with enough water to cover the skewers. Soak them for a good 4 hours or even overnight to prevent them from burning when you bake them later on.

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a rimmed baking tray with aluminum foil and place an oven-safe baking rack on top of the foil. I use the same tray I soaked the skewers in — just take them out and dry off the tray.

Sautée the onions in a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil over medium heat for 3 minutes. Stir in garlic, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook for another 2 minutes or until garlic is fragrant and soft.

Slide the sautéed onion and garlic into a large mixing bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and squish everything together with your bare hands until well-blended. (This is the fun part!) Pull the meat apart into 4 equal balls. To shape them onto the skewers, fold/wrap one of the balls onto one of the skewers and massage the meat into an oblong shape, keeping the skewer in the center of the meat. The first one might be a bit tricky, but you’ll quickly get the hang of it…and if you get the meat too off-center, you can always pull it off the skewer and start over.

As you complete shaping the meat onto each skewer, place them on the rack. Be sure to space them equally apart. Bake for 20 minutes or until the tops are turning golden brown. Remove and serve immediately, garnishing with a sprinkling of sumac if you like. (There are two kinds of sumac, one poisonous and one edible. This is the edible kind.)

I chose to serve my skewer over a bed of thinly sliced cucumber that I’d tossed with sour cream. You could just as easily serve the skewer on a bed of brown rice or even chopped Romaine. Feta cheese makes a lovely accompaniment as well, particularly if you choose a sheep’s-milk feta still in the brine: just lop off an end and crumble it onto your lamb. Talk about lush Mediterranean cuisine! Leftover skewers can be refrigerated for 4 days.

Enjoy!

Summery Moroccan Lemon & Almond Soup

It’s summer, it’s hot (since when was Detroit in the middle of the Sahara?), and I’m sure I’m not the only one who doesn’t want to spend much time over a hot stove right now.  Hence, this soup!  Although it involves a bit of simmering time, the heat is on low and you don’t have to be near the stove stirring — instead, you can hang out by the cool sink and lazily rip cilantro leaves free from their stems.  This soup also has the advantage of tasting fabulous whether you serve it hot, cold, or at room temp.  (Fabulous flavors tend to happen when you use fresh ingredients like ginger root and organic lemon zest!)

Summery Moroccan Lemon & Almond Soup
Serves 2 for lunch, especially if you include some flatbread/crackers and some fresh fruit on the side.

2 cups chicken broth, preferably from free-range chickens
1 medium clove garlic, minced
About 1″ of peeled ginger root (use a paring knife to cut away the bark)
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. coriander
Zest of 1 lemon, preferably organic since you’re using the peel (if you have a microplane zester, use that to zest the lemon; if you don’t have a microplane, use a vegetable peeler and then mince the pieces of zest)
About 1 cup ground almonds (the finer the grind, the smoother the soup; coarsely ground or chopped almonds will make for a chunky soup)
Juice of 1 lemon, divided (be sure to zest the lemon before squeezing it!)
Dash of whole milk, preferably from grass-fed cows
Fresh cilantro leaves for garnish

Pour the broth into a medium pot and add the garlic. Hold a garlic press directly over the pot and press the ginger root in it to get the juice out. Discard remaining dry root. (If you get a very fresh piece of ginger and you’d like to include it all, mince the peeled root and add that instead. I usually have a hard time finding ultra-fresh ginger, so I press out the juice and skip using the fibrous strands left behind — the older the root, the more fibrous it gets.) Stir in cumin, coriander, and lemon zest. Add the almonds and half of the lemon juice.

Heat the soup over medium heat or medium-high heat just long enough to get a gentle boil, then reduce to low and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. (This is when you can casually pluck your cilantro leaves from the stems.) Remove from heat and stir in remaining lemon juice and the dash of milk. If you want a velvet-smooth soup, run the finished soup through a food processor.

Serve soup hot, cold, or at room temp, garnishing with the cilantro. Leftover soup will keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. If you’d like to make the soup again with a slightly different twist, try using fresh mint leaves in place of the cilantro.

Enjoy!

Moroccan Marinara with Sardines

When I was kid, the very concept of fish in tins was appalling.  Then I got older and realized that a can is no different than a tin and that many delicious tuna sandwiches had gone from a metal container — albeit round, not rectangular — to my plate.  I always loved my mom’s Caesar salads, too, and one day realized that the magical ingredient was anchovies … from a tin.  And what about those fantastic crab dips and cakes?  They came from circular tins.

Then I lived in Germany and got to really like pickled herring.  Okay, it’s packed in glass jars rather than tins, but it still fits the oddly-packaged-fish bill.  The tiny (canned!) shrimp I recently discovered at Trader Joe’s were another revelation.

At this point, I have given up my prejudices against seafood in tins.  Or cans, or jars.  (Fish sauce is fermented fish that’s been liquified and bottled, and I like that, too.)  Hence, I decided to try tinned sardines: they’re inexpensive, nutritious, and sustainable.  Might as well give it a go.  And seeing as Moroccans are among the world’s most prolific exporters and enthusiastic connoisseurs of sardines, I figured I’d prepare the little tinned guys in a Moroccan setting.

You know what?  Tinned sardines are pretty darned good!

Moroccan Marinara with Sardines
Serves 2; recipe can easily be doubled or tripled.

2 servings whole-grain pasta, either store-bought or home-made (I used thick gluten-free noodles that I made from brown rice and flaxseed flours, then cut into wide strips)
Drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large pepper OR two small ones, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
4 large tomatoes, chopped
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. coriander
1/4 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. sweet paprika
4 tinned sardines
Juice from 1/2 lemon
Handful of fresh cilantro, chopped

Prepare pasta according to package directions. While pasta is simmering, heat oil in a large skillet for 1 minute. Add onion and pepper and cook for 4-5 minutes or until both have softened. Stir in garlic, tomatoes, and spices and cook for another minute over medium heat, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in sardines and lemon juice for the final minute of cooking. Remove pan from heat and stir in cilantro. (Adding the lemon and cilantro at the very end means their flavors will be present rather than cooked out.) Salt to taste — tinned sardines are pretty salty, so you may not need to add any more salt.

Toss sauce with the fresh-cooked pasta, garnish with additional cilantro if you like, and serve immediately. A tangy Mediterranean cheese like Feta would be a nice accompaniment, and/or a simple leaf side salad dressed with a bit of extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. And if you have leftover sauce, don’t worry — this is the kind of sauce that’s actually better the next day, after the flavors have had a chance to marry.

Enjoy!

Moroccan Salad with Preserved Lemons

Preserved lemons are one of the unique flavors of Moroccan cuisine — you find them in tagines, stews, sauces, and simply served on the side as a garnish.  I finally got around to making a batch of my own and have since been sampling them in whatever strikes my fancy.  In this case, I wanted to see what they’d be like in a salad when I paired them with pinenuts, beets, and tomatoes.  The verdict?  A tart-sweetness that blends wonderfully with a pomegranate-and-balsamic dressing.

To make your own preserved lemons, start with well-washed organic lemons (you’ll be eating the skins).  How many you use will depend on the size of your jar — a Mason-sized jar, for example, only holds two or three lemons.  Choose a container that’s non-metallic, has a good seal, and is sparkling-clean.  To prepare the lemons, make four incisions into each one (as though you’re going to cut them into quarters) to make “pockets.”  Stuff each pocket with coarse sea salt and smash the lemon into the jar, compressing it.  Repeat with each lemon, then add enough lemon juice (you may need twice as many lemons for their juice alone) to completely cover the lemons.  This is very important — if you don’t add enough lemon juice, they’ll mold!  (As I found out with my first batch.)  Cap tightly and store in a cool, dark place for about a week before transferring it to the refrigerator.  Turn it upside down every day for the first week or two to make sure that all parts of the lemons are equally brined.  After about six weeks, the rinds will be soft and tender, with an intriguing lemony bitter-sweetness.  Just be sure to thoroughly rinse the lemons before using — otherwise, they’ll be far too salty.  Properly-jarred preserved lemons will last for several months in the refrigerator.

Moroccan Salad with Preserved Lemons

For the dressing, combine in a small bowl or jar and mix thoroughly:

1/2 tsp. mustard seeds
1 tsp. dried mint
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 T. pomegranate molasses*
1 T. balsamic vinegar
3 T. extra-virgin olive oil

*If you don’t have pomegranate molasses, you could use tamarind juice or lemon juice. You may want to add 1 tsp. of honey to off-set the added sourness of tamarind or lemon.

For the salad, toss together:

A handful of green beans, simmered for 5 minutes and then drained and chopped
One or two roasted (or canned) beets with the skins removed, diced into chunks
Two or three tomatoes, diced
A handful of pinenuts (raw or roasted, whichever you prefer)
Mixed salad greens
A few slices of preserved lemons, either mixed directly into the salad or served as garnishes

Combine salad fixings with dressing and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Moroccan Pizza

One day a pot of simmered and marinated vegetables, the next day a cold gazpacho soup, then finally a luscious pizza topping…it’s just a few days in the life of a leftover.  It’s like kitchen magic!

Remember the Moroccan caponata?  I’d made such a big batch that I wound up freezing a bowl of it.  When I defrosted it, I threw it into the blender and turned it into bright, fresh gazpacho.  When I served it to the same person who’d sampled it as caponata, she absolutely loved it–and couldn’t believe it when I told her its secret origins.  “But it tastes totally different now!” she said.  Isn’t it amazing what texture can do for the tastebuds?

But that wasn’t the end of the caponata–two days after the cross-cuisine gazpacho, I topped a half a pita with the remaining gazpacho, added some blue cheese, and stuck it in my toaster oven for five minutes.  Voilá!  I had yet another dish:  caponata-gazpacho Moroccan-French pizza.

In other words, a leftover with a makeover.  What creative dishes do you have hanging out in your refrigerator?

Caponata with Blue Cheese

Caponata is an Italian dish consisting of marinated eggplants and other chopped vegetables served with a healthy wedge of bread.  Moroccans, too, present vegetables in a variety of ways–from stews to relishes to tagines–and they often include flatbread for dipping.  Why not combine the two cuisines?  And while we’re at it, let’s top the dish with a taste of French blue cheese.  (Or you could keep it a bit more Mediterranean by using Greek Feta.)

Moroccan Caponata with a French Twist

Prepare spice mix:
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. coriander
1/2 tsp. paprika

Chop and sautée with a dab of butter over medium heat:
2 baby eggplants or 1 medium eggplant
1 red pepper
1 small onion
2 celery stalks

After about 10 minutes, the vegetables should be fairly soft. Stir in:
2 T. maple syrup
3 T. red wine vinegar
Spice mix (see above)
15-oz. can of diced tomatoes (preferably organic)

Turn down heat to low and continue to cook gently for about 30 minutes. Add sea salt to taste. Sprinkle on 1 T. chopped cilantro and top with freshly-crumbled blue cheese or Feta.

Enjoy!

Moroccan Quesadillas

Fusion cuisine is a wonderful, wonderful thing–it allows us to enjoy the flavors from several different cultures all on one plate…and discover new taste adventures along the way!  For this dish, I used the idea of the Mexican quesadilla to provide a platform for Moroccan flavors.  The spice mixture–za’atar–is a simple mix of sesame seeds, thyme, oregano and sumac.  (If you can’t find sumac, compensate for its characteristic sourness by squeezing some fresh lemon juice over the vegetables.)  The vegetables could be almost any combination of roasted veggies, so next time you’re roasting a batch for your dinner, throw in some extras to use in these North African quesadillas the next day.

Za’atar:

In a spice jar, mix together 1 T. sesame seeds, 1 1/2 tsp. oregano, 1 1/2 tsp. thyme, 1/2 tsp. salt and 1 T. ground sumac. Store unused portion in a cool, dark place for future use.

For the quesadillas:

Note: this serves two people a moderate-sized lunch. Double or triple the recipe as necessary.

2 large whole-wheat tortillas

About 1 cup total of mixed roasted vegetables: carrots, red pepper, zucchini, onion

Feta cheese (Feta cheese made with goat/sheep milk will have a stronger, more authentic flavor than Feta made with cow’s milk)

1 tsp. za’atar

On a large plate or cutting board, cover one of the tortillas with the cheese and vegetables. Sprinkle on za’atar. Place the other tortilla in a large non-stick pan over medium heat and sauteé in olive oil for about 1 minute or until it is beginning to turn crispy and brown. Remove from pan. Carefully lay the tortilla with toppings into the hot pan, place the browned tortilla browned-side-up on top, press down lightly, and put a lid on the pan. Let cook, shaking the pan slightly to prevent the quesadilla from sticking, for about 2-3 minutes or until the bottom has browned and the cheese has begun to melt. (Use a spatula to lift up the bottom edge to check on its progress.) Typically, quesadillas can be prepared by flipping them over to brown both sides, but since Feta is a dry cheese and won’t make the tortillas stick to each other very well, it’s much easier to pre-toast one side of the quesadilla and refrain from flipping.

Carefully slide the quesadilla out of pan, cut into halves or quarters, and serve.

Enjoy!

Turmeric Gives Indian Dal a Warm Flavor and Appearance

Although the somewhat-earthy flavor of turmeric is an acquired taste, I love it in Indian tandooris and curries and in Moroccan dishes such as harira. Since it is a very strong flavor, however, I would recommend using it in moderation at first; it could easily be overwhelming.

Most Americans have probably come across coriander in gingerbread, apple pie, and sausage.  It is also used in curries, especially in conjunction with cumin, where it seems to have a balancing effect.  Moroccan dishes make extensive use of coriander.  So do the cuisines of India, Argentina, and Mexico.  I find coriander to be a nice addition to bananas, whether they are baked into bread or eaten with some oatmeal and Greek-style yogurt.