I made this as a vegetable side to go with the beef and nectarine tagine. I'm not a big fan of cauliflower most of the time, but this was pretty good.

Marak of Cauliflower with Tomatoes and Olives

Slightly adapted from The Food of Morocco by Paula Wolfert

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 1 medium cauliflower¹, cut into florets (~4 c.)
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 2 tsp. sweet paprika
• 1/2 Tbsp. cumin seeds
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 c. hot water
• 2 Tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1/2 a preserved lemon², pulp removed, rind rinsed and julienned
• 12 pitted green, midway, or red olives

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat.
2. Add the cauliflower and sugar and cover with a crumpled sheet of parchemnt paper followed by a tight-fitting lid.
3. Cook for 10 minutes.
4. Increase heat to medium and continue cooking, uncovered, until the moisture has evaporated and cauliflower begins to brown.
5. Add the tomatoes and paprika and cook, uncovered, for another 5 minutes.
6. Combine the garlic, cumin, and salt and crush to a paste³.
7. Add the garlic-cumin paste to the pan along with the water.
8. Cook, uncovered, until the moisture has evaporated (~20 minutes).
9. Add the parsley and lemon juice and toss to coat.
10. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
11. Garnish with preserved lemon and olives and serve.

---

¹ My cauliflower was huge so I only ended up using half of it for this recipe. ^Back
2 I didn't feel like getting out a preserved lemon for this, so I just omitted it. I'm sure the lemon would've added a nice extra element, but it was still fine without it. ^Back
3 I just used garlic paste and ground the salt with the cumin separately for this. Next time I'd like to trying mashing them all together with my molcajete though. I think the garlic flavour would be a little more concentrated that way since garlic paste normally has water added. ^Back

This was a fun recipe to do. I'd never poached pears before. They were still a little firm at the end of the poaching time. I think I probably should've cooked them for a bit longer. But they were still very tasty. And the syrup that went with them was amazing!

Poached Pears with Prunes

Slightly adapted from The Food of Morocco by Paula Wolfert

Ingredients

• 2L water
• 1 1/4 c. sugar
• 1 navel orange¹, sliced 5-6mm thick
• 1 (7-8cm) cinnamon stick
• 1 clove
• 1 bay leaf²
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 4-6 Bartlett or Bosc pears³
• 12 pitted prunes
• semolina almond cookies, to serve

Directions

1. Combine the water, sugar, orange slices, cinnamon stick, clove, bay leaf, and lemon juice and bring to a boil.
2. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Remove the core from the bottom end of one of the pears.⁴
4. Peel the pear, but leave the stem on.
5. Add the pear to the pot with the sugar-water/syrup and repeat the process with the remaining pears.
6. Bring to a simmer over medium heat.
7. Add the prunes and simmer for 20-30 minutes.
8. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
9. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the pears, prunes, and orange slices to a bowl.
10. Boil the poaching liquid over medium-high heat for 15-20 minutes.
11. Pour the syrup over the pears.
12. Pears may be covered and refrigerated for up to four days.
13. When ready to eat, return to room temperature and serve with semolina almond cookies on the side.

---

¹ The original recipe calls for only 1/2 an orange, but I really liked the orange in it, so I've upped it to a whole orange. I ended up using a blood orange rather than a navel orange for mine, but it doesn't seem to have suffered any from the swap. ^Back
2 I opted to swap in an "Indian bay leaf" here. I believe they are actually cassia leaves, so they are a bit like a cross between bay laurel and cinnamon. I figured that, given there was already cinnamon in the recipe, the cinnamon notes of the Indian bay leaf would go nicely. I think either one works fine, so just use whichever you have/prefer. ^Back
3 I used four large Bartlett pears for my rendition of this dish. Given that they were quite large, I think I probably should've added 5 or 10 minutes to the poaching time. They were still pretty firm and a bit tricky to eat. ^Back
4 Wolfert says to do this with an apple corer or a long knife. I tried it with a knife and didn't have much luck. TF looked up instructions online and found a lot of advice saying to use a melon baller or a spoon. I had much better luck once I switched to a spoon. (I think I melon baller would've been even better, but I don't have one of those.) ^Back

Karuvapillai Podi (Curry Leaf Spice Powder)

This is one of the few spice mixes in the book that we hadn't made yet. I decided to grab a fresh bunch of curry leaves at the Indian grocery and change that. It's a very nice mix. And TF is extremely enthusiastic about it. It's basically just a lot of curry leaves with a little turmeric, asafetida, and chili mixed in, plus a couple legumes to round things out. Very straightforward in ingredients, but complex in flavour and a delicious addition to many curries and pulaos.

Karuvapillai Podi

From 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Instructions

• 2 Tbsp. skinned split pigeon peas (toovar dal)
• 1 tsp. canola oil
• 1/2 c. firmly packed fresh curry leaves
• 2 Tbsp. skinned split black lentils (mapte beans/urad dal)
• 6-8 dried red Thai, cayenne, or arbol chilies, stems removed
• 1/4 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1/4 tsp. ground asafetida

Directions

1. Combine the pigeon peas, canola oil, curry leaves, lentils, and chilies in a bowl and toss to coat. Be thorough and try to make sure everything gets a thin coating of oil.
2. Preheat a skillet over medium-high heat.
3. Add the oil-coated mixture and stir-fry until the leaves feel dry and the legumes turn golden-brown (2-3 minutes).
4. Immediately transfer the mixture to a plate to cool.
5. Once everything is cool to the touch, transfer to a spice grinder and finely grind. (You may need to do this in several batches.)
6. Add the turmeric and asafetida and stir to combine.
7. Transfer to an air-tight container and store in a cool dry place -- but not the fridge! -- for up to 3 months.

TM brought over some tomatoes and bell peppers when she came over for dinner the other night. I turned some of that into a bell pepper salad. But there was still a bit leftover (plus some tomatoes that I'd bought), so I decided to make this tomato and caper salad.

I love capers, so I was really looking forward to that element. Sadly, we seem to be all out of capers. We always have capers! It didn't even occur to me to check because we just always have them. But, since neither of us wanted to run out to the grocery store just for capers, we decided to go ahead with the salad and substitute chopped olives for the capers. It's not the same. But it's still a nice salad. Definitely make it with capers if you have them though!

Fresh Tomato and Caper Salad

Slightly adapted from The Food of Morocco by Paula Wolfert

Ingredients

• 900g very ripe tomatoes, diced¹
• 1/2 c. minced red onion
• 2 ribs celery, diced
• 1 bell pepper, diced²
• 1/2 a preserved lemon, pulp removed, rinsed, and minced
• 2-3 Tbsp. capers, drained
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. white peppercorns, ground
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• juice of 1/2 a lemon

Directions

1. Combine the tomatoes, onion, celery, bell pepper, preserved lemon, and capers and set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, cobine the salt, pepper, oil, and lemon juice and mix well.
3. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to combine.
4. Cover and chill for 30-60 minutes before serving.

---

¹ As usual, Wolfert specifies that the tomatoes should be peeled and seeded before dicing them. I didn't want to do that, so I just diced my tomatoes -- skin, seeds, and all! Presumably that's why my salad looks so juicy/watery. ^Back
2 Once again here, she calls for peeling, coring, and seeding the bell pepper. Obviously I cored/seeded it. But I didn't bother trying to peel it before dicing. She also specifically calls for a green bell pepper, but I only had a yellow on hand (and I prefer them anyway), so I just used that. ^Back

This is a very quick and simple spice mixture to put together. Wolfert notes that it works well with lamb, chicken, fish, and winter vegetables.

La Kama Spice Mixture

Slightly adapted from The Food of Morocco by Paula Wolfert

Ingredients

• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1 tsp. white peppercorns, ground
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. cubeb pepper (or 1/4 tsp. black pepper + 1/4 tsp. allspice), ground
• 1/8 tsp. ground or grated nutmeg

Directions

1. Combine all the ingredients, mix well, and store in an airtight container until ready to use.

TM came over for dinner last night. She brought some tomatoes and bell peppers with her, so I added this simple salad to the dinner menu. It was relatively easy to do and made a nice addition to the spread.

Clockwise from left: beef and nectarine tagine; marak of cauliflower with tomatoes and olives; eggplant zaalouk; broth (from couscous); grilled red pepper salad; couscous with beef and leafy greens; beef bastilla with peppers, raisins, and olives.

Grilled Red Pepper Salad

Slightly adapted from The Food of Morocco by Paula Wolfert

Ingredients

• 2 large red bell peppers, grilled or broiled¹
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 1 small roma tomato or 3 Tbsp. canned tomato², diced
• 1 Tbsp. garlic paste³
• 1/8 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1 tsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions

1. Lightly press the peppers between paper towels to remove excess moisture.
2. Sprinkle each pepper piece with salt and roll it up. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour.
3. Unroll the pepper pieces and press once more to remove excess moisture.
4. Warm 1 Tbsp. of the oil over medium-low heat.
5. Add the pepper pieces and cook for 2-3 minutes.
6. Add the tomato, garlic, cumin, and parsley and cook for 20-30 seconds more.
7. Discard any residual cooking oil.⁴
8. Toss the peppers and tomatoes with the remaining 1 Tbsp. of oil.
9. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

---

¹ I broiled my peppers. I first quartered and seeded them. Then set them skin-side-up on a baking sheet and put them under the broiler, set on low⁵, until the skin was mostly black. Once blackened, they were removed from the oven and transferred to a plastic bag. Once cool enough to handle, the skin was removed. ^Back
2 The original recipe calls for peeling, seeding, and dicing the tomato. I just diced mine without doing the peeling or seeding. I was still happy with my results. Although I'm sure the tomato would've melded with the rest of the salad better if I'd followed the full instructions. ^Back
3 The original recipe actually calls for 1 clove of garlic "crushed to a paste with 1/4 tsp salt". Which, if I hadn't been in such a hurry, I might've tried. But I had a bunch of other dishes cooking and I don't have much practice with the molcajete yet, so I figured I should probably play it safe and go with garlic paste. (Of course, then I remembered that that would require opening a new jar of garlic paste and finding room in the fridge for it so, in the end, I just minced a couple cloves of garlic and tossed them in. But, in the future, I'd probably use garlic paste, either purchased or homemade.) ^Back
4 Whoops! Only just now realized that I completely missed this step when making the salad last night. Oh well, it was still tasty! ^Back
5 I find that when I set my broiler to high, the skin blackens before the peppers have cooked through and it also doesn't blacken evenly. Putting them in on low for a longer time seems to work better. YMMV. ^Back

This was the original salad that I had planned for our Moroccan meal with TM. It was a big hit and definitely a recipe that I can see myself coming back to when a meal needs another vegetable side. I needs to be made a day ahead. But, on the bright side, that means you can make it in advance and not have an extra dish to go with dinner that doesn't have to be made at the same time as everything else! The author notes that giving it several days in the fridge before serving will improve it even more.

Eggplant Zaalouk

Slightly adapted from The Food of Morocco by Paula Wolfert

Ingredients

• 2 medium black eggplants (~340g each)
• 5 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 450g fresh tomatoes, chopped¹ or 2 c. drained chopped canned tomatoes
• 1/4 tsp. sugar (if the tomatoes are particularly acidic)
• 1 Tbsp. garlic paste
• 3/4 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1/2 tsp. sweet paprika
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne²
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
• 3 Tbsp. lemon juice

Directions

1. Pierce each eggplant in a few places with a toothpick or fork.
2. Either slowly grill over coals until blackened and collapsed (20-30 minutes) or halve and cook, cut-side-down, on a baking sheet set under a broiler until blackened and tender (~20 minutes).
3. Transfer the cooked eggplant to a colander and peel while still hot. Allow to drain until cool.
4. Gently squeeze peeled eggplant to remove any bitter juices.
5. Heat 3 Tbsp. of the oil over medium-low heat.
6. Add the tomatoes, sugar (if using), garlic, cumin, paprika, cayenne, and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.
7. Mash the eggplant with a fork and addit to the tomato mixture in the skillet.
8. Add the cilantro and cook, stirring often, for another 10-15 minutes.
9. Transfer to a container and mix in the lemon juice.
10. Adjust salt and lemon juice to taste.
11. Let cool, then cover and chill overnight (or longer).
12. Just before serving, allow salad to come to room temperature and drizzle with the remaining 2 Tbsp. of olive oil.

¹As with many of Wolfert's recipes, this one calls for peeled and seeded tomatoes. I usually can't be bothered to do that, so I just cored and chopped some fresh tomatoes and used them. But if you would like an extra-nice salad, then peeling and seeding your tomatoes would probably give a better result. ^Back
2 I actually swapped out the cayenne for ground Kashmiri chilies as I really enjoy their flavour. I think hot paprika would also work well here. ^Back