Take your tastebuds for a trip around the world.
Are your seat belts securely fastened and your tray tables in their upright and locked position? Hang on. We’re taking a little journey, a virtual vacation, if you will.
Our tour guide is none other than Zov Karamardian, Orange County’s own national treasure and award-winning restaurateur. Zov’s Bistro in Tustin, Newport Coast and Irvine, serving contemporary eastern Mediterranean cuisine, has since 1987 been one of the most popular and highly rated restaurants in the county. With her first cookbook, “Zov: Recipes and Memories from the Heart” (Zov’s Publishing, $35) – later followed by “Simply Zov” – she takes us along for the ride, from her childhood in the Middle East to her world travels, as each memory inspires her to create a dish: hummus from her family’s stay in Beirut when she was 11; vibrant salads inspired by her walk through the open markets in Nice, France, in 1998; Jasmine Rice Pudding from the paddies she visited on a culinary tour of Vietnam in 2000; feta for the Angel Hair Pasta inspired by childhood memories of her Syrian grandmother ripening goat cheese in buried pots; Cheramoula sauce picked up on a trip to Morocco for her Moroccan Salmon; potato salad from her school days in Baghdad, where it was served with amba(pickled mango chutney) in a sandwich called Piaz.
“Whoever graduated from that school, they talk about that sandwich,” Zov told me. “It’s one of those kid things that people love, like French fries here. We used to fight in that line to get that sandwich. If my mom made it, we wouldn’t eat it. It’s the place and the environment that created that sandwich.”
And it’s the place and environment that creates the mental picture, through Zov’s evocative prose, that makes you want to head straight for the kitchen to cook. We can see the bustling souks, smell the fresh mint, hear the crackle of roasting peppers.
“I take a canvas and I paint it,” said Zov. “I want the readers to really salivate when they visualize the dish. I want them there with me. Every recipe has a photo. People eat with their eyes first, so it’s going to tantalize their senses first and then their palate.”
Zov’s Grilled Moroccan Salmon with Charmoula Sauce transports us to Morocco, “the land of the setting sun,” as Ghillie Basan calls it in “The Moroccan Cookbook” (Lorenz Books, $35), “the western part of the Arab world,” providing a “geographical door to the rest of Africa, influencing trade, culture and food. Its culinary traditions have been shaped by a history of invaders and settlers from the ancient Romans and Arabs to the Ottomans, Spaniards and French. This vibrant history and culinary culture are splendidly vivid as you travel through the country….It is no wonder that the cuisine has been described as the ‘perfumed” soul’ of the culture.”
“The Moroccan Cookbook” is a virtual Moroccan feast with recipes steeped in the history of this multi-cultural land influenced by the indigenous Amazigh, the Berbers, nomadic Bedouins, the Moors expelled from Spain, Sephardic Jews, Arabs, slaves from central Africa, the Ottomans, and French, all contributing to the cuisine. “Sensually intertwining ancient and medieval within the modern, the cuisine is regarded as the most exquisite and refined of the Maghreb, the North African region comprising Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya and Mauritania,” Basan explains.
Beautifully photographed, the book takes you on a journey through the cities of the region, describing the various influences and history. And, oh, the food. Mezze, from the Persian word for taste or relish (more commonly called kemiain Morocco), is a course “intended to delight the palate before the main meal.” The cuisine relies on fresh seasonal vegetables of the region: aubergines (eggplants), courgettes (zucchini), tomatoes, artichokes, leeks, cauliflower and squash.
Couscous is considered to be Morocco’s national dish. Although people think of it as a grain, technically it’s Moroccan pasta, made with semolina flour. And no discussion of Moroccan food would be complete without including the tajine, a long-simmering stew cooked in an earthenware vessel of the same name, with a conical lid shaped so that the food cooks in its own steam. Basan includes many vegetarian iterations such as a tagine of artichoke hearts, potatoes, peas and saffron; fish tagines including monkfish, mullet and seabass, for example; chicken tagines, including one with green olives and preserved lemon; as well as lamb and beef varieties.
B’stilla, a savory Moroccan pie in a crisp filo pastry, “captures Morocco’s culinary heart,” she writes. “Fragrant, aromatic and sweet, the crispy pastry, dusted with confectioners’ sugar and ground cinnamon, teases us with its savory filling. The classic pie can be made with pigeon, squab or chicken – almonds or peanuts are often added, as well as the rind of bitter oranges or preserved lemons. It is traditionally cooked in an iron pan on top of the stove, but you can bake it in the oven too. Often prepared as the first course for a diffa, a special celebratory meal, perhaps at a wedding or for the arrival of important guests, B’stilla should be sampled at least once on any visit to Morocco.”
Grilled Moroccan Salmon with Charmoula Sauce
Yield: 6 servings
Charmoula is a traditional Moroccan marinade usually made up of warm spices such as cumin, paprika, garlic, and cinnamon. It’s used for meats, seafood, poultry or vegetables.
Salmon
6 (6 ounces each) boneless skinless salmon fillets
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup Moroccan spices (recipe follows)
3 tablespoons olive oil
Charmoula sauce
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 1/2 pounds plum tomatoes (about 9), seeded and finely diced
3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Moroccan spices
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Cilantro sprigs, for garnish
Moroccan spices
Yield: 3/4 cup
3 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons dried thyme
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon grated nutmeg
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground allspice
Stir all ingredients in small bowl to blend. Transfer to jar and seal with lid.
1. Salmon: Preheat oven to 350°F. Sprinkle with pepper and salt. Place 1/3 cup Moroccan spices on plate. Dredge salmon in spices to generously coat top and bottom (do not coat sides of salmon).
2. Heat 3 tablespoons oil on large griddle over medium-high heat. Cook salmon fillets just until golden brown, about 1 minute per side. Using metal spatula, transfer fillets to heavy, large rimmed baking sheet. Bake just until fillets are cooked through, about 5 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, prepare charmoula sauce: Heat 1/4 cup of the oil in heavy, large skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots and garlic and sauté until tender, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes, cilantro, lemon juice, Moroccan spices, salt, and pepper. Sauté just until tomatoes release their juices but still hold their shape, about 1 minute.
4. Place salmon fillets on warm plates and spoon sauce over. Garnish with cilantro sprigs and serve
B’stilla b’djej
Yield: 4 servings
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
Scant 1 stick butter (3 1/2 ounces)
3 onions, halved lengthwise, cut in half crossways and sliced with the grain
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 cup blanched almonds (3 1/2 ounces), chopped
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground coriander
3 to 4 boneless skinless chicken fillets, cut into bite-size pieces
Bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
Big bunch cilantro, finely chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
7 to 8 sheets filo pastry
1 egg yolk
1 to 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, for dusting
1 to 2 teaspoons confectioners’ sugar
1. Preheat oven to 400°F. In heavy-based frying pan, heat olive oil with knob of the butter and stir in onions. Fry over medium heat 5 to 6 minutes, until they begin to soften and color. Stir in garlic and almonds, cook until they begin to color, then add spices. Toss in chicken and cook gently, until all liquid in pan has evaporated. Toss in herbs, season with salt and pepper, and leave chicken to cool.
2. Melt remaining butter. Separate sheets of filo and keep them under a damp cloth. Brush a little butter in base of oven proof dish – a round one produces an attractive pie – and cover with sheet of pastry, allowing sides to flop over edge. Brush sheet of pastry with butter and place another on top. Repeat with another 2 layers.
3. Spread chicken and onion mixture on top of pastry and fold edges over filling, brushing with butter. Cover with remaining sheets of pastry, brushing each with butter and tuck overlapping edges under the pie, like making a bed, so that it is flat on top. To glaze, mix egg yolk with scant teaspoon water and brush over top of pie.
4. Place pie in oven and bake about 25 minutes until pastry is crisp and golden. Dust top with cinnamon and confectioners’ sugar in a lattice pattern and serve immediately.
Source: “The Moroccan Cookbook” by Ghillie Basan
Jlife Food Editor Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of “Cooking Jewish” (Workman) and “The Perfect Passover Cookbook” (an e-book short from Workman), a columnist and feature writer for the Orange County Register and other publications and can be found on the web at www.cookingjewish.com.