morocco, part two: Zaalouk

The first of the two main dishes I cooked with Lahcen in Fes was Zaalouk, a smokey aubergine stew spiced with cumin and paprika. (I learnt a brilliant general cooking tip during its preparation: to pulp raw tomatoes, chop them in half horizontally and use a box grater to grate the flesh away from the skin.)

The recipe includes preserved lemons. No biggie if you don't have them but they are apparently quite easy to make -- you score some lemons, overstuff them with salt, squeeze them into a jar, top it up with more salt, water and lemon juice and then let them fester for four weeks. I set my first batch in the cupboard on the weekend so can't say how they're going yet. Will let you know next month.



What you need for Zaalouk
2-3 aubergines
2-3 tomatoes
Finely chopped chillies, seeds discarded (2-3 if mild, 1 if hot)
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped
1/4 of a chopped, preserved lemon (not essential)
1 pinch each of ground cumin, paprika, ground black pepper
Lemon juice
Olive oil
A handful of olives and strips of preserved lemon skin to serve (if you have it)

The Do
To get your Zaalouk smokey as Dusty Springfield you really want to start by cooking the aubergine directly on a medium flame on your stovetop, letting them blister on the outside and turning regularly until they are scalded black all over and going limp. (If, like me, you don't have gas, bugger. You can do it in the oven.) When they are cooked, seal the aubergines in a plastic bag for at least twenty minutes. It will be very easy to remove their skins thereafter.

Meanwhile, slice your tomatoes in half and grate the flesh into a bowl (such a genius way to leave the skins behind). Set aside. Fry the finely chopped chillies in olive oil for a few minutes before adding the garlic. Soften over medium heat (chuck in a little wine if you so desire), then add the tomatoes and chopped, preserved lemon. Once the toms are heated through, mix in your spices and a splash more olive oil. Let the mix reduce over a low heat until the tomatoes have thickened. Meanwhile take your cooled, smokey aubergines out of the plastic, peel off the skin and chop them good. Add them to the mix and mash it all up over the heat until it fuses into a lovely, thick, velvety stew. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes before stirring in the fresh parsley. Sprinkle with olives, lemon juice and preserved lemon peel. In my limited experience, Zaalouk is best accompanied by fresh, crusty bread for scooping, lots of smiles and a bloody good view.

Chilly fusilli

Pasta salad is misunderstood. Its vintage association with seventies barbecues and cheap salad bars have done it untold damage (I’m looking at you, Swagman).* But fuck all that because a good one is bloody delicious.

Obviously cold fusilli on its own is not the least bit exciting, which is why you need to dress it with a feisty blend of clingy flavours. Adding a little razzle dazzle on the side can distract from its smorgasbord roots (tonight's grilled and seasoned aubergines come courtesy of the River Café Cook Book) but is not entirely necessary. After chowing it all down, Adam happily declared he could eat this for dinner forever.



* If you have 30 seconds to lose, visit the Swagman link for what is sadly one of the most memorable TV ads of my childhood.

Base salad ingredients (for 2 pretty large serves)
1 big cup of wholeweat fusilli pasta
1/2 a continental cucumber (chopped into small slices)
200g feta cheese
1 handful cherry tomatoes (halved)
1 spring onion, finely chopped
Handful of blanched almonds
Handful of fresh basil leaves

Marinated mushrooms ingredients
250g button mushrooms (halved)
Japanese Soya Sauce
Balsamic Vinegar
A hefty teaspoon of Miso paste mixed with around 1/3 cup of water
1 clove garlic (finely sliced)


Extra dressing
Olive oil
Juice 1 lemon

And you’ll need 1 med-large eggplant/ aubergine.



Doing it
Don't worry too much about quantities. Any leftovers make for killer next day lunch box filler.

Cook your pasta then cool it straight away in cold water and set it aside to drain. Mix all your other salad ingredients together in a large bowl (crumbling the feta with your fingies).

Dry fry the blanched almonds in a hot pan, turning frequently to prevent them burning. Once they are lightly toasted, set them aside to cool then add them to your salad.

The mushroom marinade was entirely spontaneous so use whatever you've got. I mixed a big splash of balsamic vinegar, soya sauce and diluted miso paste in a bowl then thoroughly tossed through the button mushrooms and sliced garlic. Let the mush absorb the juice for a few minutes then pour the whole lot into a hot pan and cook it until the juice has reduced to a caramely sludge. Set aside to cool.

Finely slice your eggplant and grill it on both sides then toss it in olive oil, lemon juice and seasoning.

Thoroughly mix your pasta and mushrooms (with any juice) through the salad then pile it onto a plate alongside your sliced eggplant.

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

Having Nat around has been great because it has motivated me flex my culinary muscle. The other night I decided to make sushi rolls. I had wanted to do this three weeks prior, but got sidetracked and now the cucumber I purchased for the occasion has turned into brown mouldy mush held together in its original form by the plastic wrapping. After disposing the ex-cucumber, I suss out the contents of the fridge. Eggplant, chestnut mushrooms from the mushroom guy, avocado, salad leaves. Not typical sushi roll ingredients, but I'll make them work because I can't be arsed walking to the shops.

What you need
2 small eggplants, thinly sliced
3 handfuls of mushrooms (I used chestnut and portabello), thinly sliced
2 handfuls of salad leaves
half an avocado
miso paste
teriyaki sauce
salad leaves (like rocket, or mizuma - japanese rocket/parsley)
Kewpie mayonnaise

The do

The mushroom filling
In a hot pan with a little oil, fry the mushrooms with a few shakes of teriyaki sauce. Cook until all the liquid has disappeared then remove from heat and set aside.

The eggplant filling
Mix 2 tablespoons of miso paste with 2 chinese teacups of boiling water and a teaspoon of sugar. In a medium pan with a little oil, add eggplant and miso mixture. Cook until soft, remove from heat and set aside.

Now you are ready to roll!
For full instructions on sushi rolling, look here

I filled mine with:
Avocado + Kewpie mayonnaise + black sesame seeds
Eggplant mixture + salad
Miso mushroom + salad

Serve with the usual wasabi and gari (pickled ginger) combo

at home with two kittens and a squashed leg

Today, our home is a hive of activity with our two new kittens, Oscar and Rocky, and our good friend Natalie, recuperating after a road accident.

Nat's leg has been covered in dramatic bruises, and swollen like a Quorn sausage. Thankfully, it's a lot better than it was, and she is in the clear now. She sits on our sofa with her foot up, drinking Darjeeling tea like a princess, so we watched the most pointless film ever made, Marie Antoinette. The cakes looked nice though, which made us think about food.





This dish is inspired by one of the best things on the menu at Huong Viet, the wonderful but maddening restaurant on Englefield Road, N1.
It combines tofu, aubergine and dill - the dill takes a back seat in this dish and comes through in the aftertaste.



What you need
2 small eggplants, sliced 1 cm thick and halved
half a block of tofu chopped into big cubes
a third of a chili, thinly sliced
a few sprigs of dill, chopped
1 tablespoon of bouillon powder dissolved in a Chinese teacup of boiling water
1 small teaspoon of cornflour dissolved in a a splash of cold water
1 clove of garlic, crushed
Spring onions, chopped

The do
Splash some oil in a medium heat frying pan or wok. Add garlic, stir a few times, then add chili. Brown the eggplant. Add tofu, stock, dill and cornflour. Simmer until eggplant goes soft. The goal is to end up with some juice that you can spoon into rice. So if the pan goes dry, add a little more water and stock, mix well, and simmer.
Garnish with chopped spring onions and serve with rice.

strolling through a field of cabbages

A guy on Radio 4 says you should imagine yourself strolling through a field of cabbages when you feel like snapping someone out. It's a totally neutral, beige kind of activity, he reasons, so the idea of it will calm you down. Is this dude insane? Has he NEVER smelt a rotten cabbage!!?! Jeeeezus, man...

Sometimes in a city like London it really is easier to crank up than calm down. Instead of settling for simple cabbages, say, one must have only the most exclusive cabbage in the world, genetically modified to never stink and fertilised by the shit of a single silk worm that only appears every 28 years. Otherwise, one might get all tantrumy. This week is my last in the kitchen that has hitherto been Lily HQ. I don't particularly want to move and have been getting VERY razzed out. I need to think about more than frolicking in a field of cabbages to simmer down, and fast. Here goes...

Beginning: 9 at night and still light is alright. Days are so sunny this week I'm walking to and from work along the Thames south bank, coffee in hand one way and riverside glass of vino the other (breathe and repeat).

Middle: The brilliant diddywah (I know, I'm biased) has listed us alongside an inspired set of vego musical jewels (visit the post here).

End: Chew's got me swooning over Nigel Slater and his Kitchen Diaries. Apart from the fact he knows food real good, the sweet enthusiasm, detailed disappointments and occasional lapses into culinary laziness as he documents a year in his beautifully photographed kitchen are just fine by us. I pay homage to Nige this evening by vegetarianising one of his dishes (no cabbages in sight).



May 7: Chickpeas with Harissa, basil and Aubergine

Preparation is simple on this light, sweet and tangy number as long as you have some roasting time up your sleeve.

What you need (for 2)

1 small-med aubergine or 3/4 a big one, roughly chopped into chunks
A couple of handfuls of pricked cherry tomatoes (or 2-3 big ones, chopped)
Fresh basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon of cumin seeds (a decent pinch)
Red wine vinegar (I didn't have it, so used Orleans vinegar and red wine).
1 x 400g can of chickpeas
Harissa paste (from the tin, jar, tube or home made if you know how).
A big handful of kalamata or other fresh olives (I get mine from Borough Olives).


How it's done

Preheat your oven to 200C (gas 6). Toss your aubergine and toms in an oven tray with the cumin, a big splash of red wine vinegar, pinches of salt and pepper and a generous amount of olive oil (he says 60ml but I have never measured olive oil in my life; coat 'em good, I say). Roast for an hour or, to quote the man himself, "until the aubergine is soft and golden brown, the tomatoes are caught slightly at the edges and the whole lot is fragrant, sizzling and juicy." Sigh. At about 40 minutes chuck in the olives so they warm through.

Drain the chick peas and toss them in with the roasted veg, along with the fresh basil, a glug of olive oil and a big squirt of harissa (Nige says a teaspoon for 4 people: I'd never be so meagre but then it depends how spicy you like it). Mix it all around in the juices then get munching.