Epicurious
by Amy Sherman
I’m in Morocco again,this time on a culinary adventure with AccessTrips and visiting Essaouira for the first time. A mid-18th century fortified seaport town, it’s also a UNESCO World Heritage site. I’m staying at Riad Mimouna.
One of the highlights of the Access Trips cooking tour is staying in handpicked dars and riads, which are in the style of traditional homes. This one inside the fortress walls has dramatic views of the ocean.
Essaouira is on the Atlantic coast and is known for its seafood and outdoor fish stands near the port. Agree on a price and the fish you choose is grilled for you on the spot. You can also purchase fish from the fish market just a few steps away and bring it to the stalls where it will be grilled for less than $2 per fish. Fresh seafood, the weathered ancient buildings, the scent and sound of the sea are simply captivating, it is no wonder Essaouira has appealed to everyone from rock stars to windsurfers.
One typical way to prepare fish in Morocco is with charmoula. It is a marinade of cilantro, lemon, paprika, cumin, garlic, and sometimes tomato, but there is no one definitive recipe for it so adjust the seasonings to your liking. It’s delicious cooked but adds brightness and pungency when used raw as a finishing sauce. In a cooking class our group learned to use it in a fish tagine, first marinating the fish then drizzling it over the melange of fish and vegetables before cooking, but it can also be used on fillets, whole fish, or even fish kebabs, such as swordfish. Recipe after the jump…
2 teaspoons sweet paprika
Pinch cayenne
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 cloves garlic, mashed
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
3 Tablespoons flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Juice of one lemon
3 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Combine the seasonings and herbs and blend in a blender, or pound in a mortar. Add the lemon juice and olive oil and combine, season to taste. Use to marinate a whole fish overnight, fish fillets for a few hours, or as a finishing sauce.
Tagged with: Amy Sherman, Recipes, Travel
Chalava02:10:53 PM on 03/21/12
I was tehre a few years ago, beautiful place & delicious food! Would love to see a local pastilla recipe :)
cookingwithamy12:52:15 PM on 03/21/12
You can use toasted ground cumin if you have it, otherwise whatever cumin you have on hand is fine. Moroccan cumin is much stronger than what we get in the US.
LDGourmet09:22:11 AM on 03/21/12
Amy, so excited to try this – just got a tagine and have been really loving it. Charmouka sounds a bit like another favorite sauce: chimichurri. Q: does one use cumin seed or powder, toasted or not? Thanks!
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