Moroccan Fruit Salad

According to Claudia Roden's Arabesque, a typical dessert to go after a hearty Moroccan meal is a light orange salad. I would love to say that I followed her recipe exactly to get the full experience, but the recipe in the book is so simple that my lack of orange flower extract left me with just sliced orange. So I experimented and added some things that I think stay true to the original concept and flavor profiles. This is a great winter dessert for when the stores are overflowing with all kinds of citrus!

Ingredients:

2-3 oranges
2-3 tangelos
4-5 clementines
1 pomegranente
lemon zest
almond extract
cinnamon
allspice






This is a super simple dish--but has an interesting flavor profile that transports you across the world! Peal and chop the citrus, taking off as much of the pith as possible. If you want to be fancy, you can cut it out in segments, getting all the pith out. For the larger fruit I cut off the peal and then sliced and tore the pieces apart. As I slice them I put them in a bowl, trying to collect the juice as well. Next get the pomegranate seeds out of the fruit--there are probably better techniques, but I just cut it in half and used my hands to get the seeds out. They get tossed in with the citrus as well.

I drained some of the juice into a small bowl and added a dash of cinnamon, a small grate of an allspice berry, a drop of almond extract, and a quick zest of lemon. You can also whisk in some powdered sugar if your citrus isn't sweet. That is tossed over the citrus and the salad is chilled.

The Verdict: The warm seasonings with the cool citrus, and the crunch of pomegranate really elevate this fruit salad. Plus healthier than the almond cookies I'd thought to make. Use whatever citrus you can find in the store, different kinds mixed together make a nice contrast!

Two Moroccan Side Salads

Since I didn't want to go with couscous for my tagine, I decided to make a couple of salads to go with my chicken. One is a traditional cucumber yogurt dish made all over the Mediterranean; the other is a spinach and preserved lemon delight from the chapter on Morocco in my cookbook.

Cucumber Salad:

Ingredients:
2 large cucumbers
Greek Yogurt
garlic
dried mint

Peel and chop the cucumber into half moon shapes, then lightly salt them and let some of the liquid drain. Then mix about 2/3 c of yogurt with 3/4 tsp mint, two cloves of garlic grated, and a dash of lemon zest.

Dry off the cucumbers, and add them to the yogurt mixture. Refrigerate if not serving right away. You may want to add a little salt.

Verdict: A good accompaniment to any hearty or spicy dish. Can be made with dill as well for a more Greek flavor.





Spinach Salad with Preserved Lemon and Olives

Ingredients:
2 lbs fresh Spinach
3 cloves of garlic
1/4 c chopped olives
preserved lemon chopped

The recipe calls for the fresh stuff, but I want to try with frozen because it is cheaper and doesn't take so long! Anyway--the spinach is wilted in a giant pot, then it is well drained and dried. Then in the same pot, I sauteed the garlic with cooking spray. Once that had some color, the spinach is returned to the pan with the garlic, the chopped olives and preserved lemons. That is cooked for about a minute or so. It can be served hot or cold.

 The Verdict: This is unbelievably good--I would eat it alone all day. In fact the original recipe says this serves 8, but in realty this one pot could serve just me on one plate. It goes really well with the chicken tagine.

Quinoa Salad--Revisiting a Classic Recipe

My sister invited us over to dinner on Sunday, and I offered to bring a salad. I usually don't have lettuce on hand, so I figured I'd do a chopped salad. This is one of my favorite recipes, though it is mostly my own invention. It started with this recipe from 1994, when quinoa was such a mystery to the American table that you had to go to a health food store. But it has come a long way since then--each time I make the salad it evolves into something a bit different and delectable.
This is an awesome potluck dish--it is best made in advanced and served room temperature, and it is gluten free and can be made vegetarian or even vegan. It can be a full meal, or a side salad, if there are lots of dishes. When I make it for myself I add cooked chicken and cheese--but for this pot luck I'm going vegetarian, not vegan and adding a peppery cheese.

 Ingredients:

1 cup dry quinoa
2 cups broth (chicken or vegetable)
1 can black beans
zucchini and summer squash
cherry tomatoes
red and yellow bell peppers
green and red onion chopped
1 can pickled jalapeno peppers
avocado
pepper jack or peppered cheese

Dressing
2 limes
red wine vinegar
olive oil
salt and pepper
cumin
cilantro
garlic--I used roasted garlic

Rinse the quinoa, and add to a sauce pan with the broth. Cook according to package directions--or until it blooms and the liquid is evaporated. Set aside to
cool. While the quinoa is cooking, drain the beans and rinse them. Pour a little of the liquid of the jalapeno and a little lime juice over the beans and set them aside.

Chop all the squash, bell peppers, avocado and cheese into similar sized pieces, and finely dice the onions. If the cherry tomatoes are pretty big, I'll cut them in half as well.

Once the quinoa has cooled, combine it with the beans, and all of the chopped ingredients. For the dressing, mix lime zest, lime juice, vinegar, oil, salt, pepper, cumin, cilantro, and garlic. I'd run it through my blender to get it smooth and then pour it over the rest. Serve room temperature, preferably after the salad has had time to marinate the flavors.

The Verdict: Load this salad down with as much chopped fresh veggies as you can imagine, and you have the perfect meal for me! I split this recipe in half--took half to my sister's house and added the last of the leftover turkey, more zucchini, more tomatoes, and more jalapenos to the other half. That made 4 full meals and a little extra. This is really summer in a bowl, and is something I make after the farmer's market--I guess when it is winter this salad makes me think of warmer days!