Fish Grilled with Chermoula--A Moroccan Sauce

After many fascinations with different exotic cuisines, for example Indian or Afghan, my most recent has been Moroccan. So in the upcoming months I will be sharing more recipes from that part of the world. Last week I even bought an original tajine dish to make my experiments more authentic.

But my first steps in the Moroccan cuisine were very simple. I made an easy green sauce called Chermoula that is used mainly to prepare fish and sea food but I also saw a chicken recipe with it. I fell in love with this marinade instantly.

Very fresh and aromatic, thanks to herbs and a touch of spices, chermoula tastes great on any fish. Even more, it can make an ordinary and imperfect fish taste better. I once baked mahi mahi in parchment paper to keep it moist but, eventually, it still seemed excessively dry. Yesterday, I made mahi mahi again, but I marinated it with chermoula and grilled and it came out delicate and moist.

I make my chermoula most often from a whole bunch of parsley and cilantro, keep it in a fridge, and use it when I need it. I put it in a jar and drizzle with olive oil, which preserves chermoula from discoloration. This way I can keep it in a refrigerator for a couple of weeks.

Fish Grilled with Chermoula

Ingredients:
1 lb of mahi mahi fillets or any quality fish,
1 small bunch (about a well-packed cup) of chopped fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves,
1 small bunch (a cup) of chopped flat-leaf parsley.
3 garlic cloves,
1/4 cup olive oil,
juice from 2 lemons (about 1/4 cup).
1 tsp paprika,
1 tsp ground coriander,
1 tsp ground cumin,
1/2 tsp black pepper,
1/2 tsp salt.

Preparation:
1. To make chermoula, put parsley and coriander leaves in a food processor. Add garlic and pulse until it acquires the consistency of a pesto.
2. Add lemon juice, olive oil, and all spices. Blend until it creates a smooth paste.

3. Spread a couple of spoons on top of the fish until it is well-covered with chermoula and let it marinate for 4-6 hours, preferably overnight.
4. The rest of the marinate transfer to a tight closed small container, cover with a tbsp of olive oil and keep in refrigerator until next use.
5. Preheat the grill to about 350F.
6. Place fish in a metal rack and grill on both sides. It will take about 10-20 minutes depending on its thickness. Serve with couscous or salads.

Crunchy Potato Salad with Nuts

Just before I went on vacation, I hosted a few deck parties, at which I served mostly grilled meats and fish accompanied by salads and followed by chilled desserts--the only reasonable option on those hot July days.

I usually prepare at least a couple of cold salads to serve with the meats so everybody can find something to his taste. This season the biggest hit was my corn salad in mango dressing. The runner up was this potato salad and several friends have already asked me to the share a recipe for it.

Unlike in German tradition for example, in Polish cuisine there is no potato salad in the strict sense of the term. Potatoes are usually not the main but one of many ingredients. Nevertheless, my Polish guests particularly appreciated this simple salad, which is soft, thanks to the potatoes, and crunchy at the same time. The crunchiness comes from the celery sticks and nuts.

I made this salad with hazel nuts, which are very common in Poland. But I also make it sometimes with pecans. Either version is always very popular. This salad will taste great with grilled meats or served for lunch with bread and cold cuts.

Potato Salad with Nuts

Ingredients:
1 lb potatoes,
2 celery sticks,
2 small shallots,
1/4 cup roasted and chopped hazelnuts or pecans,
2 tbsp mayonnaise,
salt and pepper to taste.

Preparation:
1. Peel off potatoes and cut them in halves. Cook until soft and let them cool down completely, then cut into smaller cubes. Place them in a large bowl.
2. Peel of shallots and chop finely. Add to the potatoes.
3. Slice celery sticks into thin slices, add to the bowl.

4. Add chopped nuts, salt, pepper, mayonnaise. Mix gently all the ingredients and serve.

Tomatoes Roasted with Herbs

If I had to name one thing that Polish and Italian cuisines have in common it would be our shared love for tomatoes. I have just come back from Poland where for a month I lived mostly on a raw tomato diet, thanks to which I probably got my yearly supply of lycopene. Polish tomatoes are amazing. They come in an endless variety of texture and taste. They are available everywhere in great abundance and at a very low price. On the local farmers' market, which I visited twice a week, I was buying many kilograms of tomatoes, which turned out to be barely enough to last until my next trip to the market. You could see mountains of them at dozens of stands in all shapes and colors. And each time I was dreaming to bring them here and introduce my American friends to the real tomatoes they have never tasted.

But these are just memories.

In America, I enjoy the sweet yellow or red cherry tomatoes and those medium dark brown, which are hard but very sweet. My recent addiction is a dish of roasted tomatoes with herbs that can accompany any meat, fish or goes well alone with freshly baked white bread. For this recipe, I use Roma tomatoes, but any other kind, which has a lot of flesh but not much juice, will work as well. On top of cut tomatoes I sprinkle Zatar--a mix of spices available in Middle Eastern groceries--a combination of thyme, sesame seeds, coriander, and sumac. I drizzle everything with olive oil and bake. This dish works well also with Herbes de Provance or any other herb mix you may like.

Tomatoes Roasted with Herbs

Ingredients:
1 lb ripe tomatoes,
1 tbsp Zatar (dried thyme, sesame seeds, coriander, and sumac) or any dried herbs you like, plus one tbsp of sesame seeds,
2 garlic cloves cut in half,
2 tbsp olive oil,
salt and pepper to taste.

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 400F.
1. Cut tomatoes in quarters and arrange on a 9-inch oven-proof dish.
2. Sprinkle with herbs, sesame seeds, salt, and pepper.

3. Drizzle with oil on top and bake for about 30 minutes until tomatoes become dark red and spices slightly brown.