Four Moroccan Salads

North African influences are found across the cooking of the South of Spain from the times of the Moors. These unusual and truly delicious salads simply zing with flavour and colour. I love them.

They would be fabulous with Baked Fish with Chermoula, a well chilled rose and fresh pitta bread - pop this in the toaster to refresh before serving.

Grated Carrot, Cinnamon and Ginger

Ingredients:

500g carrots
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp honey
1 tbsp olive oil
75 g currants
Salt and pepper

Method:

Peel the carrots and grate on the medium/fine grater, using a food processor if you wish. If the carrots come out very wet from the grating process, squeeze out the excess juices with your hands. Mix in the remaining ingredients and season to taste; there should be a nice balance of sweet and spicy flavours. Chill until needed, preferably overnight to allow the flavours to develop.

If you wish to modernise the presentation, then ribbon the carrots after peeling using a a vegetable peeler, blanch them in boiling water for 15 seconds, refresh under cold and add 2 tbsp chopped mint or coriander to the dressing. Arrange the salad on a platter and garnish with mint sprigs and a scatter of toasted sesame seeds.

Navel Orange, Red Onion and Black Olive

This very weird sounding recipe is an amazing combination of flavours. The briny black olives are just right with the onion, chilli and oranges; don’t over do the onion but add plenty of salt to balance the sweetness of the oranges. Navel oranges are particularly sweet and juicy and are just right for this recipe.

Ingredients:

4 big sweet juicy Navel oranges
Halved, drained and pitted Kalamata olives
½ small red onion, sliced very finely in half moons
1 red chilli chopped finely or ¼- ½ tsp chilli powder
½ tsp salt
Black pepper

Method:

Using a very sharp knife, cut a slice off the top and bottom of each orange, so that they stand flat on a chopping board. With a sweeping motion of the knife, cut off the skin and pith so that you have 4 naked oranges. Cut crosswise into ¾ cm slices and arrange them in one layer on a large platter. Pop one halved black olive into the centre of each orange. Scatter over the chopped onion, and then the chilli, salt and pepper. Taste and add more chilli or salt if desired.

Roasted Vegetable Salad with Coriander and Garlic Vinaigrette

This dressing simply leaps with flavour over the roasted vegetables. You can vary the exact vegetable mix according to what you have in. If you can do try to find thin pointed pale coloured aubergines (a mauve colour) in a Continental grocers as they are more tender than the normal purple fat ones – although these are just fine too. The herb and spice mixture that is added to the French style vinaigrette - a legacy of colonial days - is a Moroccan chermoula and is also delicious with a ripe fresh tomato salad. I often do a tomato salad this way.

Ingredients:

1kg mix of aubergine, red peppers, courgettes and small onions
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
6 tbsp wine vinegar vinaigrette, adding:
3 garlic cloves, crushed or finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp chilli powder
3 tbsp chopped coriander and 2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley

Method:

Prepare the aubergines, red peppers and courgettes, cutting them into chunky bite sized pieces. Put them on a large baking try. Cut the onions into quarters and add them too. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle over 2 tbsp olive oil, mixing lightly so as not to break up the onions too much. Bake in a preheated oven at 190 degrees centigrade for 60 minutes, until the vegetable are soft and scorched here and there. Give them a gentle stir at the half way mark.

Mix the vinaigrette ingredients together and season well; it should be highly flavoured and with a good tingle of chilli. Arrange the vegetables on a dish and pour over the dressing, chilling until needed.

Garnish with sprigs of coriander.
Keeps 2-3 days in the fridge.
 
Green Bean and Tomato

I have been making this recipe for 30 years; it is excellent and I have absolutely no memory of its origin. If you grow your own runner beans, it is excellent made with the glut that gardeners always get at the end of the season, in early September. Now I nearly always make it with French beans as these are available all summer long in our local market.

Ingredients:

750 g runner, Romano or French beans
4 cloves garlic, crushed or very finely chopped
500 g tomato Passata
4 tbsp olive oil
Juice ½ lemon
1 tbsp sugar
Salt and pepper
Chopped fresh coriander to garnish

Method:

Prepare the beans by washing them, topping and tailing them and cutting them into bite sized pieces. Put them in a pan with a close fitting lid with all the rest of the ingredients except the coriander garnish. Bring to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes until the beans are tender (not crunchy, the beans are supposed to soak up the sauce flavours). Adjust seasoning. If the sauce is too thick add a little water.

Leave to cool and serve at room temperature, garnished with chopped coriander.

Keeps 2-3 days in the fridge.