Morocco

Morocco
October 2008

Contact Victoria Challancin for itinerary and details:

Flavorsofthesun@gmail.com

Cooking Class Photos

Honoring my students and their efforts...
without benefit of the flash.

Roasted Garbanzo Beans with Mexican Spices

Reyna


Guillermina

Chilled Melon Gazpacho Soup
Pistachio-Crusted Salmon with Mango-Jícama Salsa


Mari Esther y Sol with a Gazpacho Salad


Cande


Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Ricotta, Spinach,
and Gorgonzola with a Lemony Mustard Sauce


Smoked Salmon and Avocado Mousse Rolls with Cress
and Orange Vinaigrette


Mari Esther and Carmen


Marinated Flank Steak with Chunky Mojo-Citrus Salsa



Mari kneading bread


Mari with a Braided Herb Challa


Chilled Zucchini-Mint Soup with Tomato and Pine Nut Salsa



Liliana


Pistachio-Encrusted Salmon

(Upper Left) Maria spreading Mango Curd
(Upper Right) Doña Ro making Asparagus Ravioli
for a Parmesan Broth Soup
(Left) Mari Esther

Maria showed us all how to decorate a Mango-Banana
Cake with Mango Curd and Whipped Cream-Mango
Frosting--with only a plastic bag and none of my decorating tools.










































Salmon Poached in White Wine and Orange with a Papaya-Mango Salsa

Italian Agrodolce Chicken

A Mixed Salad with Kiwi Vinaigrette


Guava Cake with a layer of Guava Paste

A Spanish-English Seafood List

Common Names of Fish in English and Spanish
by Victoria Challancin

After twenty years of living in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, I’d like to think that I am almost a native citizen. Clearly, I’m not. The constant juxtaposition of “otherness” continually intrudes in my life, and a faint dusting of confusion spices up and improves my existence at all levels, at all times. Even in dealing with the stuff of daily life, bewilderment sneaks in. Take fish, for instance. Yes, fish. For a Florida native who grew up with fishermen on an island in Lake Okeechobee, learning to navigate the linguistic waters of the nomenclature of fish should be a simple learning of some new vocabulary, a simple substitution of one noun for another. Not so. When I offered to include a list of common seafood names in Spanish for my foreign readers here in Mexico, I never expected the task to be at all complicated. So why is it so?


Linguistic confusion abounds when it comes to any discussion of fish and seafood in Mexico for several reasons. The fact that Mexico has 9,330 kilometers of coastline, with 7,338 km facing the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California, and the remaining 2,805 abutting the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, hints at the enormity of the seafood industry in Mexico. When you compound the sheer facts of the geography of the country with additional confusion over language and usage, it spells problems for consumers trying to swim their way through the muddy waters of translation in the markets, stores, and restaurants. Add to this mix the country of Spain itself, from whence the language obviously comes, and the myriad fish species of the Atlantic, which separates Spain and Mexico, and you have the potential for real confusion. Now toss in the different names for fish from the countries of Central and South America. Throw in the fact that in the Spanish language there are both pez/peces to represent live fish and pescado/s to designate the actual food on your plate, and you can begin to see the problem (Example: a tiburón is a shark, but the edible dogfish or small shark so popular on menus throughout Mexico is cazón). Usage changes as well from region to region within a single country and a commonly used name in one area could be totally unknown some miles away.

This is clearly one time that “Google” may not be able to clarify the situation, but maybe a cooking teacher who has learned through time, can help. Below is a list of names for fish commonly used here in San Miguel for my readers who so trustingly made this request:
(Note: Once again, my blog program removes my columns when I publish the post--sorry about that).

Names of Fish in Spanish/English
Aguja Azul Blue Marlin
Ahi Atún Yellowfin Tuna
Anchoa Anchovy
Atun Tuna
Bacalao Cod
Bandera, Bagre, Barbo Catfish
Blanco de Nilo A farm-raised perch
Cabrilla Sea Bass
Carpa Carp
Dorado Mahi Mahi, Dolphinfish (the fish, not the mammal)
Huachinango Red Snapper
Jurel Yellowtail
Lenguado Halibut, Sole
Lisa Mullet
Mero, Garropa Grouper
Mojarra Sea Bass
Pámpano Pompano
Pargo, Perca Perch, in general
Pargo Amarilla Yellowtail Snapper
Pargo Colarado Colorado Snapper
Pargo Prieto Dog Snapper
Parquito Little Perch (unspecified species)
Peto, Guahu Wahoo
Pez Espada Swordfish
Pez Fuerte Amberjack
Riaditos Stripe Grunts
Róbalo Snook
Salmon Ahumado Smoked Salmon
Salmon Salmon
Sardina Sardine (also a Flatiron Herring)
Sierra Mackerel
Trucha Trout

Miscellaneous Seafood
Almeja Clam
Anguillas Eels
Calamar Squid
Camarón Shrimp
Callo de Hacha, Vieira Scallop
Jaiba, Cangrejo Crab
Langosta Lobster
Langostino Crayfish, Crawfish
Ostion Oyster

Miscellaneous Terms
Mariscos Seafood
Pescado Fish (as food)
Pez Fish (in the water)
Ahumada/o Smoked
Ala Fin
Filete Boneless piece
Trozo Thick slice
Escamas Scales
Sin cabeza Without head
Espinas Pin bones

Dukkah: An Egyptian Nut and Spice Blend

The Magic of Dukkah
by Victoria Challancin

My first encounter with dukkah (alternately spelled duqqa or du'a depending on both the transliteration from Arabic and the local dialect), was in the Spice Souk in Cairo over 25 years ago. Ever fascinated by the unknown, I latched my attention upon the stalls that sold what appeared to be a spice mixture which was doled out into paper cones. Captivated, I watched as some people took their cones with them, nibbling as they walked. Clearly, it was a snack. Then I saw others who were given strips of fresh pita bread by the vendor to dip into small bowls of olive oil and then in the dukkah. Evidently, it was a condiment as well. I might not have been exactly certain what it was that I was observing, but I knew I wanted some. And once I had tasted it, I knew I wanted to duplicate it at home.

I returned to Bahrain where I lived, searched my cookbooks for a recipe, asked Arab friends and students if they knew of it, and finally forgot about it until my next trip to Egypt. At this point, determination, curiosity, and the generosity of a friend yielded a concrete recipe. Later, I tweaked it to suit my own taste. My own version follows.

What exactly is dukkah?

Dukkah is a blend of ground nuts and spices best known in Egypt, but eaten throughout the Middle East. The word dukkah comes from an Arabic verb meaning "to pound," much like pestare in Italian, from which we get pesto. Traditionally, all ingredients were first toasted individually in a dry skillet, and then pounded with a mortar and pestle to a coarse mixture. Recipes vary, but a traditional recipe would probably contain toasted hazelnuts and chickpeas, and would definitely include sesame, coriander, and cumin seeds as well. Either dried thyme or mint would give an herbal note. Today, a food processor or spice grinder makes short order of the process.

Recipe: Dukkah (An Egyptian Nut and Spice Blend)
(Recipe by Victoria Challancin)
Makes about 2 1/4 cups.

1/2 cup sesame seeds, lightly toasted
1/2 cup coriander seeds, lightly toasted
1 cup mixed hazelnuts and almonds, toasted
1/4 cup cumin seeds, toasted
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Toast sesame seeds, coriander seeds, hazelnuts or almonds, and cumin seeds individually in a dry skillet. Allow to cool. Grind the toasted seeds and nuts individually in a spice/coffee grinder. Be careful not to over mix as they will become pasty. Place in a bowl and mix well, adding the salt and pepper. Store in a glass container for about a month.

Variations

There are many ingredients that could be added to this recipe, some traditional, some not. Experiment and let your taste preferences guide you. Just remember, look for a balance. The ingredients are flexible, but no one flavor should dominate.

Miscellaneous Additions:
Paprika
Ground Sumac
Za'atar
Smoked Spanish Paprika
Turmeric
Curry powder or Garam Masala
Moroccan Ras al Hanout
Cashews
Pistachios
Macadamia nuts
Sunflower seeds
Pumpkin seeds
Poppy seeds
Caraway seeds
Grated orange or lemon zest
Dried coconut and cinnamon (a sweet blend for a fruit salad perhaps)

How to Use Dukkah

Use it as a dip with olive oil and pita bread
Sprinkle over cooked vegetables

Add to a salad
Mix with yogurt for a dip for raw vegetables
Roll hard-boiled quail eggs in it for an hors d'oeuvres
Sprinkle it over regular deviled eggs
Mix into bread of muffin dough
Mix with honey for a sandwich bread
Make an Arab-style guacamole
Sprinkle over marinated cheese
Use a a garnish for soup
Add depth to rice dishes
Add to a watermelon-feta-basil salad
Roll balls of strained thick yogurt in dukkah, place in a jar, and top with olive oil
Use as crust for shrimp, chicken breasts, or pork (my favorite way to use it)

I hope by now your own imagination has taken over. You are looking for crunch, mystery, and fun. Let your taste buds guide you!

I discussed this recipe in an interview on The Expat Radio Show (WTBQ 1110 AM in New York) with gracious host Tai Aguirre. I am thrilled to report that I will have a regular spot on the show, where I will share not only recipes, but information on herbs, travel tips, and more. Thank you, Tai, for this great opportunity to share!

This dukkah recipe will also be my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging, originated by the helpful and generous Kalyn Denny of kalynskitchen.blogspot.com and hosted this week by Gay, a molecular biologist who hosts A Scientist in the Kitchen (ascientistinthekitchen.net).

Shrimp and Gruyère Cobb Salad withttp://blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifh Low-Fat Green Goddess Dressing

Cobb Salad: Begging for Reinvention
by Victoria Challancin

In 1937 an overnight salad sensation was born at Hollywood's The Brown Derby restaurant, when the hungry owner, Bob Cobb, threw together an assortment of salad ingredients to satisfy his late-night hunger. According to Arthur Schwartz, NYC's "Food Maven," more than 4 million Cobb salads have been sold at Brown Derby restaurants since that time. It's easy to understand why: the salad is beautiful, full of healthy ingredients, and above all, flexible. While the original recipe calls for chicken, bacon, and blue cheese, this salad begs for reinterpretation. Because it is so perfect for San MIguel's al fresco dining style, I have prepared it a variety of styles: Italian, Thai, Mexican, and French. It appeared in my cooking class for Mexican cooks this week in a rather Californian version using shrimp, pickled quail eggs, and a relatively low-fat Green Goddess dressing.

I recently purchased a jar of pickled quail eggs, mainly because they looked so pretty. Curious to see if they were as tasty as they looked, I included in our salad both the quail eggs and the spicy carrots that were included in the pickled mix.

The dressing is my interpretation of another California classic, Green Goddess Dressing, invented in the 1920's at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, to honor William Archer's popular play The Green Goddess. Like the salad itself, this dressing constantly reinvents itself at my table, though I always include tarragon and anchovies.

Shrimp and Gruyère Cobb Salad with Low-Fat Green Goddess Dressing

(Recipe by Victoria Challancin)

Serves 4 to 6.

Note: There are so many possible additions or subtractions to this salad: chicken, crumbed bacon, salami, hearts of palm, artichoke hearts, blue cheese, radishes, broccoli, asparagus, green beans, sprouts, beets, carrots, purple cabbage, cooked new potatoes—just any salad ingredient you like.

Dressing:
1/2 cup plain fat-free yogurt
1/4 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
3 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
3 tablespoons chopped green onions
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons anchovy paste or smashed anchovies
1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1-2 garlic cloves, minced

Salad:
8 cups romaine lettuce, cut into 1-inch thick slices
1 bunch trimmed watercress or escarole
1 1/2 cups chopped cooked shrimp
4 plum tomatoes, diced or cut into 8 wedges
3 green onions, sliced
1 small jícama, peeled and julienned
Pickled quail eggs, cut in half lengthwise or 2 hard-cooked large eggs,
each cut into 4 wedges
2 bell peppers of different colors, diced
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and sliced into half-moons or
3 European-style cucumbers, sliced thin
1 avocado, peeled and diced
1 cup Gruyère or Manchego cheese, julienned
Additional chive pieces for garnish, optional

To prepare dressing: Place ingredients for dressing in a blender or food processor; process until smooth. Chill.

To prepare salad: Combine lettuce and watercress in a large bowl. Make a bed of lettuce and cress on a rectangular or oblong serving plate. Arrange the individual salad ingredients in lines on serving plate (or on individual plates). Drizzle the dressing across the salad. Garnish with a few pieces of chive.


(See www.kitchenproject.com/history/CobbSalad.htm for a brief article by Arthur Schwartz on Cobb Salad with the original recipe).

This is my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging event, originated by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen, which is hosted this week by Anh from Food Lover's Journey.

Cooking at the Kasbah

Marrakech: A Cooking Class at La Maison Arabe
by Victoria Challancin

My own tagine of chicken with olives and preserved lemons

Common spices used in Moroccan cooking

Occasionally, Life gives us a chance to pat ourselves on the head for doing things right. When I took two small groups of women to Morocco in 2007, Life afforded me just such an occasion. Although these trips were not billed culinary adventures per se, my endless pursuit of interesting food, local markets, high-end restaurant extravaganzas, and the low-end reality of street foods are never very far from my heart. They are one of the main ways I like to “have my being” when I travel. I am a cooking teacher after all, demanding, yes, but always open to new ideas and new experiences. Hence, I just had to include at least one cooking class on each trip. Having lucked out with the absolute best guide and driver imaginable, I crossed my fingers that the cooking classes I had scheduled in Marrakech were the right choice. After reading mixed reviews, I decided on La Maison Arabe. Pat, pat. That’s the sound of me patting myself on the head for choosing this particular treat.

Classic Moroccan ingredients: pink tagine olives and preserved lemons

The Hotel La Maison Arabe itself is set in the Bab Doukkala District of Marrakech, close to the Bab Doukkala Mosque. It began its public life as restaurant in the 1940s. In 1998 it opened as one of the first boutique hotels in the city, brainchild of the Italian prince, Fabrizio Ruspoli, under whose guidance it was transformed into a quiet haven of sensual Eastern magic, right in the heart of Marrakech. The courtyards, parlors, and niches of the public areas are filled with carved cedar doors, Berber rugs, alabaster bowls of rose petals, gentle fountains, Moorish arches, antiques, and art. So much art. Beautiful, tasteful, alluring. But for me, my interest was elsewhere: The Kasbah, home of the hotel’s cooking school.

In addition to housing the cooking school, hotel guests can visit the Kasbah, located about 20 minutes outside of the town walls, for its swimming pool and general peace. Set in the Palmerie, a palm grove next to the King’s private tree nursery, this tranquil garden showcases the vegetables and herbs used in the cooking classes, as well as rose arbors, willow trees, flowers of all sorts, olive and fig trees, ponds with the requisite sun-bathing turtles, and birds, seemingly chosen for their ability to produce song. The whole effect is one of fragrant and peaceful ambiance, a respite behind mud walls from the busy-ness of the city itself.

Alexa's lovely hennaed hands and Moroccan jewelry

The La Maison Cooking School kitchen

My own tagine, bubbling away

We gathered al fresco with Mohammed Nahir, an English professor from the University of Morocco, talked about the history and traditions of Moroccan cuisine and more. Although we didn’t receive actual recipes, he walked us through what we were going to prepare. The dada, a woman who traditionally acts as both nanny and cook for rich families, led us through the cooking, with Mohammed translating for her.

The kitchen itself is a proper teaching kitchen with individual burners available for each student. We prepared our dishes together and then ate them, each person with her own tagine in front of her, under the orange trees in the garden, like in the perfect secluded Arabian gardens of legend. At the end of the day, we had peeled off one more layer of the cultural mystery that is Morocco, reveling in the both fine nuances and slamming differences of cultures, the inter-weaving of history into all things, the sensuality of spices, the peace of nature, and the irreplaceable joy of being with good people, sharing delicious food, talking about life, all in incomparable setting, punctuated with the occasional sound of “pat, pat,” the tympanic sounds of self-congratulation.

A roasted pepper and tomato salad

Contact Victoria Challancin at flavorsofthesun@gmail.com for details of the Morocco 2008 trip.

Victoria Challancin
Flavors of the Sun International Cooking School
San MIguel de Allende, Mexico

Cooking Class Photos

Cooking Class Photos

Flavors of the Sun International Cooking School
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
by Victoria Challancin

For over ten years, I have offered courses in International Cooking to Mexican cooks. Almost 70% of the students return to learn new recipes and to expand their repertoire of recipes. Because both the patrons who send their cooks and the cooks themselves like to see photos of what we do in class, I have started regularly posting photos from our classes. The following photos represent some of the recipes we prepared on April 9th and April 16th.

Mari making Greek Phyllo Triangles Stuffed with Three Cheeses

Maria Rosa with Tyropitas, Greek Phyllo Triangles

Reyna, making Phyllo Triangles stuffed with 3 cheeses

Guillermina shredding chicken for a Chicken-Bulgar Pilaf with Orange-Basil Vinaigrette

Candelaria and Mari

Red Leaf Lettuce with Grated Beets, Carrots, and Jícama with a Sesame-Soy Vinaigrette


Mari Esther and Carmen


Mari Esther


Yogurt with Yemeni Zhoug and Greek Salad Pita Sandwiches


Greek Salad Pita Sandwiches

Spring Chicken-Vegetable Soup with Dill-Horseradish Pesto

Tyropitas


Spicy Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Feta and Mint


Soledad garnishing couscous


Greek Chicken Stew with Cinnamon-Raisin Couscous and Oregano Potatoes


The cooks enjoying their efforts


Strawberry Cheesecake with Almond-Sugar Phyllo Triangles

Mari Esther, Sol, and Carmen

Maria making Dulce de Leche Whipped Cream for Roasted Pineapple Shortcakes with Dulce de Leche-Pineapple Sauce and Dulce de Leche Whipped Cream

Carmen studying a recipe