The Secret Sauce!
This recipe was the hands down winner at the MKMT table. While it was served with the Moroccan Lamb Sausage, we tried it on just about everything with such positive results we dubbed it the “secret sauce”! Double or even triple and keep refrigerated as a kitchen staple.
Moroccan Charmoula
Charmoula (Sometimes Spelled Chermoula) is a signature sauce in the Moroccan kitchen. Aromatic spices such as cumin, sweet paprika, and black or hot pepper are combined with chopped parsley, cilantro, and garlic in a base of olive oil, with either lemon juice or vinegar as the acid component. There are many different versions of this traditional sauce. Some have sweet spices such as cinnamon and ginger, and some include saffron. Others have grated onion or slivers of preserved lemon. Charmoula is most often used as a marinade for fish, poultry, and lamb.
Charmoula is incredibly versatile. Just like the Moroccans, we can use it as a marinade for fish, poultry, and lamb. It can be a finishing sauce and can be spooned over grilled fish or shellfish or stirred into fish soup for an herbal jolt. As a dressing, it is excellent on grilled vegetables, bean salads, potato salads, grain salads, and couscous salads. For the acid factor, I usually opt for lemon juice, but if the lemons are mild and you want greater acidity to set off the spices, add some red wine vinegar.
About ½ cup fresh lemon juice, or ¼ cup lemon juice and ¼ cup red wine vinegar
6 cloves garlic, very finely minced
2 teaspoons sweet paprika or pimentón dulce
2 teaspoons ground cumin, toasted
½ teaspoon cayenne
¼ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more if needed
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Chopped preserved lemon (optional)
Mix the lemon juice, garlic, paprika, cumin, and cayenne in a mixing bowl until smooth. Whisk in the parsley, cilantro, and olive oil. Taste and add more oil if necessary and salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle in a little preserved lemon if you’d like.
Moroccan Charmoula p.326
Mediterranean Fresh
Copyright © 2008 by Joyce Goldstein
Published by W.W. Norton & Company
Leave a Reply