White beans dressed with little more than fresh herbs and good olive oil reminds me of meals I’ve enjoyed in Tuscany, the South of France, and the Greek islands. Here, the gremolata-style dressing is inspired by the Italian version made with garlic, citrus rind, and parsley. My variation uses a combination of preserved lemons, black garlic, and cilantro. The black garlic can be replaced with pitted salted olives—not the same, but it does have that “grounding” umami flavor.
My Moroccan friend Mehdi first introduced me to chermoula as a marinade for seafood, but I love it on chicken too. It wraps the meat with the soft distinct flavor of cooked cilantro and the gentle warmth of sweet paprika. This is a great picnicky recipe to double up for a summertime crowd, since chicken thighs (or hindquarters) are very forgiving for the busy home cook. I like to use my wood-burning pizza oven outdoors, but an indoor oven works just fine.
For this tart, you can use either forced rhubarb in the early part of the year, which is pink, tender and sweet, or the typical garden rhubarb from late spring onwards, although you may need to add a little more sugar when marinating the stems. For me, both are delicious.
I think there's something so enjoyable about eating this way, whether for dinner, snacking, or sharing plates. While I love more traditional nachos, I tend to lean more to this flavor proflle, which means it's essentially all my favorite snacking foods on one giant plate. It looks like a lot of ingredients, but please forge ahead as you're mostly piling a ton of delicious ingredients on top of each other. Pita chips can be made one of two ways: Either peel apart the two layers of the pita for thinner chips, or keep them as is for thicker ones. Here we're going for thicker chips that can hold up to the toppings.
A great way to kick off the start of barbecue season, these lively skewers pack a lot of flavor. Taking a cue (wink) from Northern Chinese barbecue, we dust the skewers in a fennel seedy spice blend when they come off the grill. The crisp asparagus-and-fennel salad is a fun contrast to the meaty, smoky skewers—perfect for a cool, late-spring evening with friends. To round out the meal, we highly recommend pairing these with the Pine Nut Pepper Schmear (page 110).
I discovered a variation of this recipe during my research for Nistisima (my previous book) in a book called Culinaria Greece by Marianthi Milona. I’d never heard of prawns being cooked with honey and was intrigued. In addition, fish sauce was something I had never seen used in Greek food before. After much research I realised it probably referenced “garum,” a fermented fish sauce that was used in Ancient Greece and Rome. There are people today who make their own versions, and it seems like it isn’t too dissimilar to the commonly found fish sauce used in south-east Asian cooking (or even Worcestershire sauce). This truly delicious, genuinely speedy recipe has become a new staple in our house.
Extremely charred broccoli makes for such a great salad. I dream of the burnt broccoli salad from Superiority Burger in the East Village. Brooks Headley, the chef, is really a vegetable wizard; he always comes up with the most brilliant combinations that are so unique, and just work so well. Nothing could be more perfect than that salad, but this plays with some of the sweet, spicy, salty, charred flavors that I love so much about that dish.
This recipe comes from my mother-in-law, Mary. She’s taught me a lot of great cooking tricks and is an absolute force in the kitchen. You know Mary is cooking when you walk into the house and the music is pumping at full volume. I’ve changed some of the seasonings and herbs, but the timing and technique here are all hers. This is an easy, totally hands-off method of cooking fish, which makes it an ideal recipe for new or nervous cooks—for all cooks, really!
Bisteeya is a Moroccan pie traditionally made with braised pigeon, almonds, warm spices, herbs, and eggs. Instead of slowly braising whole cuts of poultry, here I make it with quickly seared ground chicken. By developing dark brown color on the ground chicken, I’m able to mimic the deep flavors of a long-cooked braise in a snap. For the best color, spread the ground chicken out on the skillet and walk away (well, not literally). By leaving it put, the chicken has a chance to dry out and go to brown town on one side, while the opposite side stays moist. This is how I get the best color and texture with any ground meat. If you’ve never used phyllo, this recipe is a good place to start. We’re simply layering the phyllo and folding it over the filling. There’s no complicated scrunching or rolling, and with only a few sheets, if you move quickly, there’s little risk of the pastry drying out. Don’t fret if any sheets tear. With all the layers, the pie can withstand a few ripped sheets.
I had this soup in a market in Zanzibar. It was one of those moments that catches you off guard. A seemingly simple potato soup, but it really is much more than the sum of its parts. So understated but it really delivers. This is my memory of the version I had. You can also add fried peanuts or a hard-boiled egg. I don’t remember the soup being spicy, but you could add a chilli or two to the pot to simmer along. The roasted peanuts without salt are worth seeking out as they work really well here but are also great in salads and for general snacking.