Broccoli Rising and Strong Magic
Discover more from Broccoli Rising, the Newsletter from Ellen Kanner
There are certain places on the surface of the earth that possess more magic than others. And one of those places is Marrakech. - Paul Bowles
I came to Marrakech more than half a century after Bowles wrote those words. But Bowles, an American expat best known as the author of The Sheltering Sky was right. Marrakech has a spirit-lifting magic I could feel. I’m heartbroken that magic didn’t save it from last week’s devastating earthquake, the region’s first in over a hundred years.
After the Marrakech earthquake came the flood in Libya, just the latest in a long, gut-wrenching list of disasters. If there’s a speck of Earth that hasn’t suffered cataclysmic climate change, I don’t know where it is. “Everything gets worse,” Bowles also said. Cheery guy. But you might think he was right about that too.
Even so, things can get better, though we can’t always see it or believe it. That’s its own kind of magic. We have the power to act, to apologize to the Earth and try to make things right.
Some steps to get you started:
Grow some of your own food, even a little pot of herbs. It reduces carbon and can even serve as a carbon sink — plus you get free food.
Compost. It creates healthy soil, reduces waste and encourages biodiversity.
Eat plantbased — it’s a multitasker that can’t be beaten. It reduces environmental damage to the planet, it reduces your grocery bill and it’s delicious.
For the kind of magic we’re going to need to rescue the planet and ourselves, though, none of us can do it alone. In fact, being alone isn’t doing us much good. We’re suffering from an epidemic of loneliness. The planet is clearly suffering too. Like it or not, we need each other. And that, friends, creates its own kind of magic. The way people cook and eat in Morocco facilitates that magic. Bread is baked in communal ovens. Couscous, “doubles, triples, quadruples each time you steam it. It’s always enough food to feed everyone. That’s magic,” says my culinary muse Paula Wolfert, author of The Food of Morocco. Even cooking together virtually counts (did you join me for last week’s virtual Broccoli Confidential cooking class?)
If only it were that easy. As I’m writing this, with over 8,000 lives lost in Libya and Morocco, relief efforts are being hampered not just by logistics, but politics. C’mon people, if ever there was a time to come together, we’re in it. Cooking together and eating together encourages coming together, and boy do we need to do it. Getting people together in the kitchen, as I wrote in Feeding the Hungry Ghost: is the ideal way to resolve conflict — Arab-Israeli conflict, marital conflict, any kind of conflict. It keeps everyone’s hands busy but leaves you free to converse, argue, understand, and ultimately feed each other.
We’re all on this Earth together, and how magical is that?
Taste the magic of Morocco:
In the comforting richness of a slow-simmered bowl of harira
In a deft do-more-with-less way with spices that lifts a basic bowl of carrots
In the kiss of harissa, Morocco’s famed chili paste, in Tunisian roasted vegetables
Wanna make DIY couscous? Paula Wolfert shares her recipe.
Rice in the Sahara
Okay, maybe making couscous from scratch is a big ask. This recipe, made with brown rice, is easier, and it’s a nice way to participate in Whole Grains Month too.
It’s an edible example of Moroccan something-from-nothing magic. As I wrote in Feeding the Hungry Ghost:
In the desert, miles from anywhere, including the nearest market, local food takes on a different meaning. Nothing in the Sahara is local except dates and olives. In one of the great cosmic coincidences, though, they are among the most sustaining foods. They’re what you’re first served at Iftar the breaking of the fast at the end of the day during Ramadan, and they were what our robed hostess set down in front of us. Then she brought out a ceramic cooking vessel with a conical lid. She lifted the lid, revealing a tumble of rice and a perfumed steam that promised something more. The rice was studded with toasted almonds, heady with saffron and olive oil, and every now and again, never when you’d expect it, you’d come to another sliver of date. Tender, crunchy, simple but somehow thrilling, it was made entirely of pantry staples and a certain amount of genius. It was the perfect thing at journey’s end, like being enveloped in the arms of a friend.
Ingredients
1/2 cup slivered almonds
3 cups vegetable broth or water
1 cup brown rice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion sliced
Pinch of saffron
1/2 cup red lentils
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon ground allspice
3 dried Medjool dates chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Pour the almonds in a shallow oven-proof pan and toast until they just turn golden and are fragrant, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the almonds to a small bowl to cool.
In a medium saucepan, bring 2 cups of the vegetable broth or water to a boil over high heat. Add the rice, cover, and reduce the heat to low. Simmer just until the rice absorbs the liquid and leans toward tenderness, about 30 minutes. (It will continue cooking later.) Remove from the heat and let cool. (The rice can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a day or two; bring to room temperature before proceeding with the recipe.)
In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and stir until evenly coated. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and cook about 20 minutes. The onion will still be pale and will have thrown off quite a lot of liquid. This is good. Add the saffron and raise the heat to medium.
Add the red lentils to the onions and stir to combine. Add the remaining 1 cup broth, cover again, and continue cooking. Red lentils cook speedily — 10 to 15 minutes. Check them after 12 minutes. They should be pale rosy and tender, not mushy.
Add the cinnamon stick to the onion-lentil mixture, and stir in the allspice, cooked rice, and dates. Season with plenty of salt and pepper.
Heat over medium heat for a few minutes, stirring to combine, until heated through. Just before serving, stir in the toasted almonds for a nice crunch.
Looking for a printable version of this recipe? Grab it here.
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