This is the final selection of recipes from Casa Moro, the new cookbook by Sam and Sam Clark, in which they explore the cooking of Spain, Morocco and Lebanon, bringing the flavours of those linked but very different cultures within easy reach of the domestic cook. Wonderful though these recipes are, they are only a taster for the dishes in the book, which are full of rich flavours, warmth and pleasure. As the Clarks say, "We are interested in a sense of place with our food, that place being the street or home. This book therefore prefers to be at home, for there is no substitute for the love and care of the home cook."
Besugo al horno
Baked bream with potatoes and tomatoes - bream cooked this way is a traditional Spanish Christmas dish. It's easy to make and a treat to eat. The method also works well with cod or hake steaks or filleted sea bass - these take about 15 minutes less to cook, so roast the other ingredients for 15-20 minutes before you cook the fish. Serves four.
2 bream (red, golden or black), each big enough for two (ie around 500g), scaled and gutted
Sea salt and black pepper
4 large Cyprus potatoes (about 1kg), sliced into rounds 3mm thick
2 medium red onions, thinly sliced
6 medium sweet tomatoes (or 12-18 cherry tomatoes), sliced into rounds about 5mm thick
2 garlic cloves, crushed to a paste with salt
2 bayleaves (preferably fresh), halved
6 tbsp olive oil
A few parsley stalks
4 slices lemon
half fennel bulb, finely chopped (or half tbsp fennel seeds)
To serve
2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 lemon, quartered
Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/gas mark 7. Season the fish inside and out. Lightly salt the potatoes. Put the onions, potatoes, tomatoes, garlic and bayleaves in a mixing bowl. Pour on half the olive oil, season well and toss together. Stuff the cavity of each fish with parsley stalks, lemon and fennel. Cover the base of a very large, roomy roasting tray with half the onion, potato and tomato mixture. Place the bream on top, then cover with the rest of the vegetables. Drizzle over the remaining oil, and roast in the middle of the oven for 35 minutes, or until cooked. Scatter with parsley and serve with lemon quarters and a salad.
Lamb mechoui with cumin and paprika salt
The last time we were in Marrakech, we visited a market 15km outside the city. Against a backdrop of the snow-covered Atlas mountains, we wandered around with our guide, Khalid, for what seemed like hours. When we stopped for lunch, we were given a bowl of steaming chickpeas with calf's feet by a friend of his who ran the oldest 'restaurant' in the market. While we were scooping up this gelatinous stew with bread, we noticed a man ask the owner to grill him some chops he'd just bought from a butcher. Simply sprinkled with cumin, salt and paprika, they were grilled over charcoal and served with a small pile of extra cumin salt on the side, and bread. 'This is real mechoui,' Khalid said. He was referring to the famous mechoui of whole lambs spit-roasted over the embers of an open fire, basted with a mixture of butter, saffron, cumin, salt and paprika. Still feeling a little hungry ourselves, we, too, went off to buy some chops for him to grill for us. Serves four.
2 tbsp cumin seeds, freshly ground
1 tsp sweet paprika
half tsp hot paprika
1 tbsp sea salt, roughly crumbled
12-16 lamb chops, depending on size
40g butter, melted
In a bowl, mix together the spices and salt. Just before you are ready to cook the chops, brush them with melted butter, sprinkle with half the cumin mixture and grill or griddle for five to eight minutes on each side. Serve immediately with the remaining cumin salt on the side. This is delicious on its own with bread and/or a Moroccan salad.
Variation: instead of chops, you could cover a whole shoulder of lamb with the spice mix and roast it at 160C/325F/gas mark 3 for four to five hours, until the meat is falling off the bone. Keep basting the meat with the buttery, spicy juices. Serve with extra cumin salt on the side.
Chicken fattee with rice, crispbread and yogurt
This is a glorious layered dish from Lebanon, ideally suited to sharing at home with family and friends. As there are so many simple components in this dish, one chicken goes a long way. In Lebanon, the bird is poached rather than roasted. Serves eight.
For the chicken
1 medium organic or free-range chicken, about 1.5kg
3 tbsp olive oil
Sea salt and black pepper
Quarter tsp cloves, ground
For the tomato sauce
5 tbsp olive oil
5 garlic cloves, sliced
4cm cinnamon stick
2x400g tins plum tomatoes, drained and the tomatoes squashed well
For the rice
300g basmati rice, unwashed
Sea salt
75g butter
4cm cinnamon stick
half a large onion, halved and thinly sliced
485ml water or chicken stock
400g tin cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed
For the crispbread
25g butter
2 pitta breads
For the fried aubergine
2 medium aubergines, cut into 3cm cubes and tossed with 1 tsp salt
8 tbsp olive oil
To finish
500g Greek yogurt, mixed with a clove of garlic crushed with salt
8 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
75g pine nuts, very lightly toasted or fried in olive oil until golden
Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/gas mark 7. Rub two tablespoons of olive oil all over the chicken, season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle the ground cloves on top. Oil a baking tray with the remaining oil, then add the chicken and roast for about an hour and a quarter, basting every now and then, until the juices run clear (check after an hour, then every 15 minutes or so, as you don't want to overcook it). Transfer the bird to a board to rest for 10 minutes, loosely covered with foil. Meanwhile, deglaze the roasting tray - pour off most of the oil, place the tray over medium heat, add 150ml water and bring to a gentle simmer. Tip in the juices from the cavity of the chicken, then scrape up any caramelised bits on the base of the tray and check for seasoning. Add more water if the gravy is too strong.
When the chicken is cool enough to handle, take the meat off the bone and slice into manageable pieces. Keep warm until you are ready to serve.
Meanwhile, make the tomato sauce. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and fry the garlic until light brown. Add the cinnamon and tomatoes, simmer for half an hour, then season well. Keep the sauce warm.
Rub the rice in three changes of cold water to wash off the starch. Cover with warm water, stir in the salt and soak for 30-60 minutes. Melt the butter over a medium heat and add the cinnamon and onion. Fry for 10-15 minutes until golden brown, stirring every now and then. Remove from the heat and set aside.
To make the crispbread, melt the butter over a low heat. Heat the pittas in the oven for a couple of minutes, then split them in half lengthways and brush on both sides with melted butter. Place on a board and slice each half in half again lengthways, then cut each piece into four or five triangles. Place on a rack and bake in the middle of the oven for 10-15 minutes, until golden brown and crisp.
About 15 minutes before you are ready to eat, place the onion pan over a high heat, drain the rice and stir into the onions. Fry, stirring, for a minute. Add the water (or stock) and the chickpeas. Add salt (about half a teaspoon) and cover with either baking parchment or foil followed by a lid. Boil fast for five minutes, then turn the heat to low-medium for a further five minutes. At this point, the rice should be cooked, but it will sit happily for 15 minutes.
Rinse the salt off the aubergines, then dry with kitchen paper. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan or wok over a medium to high heat, then fry the aubergine until soft and brown. Cover and keep warm.
Now you just have to layer things up on one or more big platters or serving dishes. Everything needs to be hot apart from the crispbread and yogurt. The order to layer your plate is first the crispbread, then the rice, then the chicken and its gravy (about four to five tablespoons), then the aubergine, then a scattering of tomato sauce, then a little yogurt and finally lots of chopped parsley and the pine nuts. Eat right away
© Samantha and Samuel Clark, 2004.
· This is an edited extract from Casa Moro, by Sam and Sam Clark, published by Ebury Press on November 4 at £25. To reserve a copy for £23 (with free p&p), call 0870 836 0875 (or visit theguardian.com/bookshop).
