Guest Blog: Tal's Moroccan Hot Fish and Mujaddara

Raised in an Israeli household and surrounded throughout my life by exceptional cooks, multi-course middle-eastern dinners were a frequent part of my upbringing. One of my favorite dishes growing up was Moroccan-style Hot Fish, a delicacy commonly served at Shabbat and high holidays.  Armed with an ambitious recipe, fueled by a craving for something home-cooked, and emboldened by a lovely sous-chef, Sarah, I decided to give this culinary gem a try. First order of business- find the fish. The recipe called for grouper which, as it turned out, was all but impossible to find in the Pacific Northwest. I went with Branzini instead, a flaky Mediterranean sea-bass. While I tracked down the fish, Sarah procured the rest of the ingredients: red peppers (both the sweet and spicy variety), fresh parsley, cilantro, paprika, and enough garlic to forever end the Twilight series. The veggies were chopped and arranged in a saucepan. The fish was cut, bones and skin included, into three-inch chunks and mixed in with the veggies. A liberal amount of paprika, salt, olive oil, and water was added. The mixture was brought to a boil, then slow-simmered for a half hour until the vegetables and oil dissolved into a red, glazed spicy broth and the fish fell from the bones.         

We prepared two accompaniments to go with the fish. The first was an Israeli “everything” salad: diced tomatoes, persian cucumbers, romaine lettuce, chives, fresh mint, fresh basil, and parsley. The dressing was a refreshing blend of sour cream, mayonnaise, fresh mint, fresh basil, salt, pepper, lemon, and garlic. Ingredients and dressing were tossed together and sprinkled with feta cheese. This salad alone will flip die-hard meat eaters into vegetarians overnight. Seriously. The second side dish was “Mujaddara”, or rice with lentils. I started by frying onions in olive oil until golden brown. Lentils were then added along with some seasoning; cumin, salt, and fresh ground pepper. Two cups of basmati rice were added and stir-fried for a couple of minutes, then water. Twenty minutes later, I lifted the lid and my nose was hit with the fragrance of steamy deliciousness.                                                   
Nearly three hours after we began, we finally sat down with some wine and enjoyed our  feast. It was outrageously delicious. I cruelly texted pictures to a Geoffrey who was buried nose-deep in PhD labwork. My repentance was a promise to serve him leftovers the following day. And a guest-post on his blog. Enjoy