North African Sushi
The refrigerator was bulging: The creamy innards of roasted eggplant; A tabouleh grew by the hour by hour with diced this and chopped that; The pork ribs wrapped in plastic quietly waiting.
WHAT MUST BE DONE!
A scroll and a few clicks on a lazy sweltering Friday afternoon in my little town perched on the side of a mountain called helmet; The top of the mountain is called helmet; the town is known as the Kings Apple Orchard, or Manzanares El Real. As the afternoon cooled into evening we set out for a walk down to the pueblo. I hollered into the fruit and vegetable shop of Mohammed to ask about the case of saffron I’d ordered the day before. “Yes I got it, but I don’t know hom much. A half a gram is sold for 1 euro 50, but I demanded a deal, softly. Why they always give me these deals is something of a mystery. Pine nuts, for example. A few ounces for 4–5 euros or 80/kilo, but bakeries use them, so i asked my baker to get me a kilo of them for 35/kilo. A kilo of pine nuts means unlimited pesto as far as you can see!! And it feels like it’s for free, because they are already paid for and ready. ready for anything. Roasted pine nuts chopped into a vinaigrette for a summer salad. Tossed into boiling honey to glaze a roasting lamb. You get the idea, pine nuts on everything!
But, alas, I digress: a morcilla as they say in the Spanish theater for that detour that goes no where, but is such fun none the less; yet we were walking through pueblo and ended up at a delightful side walk cafe for a tapa and a caña. Ross swaggered down the street toward us with that attitude that could mean trouble, but never does, dazed and confused about the whereabouts of his students of his “English” class. A Scotsman teaching English. All the English speakers should go to his class if they intend to understand him.
With the solemn celebration of Corpus Christi the day before, Ross went off to discuss the scheduling of his class with the authorities. Into the second Caña, that delightfully prudent Spanish invention of a small cold glass of beer that always suggested another, and perhaps, another, as they leave so little evidence of sin; Ross returned with his equally confused, but dutiful students. The French singer, of an indeterminable ethnicity given the Austrian, French and North African branches, sits with us and announces her engagement in the Real Monasterio de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe to sing for a wedding — raising her voice to be heard over the grind of the construction workers next door.
We move further down the road by the castle to the small terrazzo of Al Jaima. Then I remembered: “A scroll and a few clicks” ago on yesterdays lazy afternoon in a place somewhere in Madrid that no one cares to remember, or often forgets; I remembered an article I’d just seen in the La Times about a North African Taco and had glanced at a photograph.
The patriarch of one of the oldest and largest local Moroccan families was holding court at the counter while eating a round flat toasted hand made bread and guarding the colorful and ornate sweets in front of him. I asked about it he offered me a piece. Next to the stack of the unroasted round breads were a stack of square folded breads and I ordered two to go — thinking that if they can do tacos from North Africa, I can make burritos. We switched from cañas to bottles called a third in the venacular— un tercio, por favor. A third. The thirds. Three thirds; four thirds; are you getting thirdsty…?
With the flat bread I bought last evening at our villages new Moroccan restaurant Al Jaima, I added baba ganoush; tabouleh with both crushed wheat and whole rye; pico del gallo with fresh oregano, basil and thyme; feta; and some other things… along with the marinated and BBQed pork ribs now steamed and de-boned et voilà!!
Here are my notes on the pork preparation: What to do with naked pork ribs on a sunny day of Corpus Christi. A BBQ, of course, but what of the sauce? Squeeze 3 lemons and add A tea spoon of Massala de Isla Mauricio; 22 grains of piemienta negra Tellichelly; and Sumac from the Spices Cave; a healthy soup spoon of Zaatar; Apple, balsamic and sherry vinegar; Susanne’s home made ginger syrup; garlic and fresh ginger… salt and what else…?
Pickled horseradish and chopped pickled Moroccan chilies with their vinegar; vinegar from the horseradish pickle… fresh cut spring onion… needed more sweet to balance all that tangy vinegar and lemon.
