Moroccan Carrot Ravioli with Harissa and Preserved Lemon

This week's box contained:

• French Tarragon (traded for more chard)
• Gold Beets
• Costata Romanesco Summer Squash
• Strawberries
• Chard
• Mixed Cherry and Saladette Tomatoes
• Carrots
• Spinach

Lots to love here, though we are buried in carrots and summer squash.  As a result, I did a healthy amount of Googling, finding quite a few interesting recipes.  The beets will be roasted, tossed with cider vinegar and salt, and eaten straight-up.  I found a couple of recipes I plan to try with the squash and spinach:

• Zucchini Ricotta Cheesecake
• Spinach and Zucchini Soup

The strawberries will be frozen for smoothies and the chard made into Chard and Ricotta Ravioli with White Wine Butter.  The tomatoes will be made into Slow-Roasted Cherry Tomato Bruschetta for a nice lunch in the California sunshine.

For the carrots, I found the most amazing fusion recipe: Moroccan Carrot Ravioli with Lemon Zest and Harissa on Food Bridge.  In reading the full post, I decided to make a few changes, noted in my adaption below.

Moroccan Carrot Ravioli with Harissa and Preserved Lemon

Pasta

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons water, adding more as needed to reach the desired dough consistency
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 tablespoons harissa

Combine the flour and salt in the food processor; pulse a few times. Whisk the eggs, water, olive oil, and harissa together in a small bowl. While pulsing the machine pour this mixture in a continuous stream and continue running the machine until the dough begins, to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Form into a disk, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes or more.

Filling

6 medium carrots, peeled and cut into disks
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons preserved lemon peel

Preheat the oven to 425°. Toss the carrots with the olive oil and season with salt. Cover with foil and bake until tender and lightly browned, about 20 minutes. Set aside to cool.

In a food processor, combine roasted carrots, ground cumin, and harissa; process until smooth.  Stir in egg yolk refrigerate until ready to fill the raviolis.  Can be made 1-2 days in advance.

Sauce

1/3 c olive oil
2 teaspoons garlic, chopped very fine
generous pinch of aleppo pepper
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

Combine the olive oil, garlic, and aleppo pepper in a small saucepan. Turn on heat to medium low and allow to cook until the garlic turns a pale gold; do not allow to brown.

Assembly

A demonstration of how to roll the dough and fill the ravioli can be found here.  At a high level:

1. Knead the dough at the widest setting on your pasta machine.
2. Flour the dough and run through the machine at progressively smaller settings.  Stop when you reach the desired thickness; thinner is better.
3. Brush the dough well with an egg wash.
4. Using a pastry bag or a small spoon, drop the filling down the center of the sheet of pasta, spaced several inches apart; roughly one scant tablespoon filling per drop.
5. Fold the dough over the filling, aligning the long edges with one another.
6. Using your hands, press between the drops of filling, pressing as much air out of the ravioli as possible.
7. For half-moon shaped ravioli, use a round cookie cutter, cut the ravioli and place on a floured baking sheet, making sure the edges are well closed.
8. Refrigerate till ready to cook.  Ravioli can be frozen for up to one month.

Bring a pot of water to boil, add a handful of salt, and boil the ravioli for 2-3 minutes.  Drain, toss with the prepared sauce, and top with chopped cilantro.  Enjoy!

Adapted from Moroccan Carrot Ravioli with Lemon Zest and Harissa on Food Bridge

Experimenting with Cuisines: Moroccan Food

This week's box contained:

• Chantenay Carrots
• Sweet Corn
• Red Cabbage
• Desiree Potatoes
• Bunched Parsley Root
• Melons
• Strawberries
• Lettuce (traded for more parsley root)

Having just finished LuLu in Marrakech, I took my inspiration for the week from Morocco.  If you've never tried it, Moroccan food is exceptional.  Intensely flavorful, simple to prepare and, for the most part, really healthy.

I happen to have a tagine pot that I look after for a Moroccan friend.  I decided to put it to use for dinner tonight and made a mixed vegetable tagine, loosely based on a recipe from the BBC's Good Food site.

Making a tagine is easy and can be done on the stove top in a Dutch oven or a small stockpot. The process is as follows:

• Saute aromatics (onions, garlic, and the like) in olive oil,
• Add the spices and stir till fragrant,
• Add a can of diced tomatoes,
• Add a mixture diced vegetables and beans
• Add a cup of water, mix well, then
• Cover and simmer till the vegetables are tender

Serve over couscous.  The variations are endless.  Tagines are really a braise, so anything you'd consider cooking that way can apply here.  The Moroccan spices are heavenly and well worth a go, but the cooking technique lends itself to any flavor variation.

Seasonal Vegetable Tagine
... serves 4 generously as a main course

2 small carrots, diced
2 small turnips, diced
2 small zucchini, diced
2 medium onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 14.5 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2t  agave nectar
4t  ras el hanout
3 T harissa
olive oil
water
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Saute the onions in olive oil over medium heat till translucent; add minced garlic and stir till fragrant.  Add spices and stir till fragrant.  Toss the prepared vegetables and chickpeas together, then place in the base of a tagine. Top with tomato mixture, add water and cover.  Bake, covered, for 1 hour stirring occasionally.

Other Moroccan recipes I'd like to try include:

• Moroccan Spiced Carrots
• Spiced Tomato and Couscous Soup
• Vegetarian Harira

Kitty Morse is well known in the US for her Moroccan cookbooks. I've just ordered The Vegetarian Table: North Africa and am anxiously awaiting the book expected from Mourad Lahlou of Aziza in San Francisco.  More Moroccan food to follow!

Box Contents March 14, 2007

Box Contents on March 14, 2007
Originally uploaded by michellefleury.

I picked up the first box of the season on my way home from work and unpacked it immediately. The produce looks great. The fennel is nothing short of lush (I actually put the tops in a vase rather than hiding them in the refrigerator). Even the dubious radishes look appealing...

This picture shows the amount of food we received. It is a manageable amount for two if we store it properly and actively plan to eat it. So far so good.

For dinner tonight I loosely followed a recipe for a mixed vegetable tagine from the BBC Good Food site. In the process I used some of the carrots, leeks, and turnips. We served the tagine with whole wheat couscous and a 2005 Vin Gris of Pinot Noir from Robert Sinskey Vineyards. We love this wine and highly recommend it -- it is on our top 10 list of food-friendly wines; we also appreciate the Robert Sinskey philosophy.

Seasonal Vegetable Tagine
... serves 3 generously as a main course

2 small carrots, diced
2 small turnips, diced
2 small leeks, white and light green parts only, thickly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 preserved lemon peel, diced
1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 14.5 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen diced sweet potatoes
2 tablespoons agave nectar
4 teaspoons ras el hanout
2 teaspoons harissa

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare the ingredients and mix together in the base of a tagine. Bake, covered, for 1 hour stirring occasionally.

If you don't have a tagine, most recipes I found recommend sauteing the garlic and onion in a bit of oil, adding the vegetables and the liquids and simmering for ~30 minutes.

Nutritional Information (per the Calorie Counter at MyFoodDiary.com)
Calories: 256, Total Fat: 2.5g, Cholesterol: 0mg, Carbohydrate: 51.1g (9.7g dietary fiber, sugar 22.9g), Protein: 9.6g