Moroccan Greens Salad with Preserved Lemon
This recipe appears in Paula Wolfert’s Mediterranean Grains And Greens and Couscous And Other Good Food From Morocco. Emily Kaiser Thelin reproduces it in the biographical Unforgettable: The Bold Flavors Of Paula Wolfert’s Renegade Life
Serves: 4-6 as a salad course, or serve alongside a Mediterranean-themed meal.
12 ounces cultivated greens, preferably younger greens: I used a mix of turnip leaves, spinach, and dandelion. Wolfert suggests spinach, chard, arugula, or a mix, even bagged salad greens, washed, stemmed, and roughly chopped. (See note)
4 ounces wild greens, if possible, like nettles, mallow, and purslane. If these are not available, market greens are fine. Wash, stem, and chop, as above.
1 cup parsley, leaves only, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1/2 cup cilantro, leaves only, roughly chopped
1/4 teaspoon sea salt (I used Maldon)
4-6 tablespoons best quality olive oil
1/4 teaspoon paprika, preferably Pimenton de la Vera dulce
1/4 teaspoon cumin seed, toasted and ground
pinch cayenne pepper
Fresh lemon juice to taste
Half of a preserved lemon, peel only
12 oil-cured black olives
additional salt, cumin, and cayenne, to season finished dish
Optional flatbread, to serve
Instructions:
Set up a steamer: fill a pot with water and either set steamer insert or colander just above the water level. Bring the water to a boil, then add the cultivated greens, wild greens (assuming you have them), parsley, and garlic in batches. What seems like a huge amount of greenery will cook down amazingly. Keep adding the greens as they cook down, stirring with a heatproof spoon. Once all the greens are in the pot, steam, turning occasionally, until the greens and garlic are silky soft. This should take 15- 20 minutes total.
Carefully remove the insert from the heat. Allow to cool. Fish out the garlic and set it aside. As soon as the greens are cool enough to handle, wrap them in a clean dishtowel or paper towels and squeeze dry.
Turning back to the garlic, peel it, and using either a mortar and pestle or mini-processor, crush with the cilantro leaves and salt to form a paste.
The next step requires a 10-12 inch sauté pan. Wolfert calls for earthenware pan, but if you don’t have one (I don’t), enameled cast iron or stainless steel will also work. Don’t use cast iron.
Pour a generous 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan and heat gently. Add the cilantro-garlic paste, paprika, cumin, and cayenne, cooking for about half a minute. Add the greens, stirring and mashing them around the pan. Do not crank the heat up or allow greens to fry. Cook, stirring, until the the liquid has evaporated, about 15 minutes. Transfer greens to bowl or shallow dish and allow to cool completely.
Add lemon juice to taste and enough olive oil to make the dish jammy and rich (2-4 tablespoons). Chill at least one hour or up to four days.
Just before serving, taste for seasoning, adding more lemon juice, salt, cumin, and/or cayenne, if you wish. Sliver the preserved lemon peel and arrange artistically (or not) around the dish. Pickled lemon works well, too. Add the olives (not pictured). Serve with flatbread, crackers, or alongside a Mediterranean meal.
Moroccan Green Salad keeps up to 5 days, refrigerated. It will improve with time. Do not freeze.
Notes:
My greens were not young, and the recipe worked fine.
To wash leafy greens, submerge them in a large basin of cool water and swish them gently. Repeat with clean water until grit is gone. I use my largest bowl for this.
I find that tearing greens by hand from stems is often easier than cutting them with a knife.
I used regular paprika; the only fancy stuff I have is picante.