Paula Wolfert changed the way Americans eat in through her ground-breaking cookbooks.. Yet for years she was virtually unknown outside of the cooking world’s inner circle. That changed earlier this year when the Beard Foundation bestowed on her a Lifetime Achievement award.
So who was this woman and why were her cookbooks so important?
For over four decades, those cookbooks and countless articles on foods of the Mediterranean had a quiet but huge influence in popularizing foods we now take for granted. Eons ahead of popular tastes she championed foods of Morocco such as couscous and tagines and the now iconic cassoulet and duck confit of Southwestern France. By presenting these foods in meticulously detailed recipes she demonstrated what authentic international food traditions really meant. Chefs of all sorts “got it” and thus those foods have come through to the rest of us in a trickle down effect.
In the new book “Unforgettable, the Bold Flavors of Paula Wolfert’s Renegade Life”, author Emily Thelin traces Wolfert’s journey of food exploration. Starting with Morocco where she lived for a time, she immersed herself in a region’s local dishes, discovered the very best of them and contrived to prepare them with that area’s best cooks in their own kitchens using their own implements. She relished the results of clay pot cooking so much that once she held a Turkish clay pot casserole on her lap throughout a 15 hour flight in order to bring it back to the US.
Paula was a pioneer of the American food revolution, bringing these unknown foods to the spotlight in her books, articles and teaching. In her visionary cookbooks, she presented recipes that were unapologetically detailed and that used obscure at the time ingredients so that every dish would be truly authentic. They were challenging but each was married with engaging descriptions that made those dishes shine.
It’s that storytelling and the way she bonds with food that appeal to me and why I chose to share this book in this round of Novel Food.
Wolfert’s recollections of where and how she first encountered a particular dish or ingredient make for engaging reading along with the dozens of recipes and colorful photos. Even though today she is facing the challenges of Alzheimer’s, she still pushes on. Of the past she says, “To me, good food is a memory...one time or another, I've had a fling with each of the recipes in my books.”
My recipe choice for this Novel Food post is from Paula’s adventurous first book “Couscous and other Good Food from Morocco”, the first comprehensive Moroccan cookbook in English. Paula calls for seasonal ingredients that are fresh, young and tender and for making the couscous itself from scratch. This I did not do but the end result lived up to her billing of “a miraculous clean taste”. Hope you enjoy.
Moroccan Couscous with Fava Beans and Zucchini
(Adapted from Paula Wolfert)
Ingredients for chicken:
1-2 chicken thighs per person, bone-in, skin-on
1 tbs unsalted clarified butter
1 large yellow onion thinly sliced
6-8 sprigs each cilantro and parsley tied with kitchen string
1 cinnamon stick
¼ tsp saffron
1 ½ tsp sea salt
1 ½ tsp ground black pepper
6 cups water or chicken stock
Preparation for chicken:
Melt butter in large pot. Stir in onion, herbs, cinnamon stick, saffron, salt & pepper. Sauté 5 minutes covered and another 5 minutes uncovered until onions are golden. Add water and bring to a simmer. Add the thighs, cover and simmer on low 40 minutes, skimming occasionally. Transfer chicken to platter and tent to keep warm. Reserve broth, removing cinnamon and herb sprigs. Chicken can be prepared in advance. The broth and the chicken should be refrigerated separately.
Ingredients for couscous dish:
8-10 pearl onions, peeled
1 pound small white turnips or radishes trimmed cut into 1 ½ inch cubes
¼ cup golden raisins
1 ½ pounds small zucchini trimmed and halved lengthwise, then again
2 cups peeled fava beans, lima beans or peas
1 cup heavy cream (I omitted)
1 serrano chile, stemmed, halved and seeded
3 tbs olive oil
2 tbs clarified butter, melted
1 ½ pounds steamed couscous (Paula favors hand-rolled but quick-cooked works)
Preparation of couscous dish:
Before preparing the rest of the dish, skim fat from the broth surface and bring to simmer. Add pearl onions, turnips and raisins. Cover partially and simmer 20 minutes. Add zucchini and simmer another 5-10 minutes till tender. Add favas, cream (if using) and chile just at the end. Bring to temperature. Remove from heat and adjust salt if needed. Reserve 1 ½ cups broth and set aside.
In a 12-inch frying pan heat the oil over medium heat. Add the poached thighs skin side down first and cook until well-browned, about 8 minutes turning once. Transfer to a plate.
Prepare the couscous according to package directions. Let stand 10 minutes to allow the couscous to swell. Toss melted butter onto the couscous, then sprinkle ½ cup broth onto it and rake grains with a whisk.. Transfer to a large platter, forming a mound with a well in the center. Nestle the chicken in the well, top with vegetables and spoon on a little more broth if too dry. Serve immediately.
This is my contribution to Novel Food 33, the latest installment in a culinary/literary series sharing literary-inspired dishes contributed by event participants and hosted by Simona Carini of Bricioli
