Spring Green (and Delicious) Chermoula

After sampling the chicken skewers with chermoula at the preview for Fresh Thymes Eatery, I was inspired to make some chermoula myself. A marinade or sauce in North African cuisine, chermoula varies greatly from recipe to recipe, but the common ingredients are generally cilantro, lemon juice, olive oil, and garlic. (Although there were a lot of recipes I found online which resulted in a reddish or orangish sauce, so clearly not all use cilantro).

Christine (the Fresh Thymes chef) mentioned sumac when talking about her chermoula. So being a sumac fanatic myself, I wanted to include that in mine, despite the fact that the majority of recipes I found online were sadly sumacless. (Seems like it should be a word to me, given my love for it.) Sumac is a spice made from the dried fruit of a bush native to the Middle East, and is frequently used in Turkish and Middle Eastern cuisine. It’s a gorgeous redish-maroon color, and tastes very lemony, but with a more complex flavor I can only describe as somewhat like the taste of red pepper flakes without the heat. I buy mine in a huge container that I use extremely liberally in the dressing I make for Fattoush.

Chermoula Sauce Ingredients

I wanted my sauce to be lower in fat than most recipes I found online, so it turned out like more of a paste, but still tasted completely delicious. I used a recipe I found on whatscookingamerica.net as a starting point, and used more cilantro, less olive oil and lemon juice, and added sumac. The result was a gorgeous vibrant green, which seemed perfect for spring.

Chermoula
adapted from a recipe on whatscookingamerica.net
makes about 3/4 cup

2 cups fresh Italian (flat) parsley
2 cups fresh cilantro
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
4 medium cloves garlic
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground sumac
1/2 tsp hot smoked Spanish paprika
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp red chile flakes
1 pinch saffron*

Put all ingredients in a food processor, and pulse until a paste forms.

* Technically, you should soak the saffron for a couple of hours in warm liquid, but I just soaked it for about 10 minutes, then drained it, and added it to the processor. If you want to maximize the taste, soak it in a tsp or so of warm water well before you start on the sauce, then break up the saffron threads and add the liquid to the processor.

Chermoula Sauce (fine, Paste)

I made two dishes using my chermoula during the week. The first was scrambled eggs with oyster mushrooms, spinach, and chermoula, and the second was baked halibut with chermoula. The sauce (paste) worked wonderfully with both of them. Another keeper!

Scrambled Eggs with Oyster Mushrooms, Spinach and Chermoula

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