You may have noticed the paucity of seafood recipes on this blog–mainly owing to the fact that I’m not a fan. I wouldn’t eat anything “fishy” for the first two decades of my life, and have only recently found a few recipes I can tolerate. This traditional Moroccan sauce is pungent and citrusy, and adequately covers any trace of fishiness.
And though I haven’t tried it yet, I expect I would like actually prefer it on a chicken, thus avoiding the fish altogether. The recipe is from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden. She shares that every town and every family has its own special variation of chermoula. I’ve included my favorite below, but it is definitely a recipe that can be further adjusted to taste.
Moroccan Chermoula Sauce with Pan Fried Fish Fillet
Serves 4
For the sauce:
1/2 cup cilantro
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley
3 large garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground cumin (I prefer less)
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1/4 teaspoon ground chili pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
1/3 cup olive oil
Put all the sauce ingredients into a food processor and blend until there are no large chunks. Salt to taste. Set aside and prepare the fish.
For the fish:
2 pounds white fish fillets such as turbot, hake, cod, etc
At this point you can either marinate the fish in half of the chermoula sauce for 20-30 minutes, or you can dredge it in flour. I attempted to marinate it and then dredge in flour once, and it got a little messy– though still tasty. The photos show fish that has been dredged in flour and not marinated. In any case, heat a large (nonstick) skillet with olive oil over medium heat. Cook, turning fillets once, for 3-8 minutes total, or until the fish begins to flake. Serve with the remaining chermoula poured over top.
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