Kilim Me Softly

This is from a while ago, actually- back around the time I made merguez wontons in turkey phở. The leftover merguez mixture- after a day or two in the fridge to get extra sausagey- was the base for a pasta sauce with the last of the local heirloom tomatoes, garlic, onion, herbs, and white wine. I reduced it to a rich thickness, and tossed in a bunch of Israeli couscous.

Just ridiculous. If Chef Boy-ar-dee had a Moroccan cousin named Chef Boy-al-Medina, this would be the dish that made him famous. It had all the softsaltymeatysweet qualities that made that canned garbage so pupil-dilating back when you were 8 (full disclosure: I only had it a few times, at other people’s houses, but the memory stuck) but with all the complex Mahgreb spices and lamby funk intertwining warplike through the weft of toothsome starch. And the sweet was all tomato.

It made me miss Marrakesh. 20 years is a long time.

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5 Comments

  1. cook eat FRET
    November 18, 2009

    just checking in… love this post. it's so YOU. now i'm going to start back reading…

    lots to catch up on

  2. cook eat FRET
    November 18, 2009

    oh and hey – no need to comment on my site. really. honestly. it's ok. i know how you think, you turd.

  3. Brooke
    November 18, 2009

    That looks like something I could so totally drop my face in and take a nap. And it would feel good.

  4. peter
    November 20, 2009

    Claudia: OK then.

    Brooke: So good. And yet cheese-free!

  5. We Are Never Full
    November 24, 2009

    LOL… somehow i think we may be the only country on earth that has anything resembling chef boyardee. just sayin'.

    i'm definitely going to have to remember that merguez recipe. it's on the "sausage to make" list.

    yes, we have that type of list.

Comments are closed.