Fish Bake for the Maori New Year
Plus: The Moroccan cherry festival, cool cocktails for a hot summer
Look to the sky in the new year
Matariki is a star cluster that appears in the winter months in the southern hemisphere. Westerners might know the constellation as Pleiades and Subaru owners might recognize it as the logo on their cars. For the Maori, its emergence signifies the renewing cycle of the new year. Because different tribes in different locations see the constellation at different times, the new year observances range between May and July, and this year the official celebration starts on June 24.
Maori customs around Matariki include rites for the dead, honoring ancestors, remembrance rituals, and planting and harvest predictions. Most significant is recognizing how connected the past, present, and future are in the cycle of the year.
There are a number of things one can eat during Matariki, like kumara (sweet potato), seafood, anything fresh really. I found a tasty white fish dish in a Maori cookbook I picked up while in New York City a couple months ago and decided to give it a whirl. Since I can’t link this one, the recipe is below and you can check out Instagram on Friday for the video.
Fish in Coconut Cream
Ingredients
450 grams fresh fish fillets (I used tilapia, but snapper or cod would work well too)
2 tomatoes
1 onion
3 coconuts (or 1 can coconut cream)
Paprika
Salt & pepper
Parsley to garnish
Directions
If making your own coconut cream: Break open the coconuts and discard the milk. Grate the meat into a bowl and cover with a small amount of hot water. Let stand until luke warm then squeeze the coconut and water through the hands for five minutes. Strain through a muslin bag to separate the coconut from the milk liquid. Throw away the coconut and use the expressed cream.
Cut the fish into small edible pieces and put in an ovenproof dish. Skin the tomatoes and slice. Place the slices over the fish pieces, then layer sliced onions on top. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then pour over coconut cream. Place in the oven set at 177 C (350 F) and cook for 15-20 minutes. Sprinkle with paprika and parsley and serve with vegetables.
The colonial legacy of French cherries
Every year the small village of Sefrou in Morocco holds a magnificent cherry festival. Everything revolves around this small red fruit here, with residents painting cherry murals, competing for Cherry Queen, constructing cherry-themed floats for the parade—there’s even a bronze cherry statue in the middle of town.
But cherries haven’t always been the heart of this area. They were introduced by the French during occupation in the early 1900s. France was known for its harsh agricultural labor practices in its colonies, but after Morocco won independence in 1956 and gained control over the fruit’s production, the benefits of continuing to grow cherries in the rural Atlas Mountains provided an economic opportunity. Now, the village is extremely proud of the many types of cherries produced there, and Morocco exports 15,000 tons of cherries every year.
I actually had a hard time finding a recipe using cherries that was written by someone from Morocco, so ended up adapting a tagine recipe from My Moroccan Food. The original recipe uses apricots, and I substituted cherries for additional tartness. It came out delicious, and be sure to serve with plenty of couscous. The video will go up on Instagram next Friday.
Hot weather hydration
Here in Portland we have finally entered the heat wave the rest of the country has been experiencing. We thought we could avoid it with our unseasonable heavy rain, but we were wrong. Considering this time last year it was 115, I’ll take the mid-80s any day.
But since most of us over here don’t have air conditioning, we need some way to keep cool. Here are a few cocktail recipes from a book I made for a family in Washington last year. I’ve included the original notes from the author as well. Drink up and stay cool out there!
Black Manhattan
2 ounces rye whiskey
1 ounce Averna amaro
1 dash Angostura bitters
1 dash orange bitters (Reagan’s preferred)
1 Maraschino cherry (Toschi strongly preferred)
Note that Averna amaro is strongly preferred in this recipe, though there are many options. Averna has a dark, complex character that drives this experience. Would advise to combine all save the cherry and shake with ice. The fractured ice lets the drink open up with time. Garnish with an orange peel carved with a typical vegetable peeler, squeezed over the drink lengthwise, then set in the glass.
The COVID Killer
1.5 ounces mezcal (Bozal is nice if it can be had—something not too smokey)
1 ounce green chartreuse
1 ounce lemon juice
1/2 ounce simple syrup
This is not promised to actually kill COVID, but it is guaranteed to blunt the blues associated with the pandemic. Combine all, shake vigorously with cubed ice, serve with a garnish of spiraled lemon peel.
Preserve your family food traditions
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