Recipes

Bakoola du Rif (Cooked Wild Greens Salad)

  • Serves

    serves 4

CHRISTOPHER HIRSHEIMER

This dish is made with wild mallow leaves in Morocco, but it's equally good with arugula, Swiss chard, purslane, young kale, or beet greens.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. greens such as arugula, Swiss chard, purslane, young kale, or beet greens
  • 12 cup fresh parsley, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 14 cup fresh cilantro leaves
  • 14 tsp. salt
  • 6 tbsp. olive oil
  • 14 tsp. sweet paprika
  • Pinch hot paprika
  • 14 tsp. ground cumin
  • Juice of ½ lemon
  • 14 preserved lemon

Instructions

Step 1

Wash and roughly chop greens, and cook with parsley and garlic in a vegetable steamer until tender, 10-30 minutes, depending on greens. Remove garlic and set aside. Allow greens to cool, squeeze out as much liquid as possible, then chop finely. Set greens aside.

Step 2

Crush garlic, cilantro, and salt to a paste with a mortar and pestle. Heat 3 tbsp. of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic paste and greens, and lower heat. Cook, stirring often, until mixture is fairly dry, about 5 minutes. Stir in sweet paprika, hot paprika, cumin, and lemon juice. Cool, transfer to a bowl, and beat in remaining 3 tbsp. olive oil until greens have a sheen and the texture of whipped potatoes. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Step 3

Before serving, adjust seasoning with salt and lemon juice and whip once more. Rinse the preserved lemon, remove pulp, and slice peel thinly. Serve greens with lemon peel and Moroccan oil-cured olives.

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