Moroccan Baked Beans àla Mourad

In my continued quest to cook as much as possible from my pantry, I honed in on two cans of Great Northern Beans, originally bought to stock our summer cottage larder, but never used. I suspect that they were several years old, and had made the trip up and back from NYC to Pennsylvania at least twice, if not more. (We empty the larder at the cottage when we shut things down for the season.) Canned beans have a shelf life of 2-5 years, so I knew I was on safe ground using them, and I was determined they were not going to be traveling anymore, unless it was to my kitchen table. Also calling to me was a jar of homemade toasted bread crumbs, which had been languishing in the freezer for almost a year now. Putting the two together, it seemed like a casserole of some kind would be in order.

I also have a new quest to cook more from my cookbook collection. (I know, I have many quests, just call me Don Quixote…) In this case, I found the perfect recipe in Mourad – New Moroccan. This gorgeous tome was gifted to me by my foodie brother Joe, who became acquainted with the author, Mourad Lahlou, in San Rafael, where Lahlou had opened Kasbah, his first US restaurant. Since then, Lahlou has become renowned across America for his modern take on his native Moroccan food, epitomized at his Michelin-star restaurant Mourad in San Francisco. Also, he is really cool looking, check out those arm tats… His current chef de cuisine at Mourad, Rasika Venkatesa, also has an arm tat – she looks adorable as well as hip.

Mourad is more than just a collection of recipes – it’s a great read. In the first 100 pages, Lahlou delves into memories of food, family and life in Morocco, followed by a primer on tools and ingredients, and then the seven things that “really matter to me about Moroccan cooking and my cooking”. These he gives us as seven separate chapters – spices, preserving lemons (“Dude. Preserved Lemons”. I told you he was hip.), couscous (“Here’s how I roll” ), warqua, harissa, charmoula and “the ingenious tagine”. The chapter on spices alone is pure gold. Then follows the recipes. More gold. A chapter on Moroccan Tea. Recipes for basics – pickled fruits and vegetables, stock, sauces, flavored butters and oils, granolas, and finally a list of sources. This book is a journey.

The original recipe, Corona Beans with Tomato Sauce and Feta, was a popular starter at Lahlou’s other SF restaurant, Aziza, where it was served with a feta foam topping and starts with dried corona beans. Because I used canned instead of dried beans, I missed the opportunity to flavor my beans while cooking them and before adding them to the tomato sauce, as in the original recipe. So I made a mirepoix from the veggies used in cooking the dried beans, then cooked the canned beans with them and a little water and brown sugar. I also added the bread crumbs before baking, rather than when serving. The original recipe called for a firm dry feta, but it got a little chewier than I’d like as it cooked. Next time, I’ll use a wetter feta. I’ve included all these modifications in the recipe below.

I was extremely pleased with how this dish turned out. Though served at Aziza as a starter, we served it as a main dish, with a single sausage and some spinach as sides. Next time I make it, I’ll use dried beans as in the original recipe. I’ll let you know how that goes.

In the meantime, I have to admit I’m wondering now – should I get an arm tattoo?…