Moro: The Cookbook

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My friend Sara Fanelli baked this gluten-free cake for us. We love it, especially with a little sea salt sprinkled on top. We love the texture of the creamy, soft and salty feta gently melting into the potatoes as they are tossed together. You can see how it is a versatile accompaniment to fish and meat dishes. Also delicious with a simple tomato and basil salad.

To serve, spread the purée on a plate, crumble the feta on top, drizzle with a little more olive oil, and finally sprinkle on the remaining mint. Serve with the crispbread triangles round the edge of the plate. The Clarks’ first book – Moro, the Cookbook – came out in 2001, four years after their influential restaurant, its menu inspired by their travels in north Africa and the eastern Mediterranean, opened in 1997; instantly hailed as a classic by Nigella Lawson and Claudia Roden, it remains much loved (though they’ve since published several more). Is it hard to write in its shadow? “It’s good having a bit of distance between the books,” says Sam. “But, though we’re proud of the first one, we’ve never quite been able to understand its success. The other books have recipes that are just as good. It kind of became part of the culture for a while, didn’t it?” Remove the pan from the heat and transfer the potatoes to a dish. Sprinkle over the za’atar, spring onions, coriander and peppers, and toss gently. The next layer consists of butter, caster sugar, ground almonds, cinnamon, orange and lemon zest, eggs, and oloroso sherry. Esqueixada is a refreshing and delicious Catalan salad made from raw salt cod. As the word esqueixar, meaning "to tear", suggests, the salt cod is literally shredded by hand. In Catalunya, market stalls specialising in salt cod sell esqueixada strips to make this dish. The simplicity of this salad does rely on good ingredients: sweet tomatoes and peppers in season, mild onion, fruity olive oil and good vinegar as well as a little time for all the flavours to infuse. This recipe is from Moro: The Cookbook.

Publishers Text

Once the crust is pre-baked, it is coated with a blend of membrillo and lemon juice, that has been heated and liquified. Everyone loves toast. But there is toast and… toast. In Moro Easy, a new cookbook by Sam and Sam Clark, there are no fewer than 10 recipes for things on toast. Some are straightforward, almost austere: I can’t imagine the person who wouldn’t be able to rustle up a few slices of their tomato and jamon toast (the secret lies with a grater and just the right amount of garlic). Others are luxuriant: imagine a crisp oval of sourdough topped with a thin tortilla and aioli – a breakfast treat they first ate in Barcelona’s Boqueria market – or with crab warmed in butter and Oloroso sherry and lightly seasoned with fresh chilli and thyme.

Post-pandemic, it was difficult to get things fully up and running again; restaurants are about momentum. “But then we’d have customers coming up to the pass and literally crying, they were so happy we were open again,” says Sam. “That’s what all the hard work is for.” But what about their relationship? If running a celebrated restaurant for 25 years is a huge achievement – restaurants in London change more often than the weather – it is surely a miracle that they’ve done so without winding up in the divorce courts (they met when they were both working at the Eagle, just down the road from Moro, in Clerkenwell). “Well, I got told off the other day, didn’t I?” says Sam. Samuel takes up the story. “She was late, and I had a new chef to settle in, and I was doing a hot section myself, and we had a lot of people booked.” For the dressing: whisk the garlic, vinegar and olive oil together, then season with salt and pepper. Pour over the salt cod and gently toss together. Refrigerate for about an hour. Serve with the remaining parsley and the olives sprinkled on top.Drain the salt cod and remove any skin or bones. Shred the cod between your fingers into soft, fibrous flakes. Transfer to a mixing bowl and add the peppers, tomatoes, half the parsley and the onion. Wilt the washed spinach in a wide dry pan (30cm) in two to three batches over a medium heat. When soft, transfer to a colander to drain and cool. Squeeze out any excess water and roughly chop.

fillet of salt cod 300g dried weight, washed and soaked in the fridge for 48 hours, changing the water 4 times (see below)

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This was super simple, but we loved it. Swiss chard is blanched in boiling water, drained and tossed with salt and pepper, lemon juice and olive oil. In my case, we skipped the pepper, and I cooked the greens in salty water which eliminated the need to add salt after cooking. The instructions call for blanching the leaves and then the stems sequentially, but I put the chopped stems in first and added the leaves when the stems were almost done. I cook greens several times a week, nearly always sauteed in olive oil with garlic. This was a good reminder to get out my boiling pot more often. The chard had a perfect, tender texture and the simple dressing of lemon juice and good quality olive oil was light, springy, and delicious. I used young red chard and the jewel-like colors of the cooked greens and stems were extremely attractive. My only regret is losing the cooking water when I drained the pot. It would have made a splendid soup base. In the end, they measure themselves only by their own standards, in the restaurant as well as when it comes to writing: “Within the first two years of Moro opening, we were approached to sell the brand. We just said: no, no, no, we’re here to stay. We’re the cooks, and we like doing that, and it’s what we’re here for – and we’ve stayed true to it. We’re still in the kitchen now. We’re in it for the long haul.” roasting potatoes 1kg, such as maris piper, peeled and cut into quarters or sixths, depending on size Most of the recipes are simple, but the resulting flavours are wonderfully complex. Perfectly capturing the region of origin -- Spain and the Muslim Mediterranean -- The Moro Cookbook will entice cooks everywhere to discover more about this rich, exotic cuisine.