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Pan-Cooked Fish Fillet with Chermoula Sauce

Pan-cooking with the famous marinade is the simplest and quickest way of preparing a Moroccan-style fish dish.

Recipe information

  • Yield

    serves 4

Ingredients

1/2 cup chopped cilantro
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2–1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4–1/2 teaspoon ground chili pepper (optional)
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon or 3 tablespoons wine vinegar
2 pounds fish fillets such as turbot, hake, or cod—skin on

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    For the chermoula, blend everything except the fish together in the food processor. Marinate the fish in half the quantity of sauce for 1/2 hour—setting aside the rest.

    Step 2

    Put the fish in a large nonstick skillet filmed with oil over medium heat, skin side down, and cook, turning them over once, for 3–8 minutes, or until the fish flakes but is still a little underdone. If the fillets are thin, do not turn them over—they will cook through to the top.

    Step 3

    Serve with the remaining sauce poured over.

  2. Variation

    Step 4

    For another chermoula (every town, every family, has its own special combination) mix: 1/2 cup chopped cilantro; 1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley; 3 large garlic cloves, crushed; 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin; 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander; 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika; 1 good pinch of ground chili pepper; juice of 1 lemon or 4 tablespoons wine vinegar; and 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive or other oil.

Cover of Claudia Roden's The New Book of Middle Easter Food, featuring a blue filigree bowl filled with Meyer lemons and sprigs of mint.
Reprinted with permission from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food, copyright © 2000 by Claudia Roden, published by Knopf. Buy the full book on Amazon or Bookshop.
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