A quick supper

Alas, no pictures (I forgot because I was worn out from Christmas tree decorating), but my ras-el-hanout tomato sauce was a rousing success, and it suggested a super quick supper that was just perfect after a long day of festivity.

The recipes, more or less:

Ras-El-Hanout
(closely adapted from epicurious.com)

2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground coriander
3/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

Mix well and store in a sealed container. Makes about 1/4 cup.

Cod with Moroccon Tomato Sauce and Feta
(With no real measurements, this is a quick supper after all.)

French one small onion and fry gently in olive oil until soft but not colored. Add two cloves of garlic minced, cook until fragrant. Add 1 generous tablespoon tomato paste, the zest from one lemon and one tablespoon ras-el-hanout. Stir until you smell the spices and deglaze with aboutg half a cup of white wine. Add 1 can of whole tomatoes crushed up with your fingers, all the juice and about half a cup of water. Simmer vigorously until the sauce thickens (this took me about 15 minutes).

Turn on your broiler to preheat. Cut one pound of cod (or basically any flaky white fish) roughly into inch and a half chunks. Stir it into the tomato sauce, slap on the lid and simmer until the fish is just cooked through. When the fish is cooked, add a heaping tablespoon of finely chopped cilantro and taste the sauce for seasoning. I added a squeeze of lemon for brightness and a teaspoon of brown sugar to cut the bitterness of the canned tomatoes.

Spoon the fish with tons of the sauce and onions into two oven safe bowls. Sprinkle generously with crumbled (preferably french) feta. Heat under the broiler for just a minute until the cheese softens. Drizzle the fish with good olive oil and serve with lemony couscous.

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