Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
Before we talk about your book choices, I would like to hear about the three-month trip you took in 1997, just after you were married, around Spain and Morocco down to the Sahara.
Our restaurant [Moro] was being built, so we were able to go away while the builders were in. Travelling in a camper van seemed the perfect way to travel around the country and stop where we wanted to. We even had a little kitchen. We stayed in Paris one night and drove through the Pyrenees. Our first port of call was Barcelona, then we drove down the east coast to Valencia.
What kind of food and ingredients were you discovering?
We went to a lot of markets. There were a few things we wanted to try and find, so markets were a good place to start. Dried tuna, which is known locally as mojama, was one of things we wanted to try – we had read about it but never tasted it.
What was it like when you finally did?
It was just wonderful. We filled the van up with kilos and kilos of it, and five kilos of smoked paprika. At the time, back in London, the suppliers had a good selection of stuff but there were some ingredients they didn’t do. There were things that we wanted to get for people, which we knew they wouldn’t have tasted before. We had a list of stuff that we wanted to taste, buy or see how they cooked. We went around Spain and then crossed over to Morocco, to Tangier, and did a big loop.
What is it about the fusion of Spanish and Moorish food that you both love so much?
It just works incredibly well. Of course we love Spanish food on its own. But it is quite simple and often meat based – things like wonderful grilled pork and very few vegetables. You get salads and so on, but it is a bit basic. We wanted the menu to have a little more variety. Not just in flavour and ingredients, but lightness and a balance. The Moroccan, Middle Eastern and Turkish side of the menu is the perfect balance.
Let’s explore some of the books which have influenced your cooking. First up, Claudia Roden’s latest book The Food of Spain.
This is her definitive book on Spanish food, and the first book she has written just on Spain. It is a 500-page volume that she has been researching for at least five years. It shows all her knowledge about Spanish food. She is such a wonderful writer that I think it is very relevant now.
Where is Claudia from?
She is of Egyptian origin. She is a brilliant combination of food writer, researcher and historian. She writes not only about the wonderful recipes but about their background and influences, and how the ingredients came to be in Spain. She goes into a huge amount of detail and is extremely thorough.
Spain has many different regions with all sorts of different types of food. Which regions in her book were of particular interest to you?
Obviously we know quite a lot about the Moorish food in southern Spain, so that is always interesting. But I like the way she goes into little villages, and spends time with people who aren’t used to talking about food. They have ancient recipes which she gently teases out of them.
It sounds like she is producing a living history of cooking from all these characters around Spain.
Yes, she is.
Your second choice is by an American writer who is sometimes referred to as the “queen of Mediterranean cooking”. This is Paula Wolfert’s Mediterranean Grains and Greens.
Paula has been a huge influence on us. There are so many books of hers that I could have chosen. I have picked this one because she covers all the countries that we love – Turkey, Lebanon and a bit of Spain. It focuses on greens and grains, which we do a lot of in our restaurant. She has recipes such as a wonderful rice dish from Valencia or a delicious pilaf from Turkey. She is not dissimilar from Claudia Roden in the way that she has a very intimate knowledge of the area and its local people. She goes right into their homes. A lot of our cooking and our recipes are home-cooked dishes. We don’t really consider ourselves to be a fine dining restaurant.
On your trips you also interview people, and learn their recipes. Who have you been inspired by recently?
Not long ago we went to Gazientep in southern Turkey, to the house of one of our chef’s parents. When we arrived, the whole table was covered with 20 different dishes. There were stuffed flat breads with olives and lamb, stuffed vegetables, the stuffed vine leaves or dolma. Proper, home-cooked Turkish food. It was a real treat, and their hospitality was very special indeed.
Samantha Clark and her husband Samuel Clark are award-winning chefs and cookery writers. They have both cooked at leading restaurants such as The River Cafe. Sharing a passion for Moorish cooking, they joined forces to open Moro restaurant in London in 1997. The restaurant was voted Best Restaurant in 2009's Observer Food Monthly Awards. In 2010 the Clarks opened their second venture, Morito, an intimate tapas bar. Together, they have written three cookery books
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