International Recipes
Moroccan Brisket with Olives, Tomatoes,
Onions and Preserved Lemons
Ingredients
- 5- to 6-pound beef brisket
- 5 garlic cloves
- Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
- 5 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 4 large onions, diced (about 8 cups)
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 celery stalk, diced
- 3 large tomatoes, diced
- 1 cup water
- 1 1/2 cups green Moroccan olives, pitted
- 2 to 3 preserved lemons, diced
- 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley
- 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
- With a knife, pierce skin of brisket in 5 places and insert the garlic cloves.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy skillet or roasting
pan; add meat, sear on all sides, and remove.
- Add 2 more tablespoons of the oil to the same pan and sauté 3/4 of the onions
(about 6 cups) until they are limp. Add the turmeric, ginger, white pepper, bay
leaves, celery, 1/3 of the diced tomatoes and water to the pan. Stir-fry a minute
or 2 and let cool.
- Place the brisket in a baking pan and surround with cooked vegetables. Roast,
covered, in oven 3 hours or until a fork goes in and out of the meat easily.
- Remove, cool and refrigerate, reserving vegetables. You can prepare this ahead of
time.
- The tomato-onion sauce can be done a day in advance as well; heat the remaining
tablespoon of oil in the frying pan; add the remaining onions and sauté until onions
are translucent. Then add the remaining diced tomatoes and simmer, covered, a few
minutes. Set aside or refrigerate overnight or until ready to serve the meat.
- When ready to serve, remove any fat that accumulated on the brisket as it cooled.
Cut, against the grain, into slices about 1/4-inch thick. Return the slices to the
baking pan along with the reserved vegetables in which the meat was cooked.
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees F and reheat the brisket, covered, for about 30
minutes.
- Add to the tomato-onion mixture olives, preserved lemon and 2 tablespoons each
of the parsley and cilantro, and heat in a small saucepan.
- Remove the brisket and some, or all, of the vegetables to a serving platter and
serve, covered with the tomato-onion sauce and garnished with the remaining parsley
and cilantro.
Makes 10 to 12 servings.