Vista-based cookbook author Kitty Morse shares a Sephardic feast from her home country.
Many Americans know little about Morocco, perhaps associating it with the movie Casablanca or a place to buy beautiful rugs. But by reading Kitty Morse's cookbooks - or better still, tasting one of her dishes - you will soon realize that Morocco is home to a variety of cultures, including French, Spanish, Arab, and Jewish, and that these cultures combine to form one of the world's most delicious cuisines. That cuisine, in particular the cooking of Morocco's Sephardic Jews, is explored by Morse and her co-author Danielle Mamane in their book The Scent of Orange Blossoms.
The charming and friendly Morse was born and raised in Morocco and now lives and works in an exotic Moroccan-style home in Vista. The author of nine cookbooks, Morse decided to write The Scent of Orange Blossoms to teach readers about the complexities of Morocco's Jewish culture. "Jews in Morocco have always been part of the scenery," she notes, adding that Jews have been in Morocco for at least two millennia, since the destruction of the Second Temple (and some have theorized that they might have come earlier, with the Phoenicians). Sadly there are only 2,000 remaining in the nation, with most emigrating to Israel beginning in the early 1960s. Morocco's Jews and Arabs live side by side in cosmopolitan Casablanca; Morse recalls celebrating Passover at her great-grandmother's and also participating in Muslim feasts.
For a collaborator, Morse turned to her friend Danielle Mamane, whom she had met a dozen years ago at Mamane's boutique in the Moroccan city of Fez. Mamane is one of only 120 Jews living in Fez. Morse suggested that she and Mamane collaborate on a book on Sephardic cuisine, which they wrote via e-mail, each contributing an equal share of recipes. The recipes are intermingled with letters written by Mamane to her daughters, teaching them the traditions of the Jewish holidays. "It was a very personal endeavor for both of us," says Morse. "It was a way for me of reconnecting and a way for her to perpetuate the traditions."
Morse, her brother and mother moved to the United States in 1964 when Morse was 17. The family settled in the Midwest, with Morse enrolling at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. It was in college that Morse, who was working on her B.A. in Spanish (to be followed by an M.A. in French), serendipitously discovered her talent for cooking when she whipped up a dish of shepherd's pie for her roommate and her roommate's friends. On a subsequent visit to Morocco, where her father still lived, Morse sought to learn more about cooking from her Sephardic relatives (her maternal relatives were Sephardic Jews from Spain while her father's side were British Anglicans). "I became really interested," she says. "Cooking is an art, and it's such a creative endeavor. I've always been guided by my stomach."
Upon her return to America, Morse started cooking to earn extra money, catering while still in graduate school. Her husband Owen built a Moroccan tent that was used to transform her customers' homes into an exotic setting for their gatherings. "We were probably the only caterers in the Midwest to do this," she notes. Morse catered for parties ranging from 20 to 2,000 people. The couple lived in Milwaukee until 1973 when Owen, a now-retired Navy dentist who has taken photos for several of his wife's cookbooks, was transferred to Coronado.
It was during their first years in Coronado that Morse expanded her culinary ambitions, with a television show at the Coronado cable station and a column for The Reader. These jobs helped fulfill her desires: "I wanted to cook, I wanted to talk about cooking, I wanted to teach cooking." Owen was relocated north of Rabat, Morocco, in 1975, but the couple returned to San Diego in '77 and they have been here ever since.
The Scent of Orange Blossoms is filled with pictures of Morse's and Mamane's families and vibrant photos of such delicacies as lentil and garbanzo bean soup, tomato salad with preserved lemons (which this writer tasted and greatly enjoyed), and a tagine of beef with carrots and turnips. Although the book is divided into traditional categories - appetizers, breads, main courses, and the like - each chapter includes information on a different Jewish holiday, accompanied by menus using recipes from the book. Rosh Hashanah's menus include recipes for lamb tagine, quince compote, and cabbage soup, while traditional Sephardic foods for Passover include fava bean soup and a roasted lamb shoulder.
The recipes in the book show the fondness of Moroccan Jews for sweet and savory flavors and their use of olive oil, turmeric, spice blends (often a mix of ground ginger, cinnamon, and allspice), and preserved fruits. The cuisine also has a Mediterranean quality, as the book is filled with recipes for fresh salads, fish, and seasonal vegetables. For Jews with Ashkenazic roots, the recipes offer a glimpse into a new side of Jewish food, one far removed from chicken noodle soup and blintzes.
This month a group of twelve lucky people will taste authentic Moroccan food when they depart on a two-week tour led by Morse. Morse, who leads tours every year - the next one is tentatively planned for late spring 2004 - will take them across Morocco, including visits to Casablanca, Rabat, Fez and Marrakech, a banquet at her family home and lunch at Mamane's villa.
For those without the money or time to join Morse in Morocco, check out The Scent of Orange Blossoms.
For more on Morse, see her website www.kittymorse.com.
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