Moro’s Moorish-influenced menu has really stood the test of time, as these recipes by its founders reveal
When wife and husband Samantha and Samuel Clark – the two Sams – opened Moro in Clerkenwell, London, their ambitions were, like the couple themselves, supremely modest. “It was really just to have the luxury of cooking the food we wanted to cook,” says Samuel.
As it happened, the food they wanted to cook turned out to be the food we wanted to eat. Their take on traditional Moorish Spanish dishes sent the restaurant to the top of every foodie’s wish list, and it’s a tribute to the Clarks’ ability not so much to catch the zeitgeist as to create one of their own that, on its 20th anniversary, Moro still feels as contemporary as ever.
If you look at that first menu, with its grilled lamb with aubergine, yoghurt and chilli butter or yoghurt cake with pistachios and pomegranates, you could think you were reading the launch menu of a restaurant opening in 2017, not in 1997. It’s not just the Middle Eastern slant – still as popular as ever – but also the way vegetables are as prominent as protein, which is now heralded as the healthiest and most eco-friendly way of eating.
“These are flavours and textures that have been honed over thousands of years; they won’t date over 20,” explains Samuel.
The couple’s love of Moorish cooking stemmed from journeys they had made, independently, to southern Spain. “Sam had been on a magical trip to Granada with Spanish friends and adored the whole culture, and I had travelled with a friend from the north of Spain to the south, and just loved the architecture and music of Andalucia, and the eastern influences. I found it fascinating that here in the middle of Europe was this strong eastern culture.”
The ingredients may have become commonplace – their early cookbooks, Moro and Moro East, include lengthy explanations of things like tahini, za’atar and sumac (not, as everyone thinks, first brought to us by Yotam Ottolenghi) – but they have since pushed on into new regions that remain relatively undiscovered.
“We feel that if any cuisine, at its core, has Moorish influences, then we can include it,” says Samuel. “We’ve always had one or two Iranian dishes in our repertoire, which isn’t strictly Moorish, although Syria and Iran were part of the creative surge in the Middle Ages that did come all the way to Spain. It’s a bit cheeky, and we have pushed it over the years with the odd Yemeni dish.” Tony Turnbull
Moro, 34-36 Exmouth Market, London EC1 (020 7833 8336; moro.co.uk)
Fried liver with cumin and crispbread (top)
Serves 4
2 pitta breads
25g melted butter
2 slices calf’s liver, about 400-500g in total
5 tbsp plain flour
2 tsp cumin seeds, roughly ground
Sea salt and black pepper
25g butter
1 tbsp olive oil
200g Greek yoghurt, thinned with 2 tbsp milk
1 garlic clove, crushed to a paste with salt
1½ tsp cumin seeds, roughly ground
Green salad, to serve
1 Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. Split the pittas in half lengthways and brush both sides with melted butter. Place on a rack in the middle of the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and cool.
2 To prepare the liver, cut into strips about 5cm long and 2cm wide, removing any sinew as you go. Just before frying, season the flour with the cumin, salt and pepper, and dust the liver.
3 Heat the butter and olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. When the butter begins to foam, fry the liver on one side for about 1 minute. It should be juicy and ever so slightly pink inside.
4 Combine the yoghurt with the garlic, cumin seeds, salt and pepper to make a sauce. Serve the livers with a green salad, the roughly broken crispbread and the garlic and cumin sauce.
Courgette and artichoke salad
Serves 4
2 medium courgettes
Sea salt and black pepper
1 small-medium globe artichoke
1 tbsp finely chopped lemon thyme
6 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice, plus extra to stop the artichokes oxidising
Shavings of manchego or pecorino cheese
Safflower or marigold petals, optional
1 Wash the whole courgettes and trim both ends with a knife. Slice them into rounds as thinly as possible, ideally using a mandolin. Toss with fine sea salt and leave for 20 minutes in the fridge.
2 Cut off the stalk from the artichoke and discard. Pull off all the tough green outer leaves until you reach the tender pale yellow ones. Cut off these leaves so you are only left with the heart. Scrape out any furry choke with a teaspoon and peel the heart until it is also pale yellow. Cut the heart into thin slices and place in lemon water to stop it from discolouring.
3 When you are ready to serve the salad, give the courgette slices a good squeeze and lay them flat on 4 plates, followed by the sliced artichoke and chopped lemon thyme. Whisk together the oil and lemon juice, spoon over generously and add a little sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Finish with the shavings of cheese and safflower or marigold petals for colour.
Carlos’s stuffed squid
Serves 4
10 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 bay leaves, preferably fresh
8 medium squid, cleaned and tentacles chopped
200ml fino sherry
1 large bunch flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Sea salt and black pepper
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1 In a frying pan, heat half the olive oil over a medium heat and fry the onion until golden and sweet, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and bay leaves and cook for 5 more minutes. Drain the onion mixture from the pan into a sieve and set aside.
2 Return the flavoured oil to the pan. Turn up the heat and, when hot, throw in the chopped tentacles. Fry briskly until lightly cooked, then add half the sherry, stirring all the while. Return the onion mixture to the pan followed by half the parsley. Cook the sauce for 1 minute until thickened or until the smell or taste of alcohol from the sherry have disappeared. Season and remove from the heat.
3 Add the chopped egg and remaining parsley to the squid and onion mixture and taste for seasoning. Remove the bay leaves. Stuff each squid body two-thirds full (do not overfill since the squid will shrink as it cooks). Secure the ends with toothpicks if you wish.
4 Heat the remaining oil in a saucepan that will hold the stuffed squid in a single layer. Lightly brown the squid on all sides, then add the remainder of the sherry and 50ml water. Cook until the alcohol has burnt off and the squid is tender, shaking the pan occasionally until the sauce has thickened slightly. Taste for seasoning.
5 Serve with wilted greens, caramelised onion and pine nuts.
Butterflied lamb with aubergine and red pepper salad
Serves 4
3 large aubergines
3 red peppers
1 leg of lamb, about 1.5-1.8 kg, butterflied and divided into 4 pieces
Olive oil
Sea salt and black pepper
1 garlic clove, crushed to a paste with salt
A squeeze of lemon
60g butter
1 tsp chilli flakes or cayenne pepper
200g Greek yoghurt, thinned with 2 tbsp milk and seasoned with salt
A few sprigs of fresh coriander
1 Pierce the skins of the aubergines and peppers to prevent them from exploding, then grill whole over a hot barbecue, under a grill or directly on the naked flame of a gas hob until the skin is charred and crispy all over and the flesh is very soft. If none of these options is available, place in a very hot oven at 220C/Gas 7 for about 45 minutes until soft. When cool enough to handle, strip off the skins.
2 Meanwhile, cook the lamb. Rub the meat with oil and season well. Place under a hot grill or on a smoking griddle pan or barbecue for about 5-8 minutes either side for pink, turning once or twice. Remove and rest for a few minutes while you finish the salad.
3 Roughly chop the aubergines, then add the garlic, lemon juice and 2 tbsp olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Spread this on a plate. Seed the red peppers, chop roughly, season and strew over the aubergine.
4 For the chilli butter, melt the butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat. When the whey evaporates and the butter turns golden brown, remove and stir in the chilli or cayenne.
5 To serve, place the lamb on each plate with the aubergine and pepper salad. Pour the yoghurt over one side of the aubergine and pepper, and spoon the warm chill butter on top. Garnish with the coriander before serving.
Yoghurt cake with pistachios
Serves 6
3 large free-range eggs, separated
70g caster sugar
2 vanilla pods, split in half lengthways
350g Greek yoghurt, thinned with a little milk
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon and half an orange
Juice of 1 lemon
20g plain flour
30g shelled unsalted pistachio nuts, roughly chopped
Handful of pomegranate seeds
1 Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4 and warm up a bain-marie of water on the middle shelf. Have ready a 25cm round or square baking dish or cake tin with a solid bottom, preferably stainless steel or lined with greaseproof paper.
2 In a bowl, beat the egg yolks with three quarters of the sugar until thick and pale. Scrape out the seeds from the vanilla pod and mix into the egg and sugar mixture. Add the yoghurt, lemon and orange zest, lemon juice and flour and mix well.
3 In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites with the remaining sugar until soft peaks form. Gently and evenly fold the whites into the yoghurt mixture and pour this into the baking tin. Place the tin in the bain-marie, making sure that the boiling water comes halfway up the tin, and cook for about 40 minutes. The top should be light brown in colour.
4 Serve scattered with pistachios and pomegranate seeds.
Charcoal grilled sea bass with jewelled rice and tahini
Serves 4
80g unsalted butter
Half a cinnamon stick
5 whole cardamom pods, cracked
3 whole black peppercorns
200g basmati rice, soaked in salted water for 3 hours
2 tbsp roughly chopped pistachios
2 tbsp barberries
Sea salt and black pepper
A good pinch of saffron, infused in 4 tbsp boiling water
4 sea bass fillets, skin on, about 200g each in weight
2 tbsp olive oil
Tahini sauce, to serve
1 Melt the butter in a saucepan over a low-medium heat. Add the cinnamon, cardamom and peppercorns and gently fry the spices for about 4 minutes. Drain the rice well, add it to the butter and stir to coat for 1 minute.
2 Turn up the heat to medium-high. Stir in the pistachios and barberries, pour enough water over the rice to cover it by 1cm and season with salt. Rest some greaseproof paper on the surface of the water, then place a lid on the pan. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
3 Lift off the lid and paper and drizzle the saffron water evenly over the rice. Replace the paper and lid, turn the heat to low-medium and cook for another 4-5 minutes.
4 For the fish, set your grill to its highest setting 5-10 minutes before you are ready to cook, or use a very hot griddle pan. Rub the olive oil all over the fillets and season with salt and pepper.
5 Grill the fish for about 3-4 minutes on each side until the outside is slightly charred and the flesh is just cooked and juicy inside.
6 Transfer the sea bass to warm plates with the jewelled rice and spoon the tahini sauce (see recipe below) over the fish. We like to serve this with a salad of chickpeas, cucumber and tomato.
Tahini sauce
2 garlic cloves
Sea salt and black pepper
3 tbsp tahini paste
Juice of 1 lemon
Put the garlic cloves in a mortar with a good pinch of salt and crush to a paste with a pestle. Transfer to a small mixing bowl. Whisk in the tahini and thin with the lemon juice. Add water, about 5 tbsp, until you have the consistency of double cream. Check the seasoning.
Malaga raisin ice cream
Serves 4
50g raisins soaked in 50ml Pedro Ximénez sherry
8 scoops good quality vanilla ice cream
1 Leave the raisins to macerate in the sherry for 30 minutes.
2 Place 2 scoops of ice cream in each bowl and spoon over the raisins. Pour over more sherry if you like.
Recipes adapted from Moro: the Cookbook by Sam and Sam Clark (Ebury Press, £20)
