Shared by Joanna Bensimon
Recipe Roots: Casablanca, Morocco > Kiryat Shmona and Netanya, Israel > Paris > Martinique and Guadeloupe > New York City > Las Vegas

“My mom was the queen of aperitif,” says Joanna Bensimon, owner of The Hamsa Brand, a harissa company. “Every single Friday, no matter what,” their coffee table in Queens, New York was covered with glasses of cognac, whiskey, red wine, and Campari and elegant linen napkins. To snack, there were fava beans tossed in salt and cumin, crisp and golden beef cigars with harissa, potato-filled triangles called pastels, cocktail nuts, pickles, and harissa.

With few relatives close by, the guests were often young Israelis visiting New York after their military service. “My mom’s house was always open for any person who didn’t have family in town,” explains Joanna. There was also a constellation of Tunisian siblings and their children, who welcomed Joanna and her mom Ora into their family. “No one spoke English...I didn’t know a word of English until I was five. I feel like I’m an immigrant, though I’m not,” she adds. The Friday evenings would pass in a melange of French and Hebrew, with Arabic used as language the adults hoped the children wouldn’t understand — though they did.

The family’s Friday night aperitif tradition traces back to Casablanca on Morocco’s Atlantic coast, where Ora was born in 1946, when the country was a French protectorate. “She came from a line of ‘famous’ homecooks and by famous, I mean everyone….knew about their cooking skills in the 1930's and 1940's,” explains Joanna. In 1959, the family moved to Israel and Joanna’s mother changed her name from Mesode to the Hebrew Ora as she tried to assimilate. “It was definitely a tough transition — being immigrants in this foreign land. They were well off in Morocco and had to start from scratch in Israel,” Joanna says.

Independent from a young age, she left her family at 18 to work in Netanya and moved with her boyfriend to France and then the Caribbean. When they parted, she set off for New York as a single expectant mother in 1984. Knowing only a single friend in the city, she “took the leap and made a life for herself...as a private cook and caterer,” adds Joanna. “She was basically an immigrant twice, having to learn the language again.”

In their tiny Queens apartment, Joanna would help her mother, whether it was for a catering event or the Friday night celebrations, but Ora “had total control of the kitchen — I was just the sous chef,” she explains. Still, Joanna absorbed her mother’s recipes and techniques. Every week on Wednesdays, they would pick up ingredients and push them home in an old shopping cart. The cooking started on Thursday and the meal was finished when Joanna was at school on Fridays.

Joanna’s grandparents, Janet and Nissim, (center) in 1943

When she returned, “I would pick up every single lid and see what was cooking under there.” It’s a tradition that she also inherited. Joanna was raised on stories of her mother and uncle waking up in the middle of the night in Israel and Morocco to check on the family’s dafina or Sabbath stew.

In Queens, the Shabbat menu that followed the aperitif rotated week to week but was always plentiful. There were salads made from shredded cabbage and carrots spiked with harissa. Zucchini and peppers were stuffed and there were two types of meat and rice. “Our table cloth was always white on Shabbat,” says Joanna. “But you never saw the white.”

Ora's Harissa

On Saturday mornings, Joanna would help her mother make harissa as she watched cartoons. “This was the perfect task to be given as my mother didn't cook on Shabbat but yet couldn't stay out of the kitchen or stay still,” she explains. As an adult, her mother would bring suitcases full of food when she visited, including her harissa. After one visit, Joanna mixed harissa with ketchup, which sparked the idea for her squeezable harissa company The Hamsa Brand. While Ora has always been in charge of the kitchen, she’s happy to let Joanna take charge of this recipe.

Makes: 1 cup
Total Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes

Ingredients
4 ounces dried ancho and/or guajillo chilis
4 - 6 dried chilis de arbol, depending on your heat preference
6 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Olive oil for preserving

Preparation
1. Soak all the dried chili peppers including the chilis de arbol in a pot with warm water for 1 hour.

2. Strain the peppers and remove their seeds and stems. Lay the peppers over a paper towel-lined tray and set them aside to dry for about 15 minutes.

3. Place the peppers and garlic cloves into a food processor. Process the mixture until a smooth paste is formed.

4. Transfer the pepper and garlic paste into a large mixing bowl. Add the cumin and salt and mix well until combined. Taste to adjust any seasonings.

5. Transfer the harissa paste into a 1 ½ cup sterile glass jar. Pour up to ½ cup of olive oil over the paste to seal the harissa.

Cook’s note: The harissa can hold up to 6 months in the refrigerator.

Fava Beans with Cumin

If you or your guests are new to eating fava beans in this style, keep in mind that the peel or skin should be removed before eating the soft bean inside.

Makes: 4-6 servings
Total Time: 1 hour plus overnight soaking

Ingredients
1 8-ounce pack of dried large brown fava beans
¼ of 1 lemon, peel on
4 teaspoons salt, divided
1 tablespoon ground cumin

Preparation
1. Soak the beans in a large bowl with water (completely submerged) for 8 hours or overnight at room temperature. Strain the beans and rinse.

2. Place the peans into a large pot and completely cover with water. Add ¼ of a lemon and 2 teaspoons of salt. Transfer the pot over to a high heat flame and bring the water to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook the beans for 30 minutes or until just tender.

3. Drain the beans and place them into a large bowl. Add the cumin and remaining 2 teaspoons of salt. Toss the beans until they are coated evenly.

4. Serve warm or at room temperature with a small empty bowl on the side for the peels.

Moroccan Beef Cigars

Makes: 6 servings
Total Time: 1 hour and 45 minutes

Ingredients
For the beef cigars:
1 pack of lumpia dough wrappers (about 40 wrappers)
1 pound of ground beef
1 small yellow onion, peeled and cut in half
2 garlic cloves
1 ½ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon harissa
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon water
Grapeseed or canola oil for frying

For the harissa aioli:
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
Juice of half a lemon
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon harissa (or more)
1 teaspoon olive oil

Preparation
1. Make the filling: Place the ground beef and onion into a large pot. Break up the ground meat into one even layer. Add enough water to just cover the beef and onion. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook until most of the water evaporates and the meat is completely cooked, about 20 minutes. Strain the meat and onion from any excess cooking liquids and discard the onions. Place the cooked beef and garlic cloves into a food processor. Pulse the mixture about 10 times or until the mixture is finely ground and uniform. Transfer into a large bowl. Add the salt, pepper, cumin and harissa and mix until combined well. Taste to adjust any seasoning.

2.Make the harissa aioli: Whisk the garlic, mayonnaise, lemon juice, salt, and harissa in a bowl until combined well. Drizzle the olive oil on top. Set aside.

3. Shape the cigars: Place the flour and water into a small bowl and mix until combined well. Set aside. Lay out a lumpia wrapper onto a clean surface. Cover the rest of the wrappers with a damp paper towel to prevent them from drying out. Dip your finger into the water and flour mixture and spread a thin layer of it around the edges of the wrapper to help seal the cigar once shaped. Place a heaping teaspoon of the beef mixture on the bottom third of the wrapper and shape the filling into a horizontal log. Fold the right and left edges of the wrapper over the edges of the filling and starting at the closed horizontal edge to you, roll up the wrapper until the beef cigar shape is formed. Transfer the cigar onto a large plate and repeat filling and shaping the rest of the cigars.

4. Fry the cigars: Place about 1 inch of oil into a wide frying pan over medium-high heat. Once the oil is sizzling, gently place enough beef cigars to fit the pan without overcrowding. Fry the cigars until their bottoms are golden brown and flip to fry the other side until golden brown, about 1 ½ minutes per side. Transfer onto a paper towel-lined tray and continue frying the remaining cigars in batches adding more oil into the pan if needed.

5. Serve hot with a side of harissa aioli.

Potato-Filled Pastels

This recipe uses lumpia wrappers. If the ones you buy are frozen, make sure to defrost them at room temperature about 30 minutes before using.

Makes: About 40 pastels
Total Time: 1 hour and 45 minutes

Ingredients
1 pack of lumpia dough wrappers (about 40 wrappers)
4 medium russet potatoes, washed and peeled
3 hard boiled eggs, peeled
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
½ lemon juice
1 ½ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon water
Grapeseed or canola oil for frying

Preparation
1. Place the potatoes in a large pot and cover completely with cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cook the potatoes until they are fork tender, about 45 minutes. Drain the potatoes and let them cool before handling.

2. Place 1 tablespoon of oil in a skillet over medium heat. Once the oil is hot add the onion and fry until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined tray and let cool.

3. In a small bowl, smash the boiled eggs into a fine mixture using a fork. Place the potatoes into a separate large mixing bowl and use a potato masher or fork to smash the potatoes into a smooth mixture. Add the eggs, onion, lemon juice, turmeric, salt, and pepper into the bowl with the potatoes. Mix until combined well.

4. Shape the pastels: Place the flour and water into a small bowl and mix until well combined. Set aside. Lay out a lumpia wrapper onto a clean surface. Cover the rest of the wrappers with a damp paper towel to prevent them from drying out. Cut the wrapper into 2-2 ½ inch thick strips horizontally. Dip your finger into the water and flour mixture and spread a thin layer of it around the edges of the wrapper to help seal the pastel once shaped. Add 1 tablespoon of the potato filling on the bottom edge of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper straight over the tablespoon of filling and press down to seal. Next, fold the bottom left corner of the dough upwards and to the right until it meets the right edge of the dough strip. Now the edge of the dough that has been folded over twice should form a triangular shape (see here for more detailed visuals). Grab the triangle from the bottom right corner and flip it up to the left until the triangle is aligned with the left edge of the strip of dough. Repeat this folding process, continuing to fold the triangle right and then left until you reach the end of the dough. Once the pastel is shaped press down on the edges to seal it. Transfer the pastel to a large plate and repeat filling and shaping the rest of the wrappers and filling.

5. In a frying pan over medium-high heat, add about ¾-inch of grapeseed oil. To see if the oil is ready, slowly dip a pastel into the oil. If it starts to sizzle then you know it’s ready. Once the oil is sizzling gently, place enough pastels to fit the pan without overcrowding. Fry for about 1 ½ minutes on each side or until evenly golden brown. Transfer to a paper towel-lined tray and continue frying the remaining pastels in batches adding more oil to the pan if needed.

6. Serve hot with a side of harissa aioli.

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