Photos by Penny De Los Santos, Food Styling by Judy Haubert and Prop Styling by Vanessa Vazquez

Shared by Tiffany Kisluk
Recipe Roots: Tunis, Tunisia > Bat Yam, Israel > Houston

By Passover, it’s often warm enough to go swimming in Houston where Tiffany Kisluk’s family lives. When she was little, her aunts, uncles, and cousins would gather at her grandparents’ home for a barbecue the night before the holiday — and when it was hot, take a dip in their pool.

Nearby, her Tunisian grandfather George, manned the grill, making what the family calls mishwee — from the Arabic word mashwi, meaning grilled. He gently charred chicken skewers marinated with garlic, lemon, turmeric and olive oil, and patties of spicy merguez sausage. There was always pita on the table and an abundance of salads and dips like hummus, carrots with jalapeno, and fresh artichokes tossed with the Libyan condiment pilpelchuma, a mix of olive oil, garlic, paprika, and lemon juice. After dinner, Tiffany would help with the annual search for hametz, foods not kosher for Passover, that had to be cleaned out of the house before the holiday started the next day.

Tiffany's grandfather George Bellaiche with his children in Israel, 1960s.

Barbecuing the night before Passover is a little-known custom outside of certain Tunisian and Moroccan Jewish communities. For some families, including Tiffany’s, it stems from the Pesach offering, the animals that were killed, first so ancient Israelites could mark their doorways with blood telling the Angel of Death to pass by their homes, and later as an offering before the holiday at the Temple in Jerusalem. In “The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand to New York,” Claudia Roden adds that there’s a custom among North African Jews to barbecue during the holiday “because that is how the Hebrews must have cooked in the wilderness during the Exodus from Egypt.”

In Tiffany’s family, the tradition comes from her grandfather George’s family who lived in Tunis through World War II and moved to Israel in 1955 where he met his wife Esther who was born in Libya and moved to the newly-founded state in 1949. Like many Jews arriving from Arab countries, they experienced discrimination in Israel. They “weren’t looked at as equals,” Tiffany explains. In the 1980s they moved with their children to Houston where George worked as a jeweler.

The family kept their North African traditions alive in Texas, celebrating Seudat Yitro, a Tunisian custom in the spring and listening to Arabic music as they barbecued; and, Esther continued to cook recipes from her family and ones she learned from her mother-in-law. Until George passed away, he and Esther hosted the pre-Passover barbecue beside their pool every year. Today, Tiffany’s uncle Jackie has taken it over. The menu hasn’t changed much, but there are a couple new additions, including guacamole, a small nod where the family now lives.

The recipes and culture from North Africa, Tiffany says: “is deeply rooted within me… it’s so important to hold on to.”

Grilled Chicken Skewers with Garlic, Paprika and Lemon

Makes: 4-6 servings
Total Time: 2 hours marinating time, plus 20 minutes

Ingredients
2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs or chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
Zest and juice of 2 lemons
4 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for greasing
3 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped

Preparation
1. Place the chicken into a large mixing bowl. Add the garlic, paprika, lemon, olive oil, salt, pepper, turmeric and cilantro. Mix well, cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least two hours to marinate.

2. Transfer the chicken from the refrigerator.

3. Thread 4 pieces of chicken onto a 1 skewer, folding the chicken as you thread it through the skewer, leaving a 1 inch border without chicken on both sides. Repeat threading the remaining chicken into skewers.

4. Place the grill or a skillet on medium-high heat and lightly brush it with olive oil. Place as many skewers that can fit onto the grill or skillet and cook on each side until the chicken is cooked through and has grill marks, about 3-5 minutes on each side.

5. Serve the chicken skewers hot immediately.

Merguez Kebabs

Makes: 4-6 servings
Time: 2 hours marinating time, plus 20 minutes

Ingredients
½ pound ground lamb (20% fat)
½ pound ground chuck beef (20%fat)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons ground fennel seeds
1 ½ teaspoons salt
⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper

Preparation
1. Place the lamb and beef into a large mixing bowl and add the garlic, paprika, cayenne, fennel, salt and pepper. Mix well until combined. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least two hours to marinate.

2. Take about ¼ to ½ cup of the meat mixture and shape it into a 3 inch kebab log. Place it onto a plate and repeat shaping the remaining kebabs.

3. Place the grill or skillet on medium high heat and lightly brush with oil. Add as many kebabs that fit onto the grill or skillet and cook until the kebabs have grill marks and are cooked through, about 3-5 minutes on each side.

4. Serve hot.

Fresh Artichoke Salad

Makes: 4-6 servings
Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients
Juice of 2 lemons, divided
4 artichokes
1 teaspoon pilpelchuma or harissa paste
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 scallions, sliced in half lengthwise and finely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Preparation
1. Place the juice of 1 lemon into a large mixing bowl and fill it halfway up with cold water.

2. Peel the outer rough artichoke leaves until you are left with only light green ones. Cut the upper ¾ of the artichoke leaves, leaving the choke and heart of the artichoke intact. Cut off the artichoke stem. Dip the artichoke into the lemon water to prevent it from oxidizing.

3. Scoop out the center choke with a spoon or melon baller. Dip the exposed areas into the lemon juice. Peel the outer green edge of the artichoke heart. Place the cleaned artichoke heart into the lemon water and repeat with the remaining artichokes.

4. Chop the artichoke into a ½ inch dice, immediately placing it back into the bowl with the lemon juice. Set aside for 2 minutes.

5. Drain the artichokes from the lemon water and place them into another large bowl. Add the remaining lemon juice, the fifelochuma or harissa paste, salt, olive oil, scallions and parsley and toss the salad well.

6. Serve cold or at room temperature.

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