The Kasbah Chronicles: Kitty Morse's recently released Bitter Sweet: A Wartime Journal and Heirloom Recipes from Occupied France
and a recipe from childhood: Moroccan Lentil Soup for a rainy day!
MARCH 21, 2023
This first day of spring, it is still POURING in Southern California. The rain is relentless. My poor orange trees are bowing their heads in soaked exhaustion. My Meyer lemon is dripping with...water-logged lemons growing larger by the hour; and my passion fruit vine is reaching desperately over the garden wall. Oh my! My husband would not be happy: chop, chop would be its fate. But I get a kick out of picking up a plump, green passion fruit as large as a tennis ball!
I have already mentioned that rain turns me into Pavlov's dog...I must make soup.
Here is a soul-satisfying soup I used to enjoy growing up in Casablanca.
(or choose one from one of my Moroccan cookbooks such as Cooking at the Kasbah!) or Mint Tea and Minarets: A Banquet of Moroccan Recipes)
Kitty's Moroccan Lentil and Garbanzo Bean Soup
MAKES 6 SERVINGS
For a little extra spiciness, add about 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper along with the black pepper. This soup tastes even better the next day. I make it in my crockpot. Add cubes of lamb or beef if you wish.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2 large carrots, diced
2 ribs celery, diced
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 to 2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup dried brown or green lentils, rinsed and drained
1 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes
7 cups water or broth
1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans, drained
1/2 bunch chopped fresh cilantro (ormore, to taste)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
In a medium pot or slow cooker, heat the oil over moderate heat. Add the onion, carrots, and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables start to soften, about 10 minutes. Stir in the ginger, cumin, cinnamon, pepper, salt, lentils, tomatoes and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the lentils are tender, about 30 minutes.
Add the garbanzo beans to the soup and continue simmering about 10 minutes longer. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the cilantro and lemon juice. Adjust the salt, cumin, or black pepper if needed.
Note: This soup freezes very well.
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So many new readers have subscribed to this newsletter: thank you so much. My email comes alive with a PING! each time I read “NEW SUBSCRIBER ON SUBSTACK.” Never have I heard so many PINGS! in the 12 years I published this newsletter on another platform.
I want to update all my new "followers" on the status of my latest memoir with recipes, Bitter Sweet: A Wartime Journal and Heirloom Recipes from Occupied France. It seems the title resonates with a wide variety of readers: cooks, writers, food historians, those steeped in WWII history and the Holocaust. My mission in writing it is to keep alive the memory of my ancestors.
My great-grandmother, Blanche Lévy-Neymarck stared at me from inside the suitcase!
For more details about the book, visit my website, www.kittymorse.com.
In the meantime, I thank a growing list of vendors who carry the book. Call them and order the book, they all have signed copies...
Last week, I was thrilled to be listed among the books on the newsletter of Kitchen Arts and Letters, one of the top cookbook stores in the US: Their quote: Bitter Sweet: "An extraordinary record."
https://www.kitchenartsandletters.com/
And another:
Now Serving, a cookbook store in Los Angeles' Chinatown:
as well as another favorite: the Bay Area's only culinary bookshop: a wonderland of new and vintage cookbooks! Omnivore Books in San Francisco.
omnivorebooks.myshopify.com
The best used bookstore in San Diego County happens to be in Carlsbad, CA. Farenheit451 is as eclectic as it is stuffed with books floor to ceiling, Phil is the owner, and has carried all my books. Pay him a visit on the way to the beach…
If you know of an indie bookstore or gift store that would consider carrying my book, do let me know. And always amazon.com, at your 24-hour service!
Presentations and talks:
I am available for libraries, book clubs, museum talks.. you name it. I have done it several times for national organizations, and the Power Point presentation has been very well reviewed and received. Merci.
Free and Open to the Public;
Yorba Linda Public Library: NOON, Saturday APRIL 24, 2023
4852 Lakeview Avenue
Yorba Linda CA 92886
Presentation and book signing.
Kitty in the Press:
The San Diego Union Tribune will feature me in their food section on WED. April 19th, 2023. Save me a copy!
Here is an excerpt from the Preface:
“I’d never come across another suitcase quite like it. But what was the tattered black leather valise doing there, hidden behind a crocheted comforter on the top shelf of my late mother’s closet? The tarnished brass locking mechanism had already been sprung. I was tempted to lift the lid and examine the contents but something held me back—call it a sixth sense—if there is such a thing. Was it the fear of what I’d find inside?
...So it was that the unopened suitcase joined several other antiques in the trunk of my car for the short ride from my mother’s home in Oceanside, California, to nearby Vista, where I relegated it to the top shelf in my own bedroom closet. Three years on, I decided the time had come to open the valise.
... A label lying on top of a cache of sundry photos and documents took my breath away. Written in my grandfather’s hand, it read: Les Archives Complètes des Familles Lévy-Neymark..."
NOTE: I am headed for the land of my ancestors, Alsace Lorraine and Champagne in May. I am trying to gather information on places and historical sights not to miss in the region. Nancy, Reims, Epernay, Colmar, Strasbourg: if you have any suggestions, would you share them with me? Just send me an email: kitty@kittymorse.com. I would be most grateful.
Links of interest: Très interessant:
Another PS: Have you been to Morocco? Thinking about it? Friends going? It seems I get a request for travel information every week (Casablanca IS my hometown!) You might want to read Mint Tea and Minarets: A Banquet of Moroccan Memories, which tells of my life (with food) at our riad, Dar Zitoun, south of Casablanca. I have a few copies left in my possession. If you are interested, just shoot me an email. Cost: $35 includes shipping, and I will sign it for you.
Thank you for reading my ramblings.Bon appetite, and stay warm and dry.
Kitty