Cook This: 3 Sephardic recipes from Matzah and Flour, including Moroccan mufleta for Mimouna

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Our cookbook of the week is Matzah and Flour by Hélène Jawhara Piñer, a historian and chef based in Bordeaux, France.

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Jump to the recipes: salmon, artichokes and pa alis stew, murakkaba (Moroccan mufleta for Mimouna) and sweet couscous.

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Food allows us to travel without moving. At the same time, it tells a story about where we’ve been. In Hélène Jawhara Piñer‘s third book and second cookbook, Matzah and Flour (Academic Studies Press, 2024), the Sephardic historian and chef delved into the role of a foundational ingredient in recipes inseparable from geography and time.

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“I was fascinated by the different kinds of flour, like chestnut flour, corn flour — from barley, rice, wheat, freekeh,” says Piñer from her home in Bordeaux, France. “(But) what is more important is to consider that when people move, their food practices move as well.”

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Piñer points out that when Sephardic Jews left Spain for the Americas after the 1492 expulsion, they started using ingredients such as corn and chocolate, which didn’t yet exist in Europe. After later being expelled by the Inquisition in the Americas (1571-1820), the Sephardic Jews who moved back to Europe arrived with these ingredients in tow. “You can follow Jewish history according to the food practices.”

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In Matzah and Flour, Piñer examines the history of the Sephardic Jews through 125 recipes and the “transformative potential” of a core ingredient.

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Starting with a section on “The Old and Holy Breads” and ending with her own “Creations,” Piñer arranged most of Matzah and Flour by Jewish holidays and the places Sephardic Jews celebrated them. She covers culinary traditions from the diaspora, starting with Rosh Hashanah and ending with Shavuot, plus a separate section devoted to Shabbat.

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Piñer opens the book with a map of the Sephardic food world charting the places Sephardim have lived throughout history. Locations such as Brazil, Ecuador, Egypt, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, Spain and Yemen give a sense of its vastness. The map also reflects the wide array of sources Piñer discovered from South and North America.

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A visual representation of the 14 flours used in the book’s recipes, including freekeh, wheat, barley, chickpea and chestnut, underscores the cuisine’s depth. “I didn’t expect that I was going to find so many references concerning food practices of the Sephardim who were using a lot of different kinds of flour.”

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Flour is a highly versatile ingredient, as Piñer illustrates in the book. The type can change the taste and texture of the finished dish, whether savoury or sweet. As Piñer highlights, for the Sephardim, these choices weren’t solely based on flavour but on flour’s symbolic value and the significance of matzah (unleavened bread). “They wanted to follow their Judaic practices.”

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Piñer draws on literary and historical sources in her culinary work. The recipes in Matzah and Flour were shaped by various texts, including the writings of Sephardic rabbi and philosopher Maimonides (“a pioneer of Jewish dietary principles”), The Portrait of Lozana (1524) by Francisco Delicado, a Spanish Renaissance writer and converso (or “crypto-Jew”) — a convert to Christianity who practised Judaism in secret — and Inquisition tribunal records.

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“If you want to understand why we, as Sephardim, have a very diverse food heritage, you have to consider all those different kinds of sources to understand this diversity. And that’s why I decided to use those different kinds of sources, and not only a cookbook, not only a medical treaty, not only Inquisition trials,” says Piñer. “I want to highlight our richness.”

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The following recipes are from Matzah and Flour’s Passover chapter. This year, the holiday begins before sundown on April 12 and ends after nightfall on April 20.

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Piñer’s Passover recipe for salmon, artichoke and pa alis (unleavened bread) stew was inspired by court testimony about Joan Çarriera, a Jewish convert living in Girona, Spain, in the late 15th century, who was declared “Heretic, Judaizer and Apostate” and sentenced to “moderate” punishment “without death, shedding of blood or mutilation of limbs.”

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(Moroccan Sephardic Jews often make the other two recipes — murakkaba and sweet couscous — for Mimouna, a post-Passover celebration stretching from the evening of April 20 to sundown on April 21.)

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Informers often used food to denounce Jews. Piñer estimates that 50 per cent of Inquisition trials were related to culinary practices and considers the manuscripts one of the most compelling sources.

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“I was, and I remain, totally surprised by the richness of the information one can find in judicial sources. You can learn about the political context, the religious context, the social context, and, as this is my focus, you can really know what kind of food people used to make their dishes. But also what kind of food they avoided eating, mainly because they were Jewish.”

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Since Sephardic Jews were denounced mainly for following and celebrating Jewish holidays, Piñer considered it logical that these celebrations would constitute the core of Matzah and Flour.

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“According to these Jewish holidays, crypto-Jews were more or less denounced — but they were denounced. For Passover, there were more denunciations because it lasts eight days,” says Piñer. She created a dedicated Shabbat chapter for the same reason. “Because Shabbat is every week, it constitutes the holiday that the informers more often used to denounce crypto-Jewish families.”

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Sephardic Jewish cuisine’s unique range is at the heart of the book. “What I wanted to do with Matzah and Flour is to scientifically prove that we have had, for a long time, a very special food identity. It’s just that our food identity is diverse, and this is what makes our food very, very special. It’s our diversity,” says Piñer.

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“Thanks to our history of moving from one country to another, we’ve been building our food identity. Which remains Sephardic and which remains Jewish — but we have different kinds of Jewish Sephardic cuisine.”

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JOAN ÇARRIERA SALMON, ARTICHOKES AND PA ALIS STEW

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Serves: 4

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4 skinless salmon fillets
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp olive oil (for marinade)
1 7/8 oz (50 g) matzah, crushed into breadcrumbs
2 tsp sumac flakes
4 tbsp olive oil
2 small red spring onions (with the green leaves), sliced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp honey
4 cups fresh spinach
8 artichoke quarters, cooked (fresh or canned)
1 lemon, for juice
4 eggs
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup grated hard cheese (such as Manchego)

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Step 1

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In a bowl, make the marinade by mixing 1 tbsp olive oil, salt and black pepper. Coat the salmon fillets with the marinade. Mix the crushed matzot and sumac flakes on a plate. Coat each salmon fillet with the mixture and place on a plate. Chill in the refrigerator for about 1 hour.

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Step 2

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In a skillet, heat 4 tbsp olive oil. Cook the salmon fillets for 3 minutes on each side. Remove from the skillet and put on a plate. Cover with aluminum foil to keep them warm.

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Step 3

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In the same skillet, add sliced spring onions and crushed garlic. Cook for about 3 minutes over medium heat until the garlic is golden. Add the honey and stir. Add the spinach leaves and artichoke quarters. Cook for 5 minutes, adding olive oil if the mixture becomes too dry. Add the fresh lemon juice and stir.

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Step 4

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Place the cooked salmon fillets back into the pan in the middle of the sauce. Crack 4 eggs into the skillet. Cover and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes until the eggs are cooked.

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Step 5

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Sprinkle the dish with 1 tsp salt and grated cheese over the eggs. Serve with broken pieces of matzah.

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MURAKKABA

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Moroccan Mufleta for Mimouna

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Serves: 4

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For the dough:
2 3/4 cup (430 g) flour
1 cup (150 g) extra fine semolina
1/2 tbsp fresh yeast, crushed (or 1/2 tbsp active dry yeast or 1 tbsp sourdough starter)
1 tsp salt
1 egg
1/8 cup (13 g) sugar
1 1/3 cup (266 mL) water

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Neutral oil for frying
Sugar to sprinkle

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For the toppings:
1 cup (340 g) honey
1/2 cup (100 g) melted butter
10 dates chopped into small pieces

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Step 1

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Mix the dough ingredients in a bowl. Knead for 10 minutes, then form 8 small balls, brush them with oil, and set aside for 15 minutes.

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Step 2

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Take one ball and flatten it out to form a very thin disk. Put it in a hot, greased pan for about 10 seconds, then turn it over. Flatten a second ball and put this new disk on top of the first one. After 10 seconds, turn the two layers upside down. Flatten a third ball, place it on top, and keep going until you have no more disks left, turning the stack upside down each time you add a new layer.

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Step 3

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Place the tower on a serving plate, pour melted butter and drizzle the honey over it. Sprinkle the chopped dates over the dish.

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SWEET COUSCOUS

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Serves: 4

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1 cup (240 mL) water
Pinch of salt
1 cup (130 g) couscous
3/4 cup (200 mL) whole milk
1/4 cup (80 g) honey
2 tbsp salted butter
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground cardamom
1/4 cup (40 g) raisins
1/4 cup (35 g) chopped almonds
Raisins, to sprinkle (optional)

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Step 1

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In a saucepan, bring 240 mL water to a boil. Add a pinch of salt and the couscous to the water, stir, and remove from heat. Cover and let sit for 8 minutes until the water is fully absorbed.

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Step 2

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In a separate saucepan, heat the whole milk over medium heat, along with the honey and butter. Stir. Add the cinnamon and cardamom, stir some more, and then add the raisins.

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Step 3

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Add the cooked couscous to the saucepan with the honey mixture and stir until fully combined. Cook the couscous mixture over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring.

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Step 4

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Place the sweet couscous in a dish and sprinkle with the chopped almonds and raisins to taste.

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Step 5

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Serve warm.

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