Presto Pasta Night: Addis Ababa Edition

New York one week, Ethiopia the next.  Can you tell I've got a bit of wanderlust right now?  Good thing I can satisfy it (a little, anyway) in the kitchen.  But what does pasta have to do with Addis Ababa?  Well, according to Marcus Samuelsson, Italian is the only type of foreign food you can find there.  So, he published a recipe for trout spaghetti in his wonderful book, The Soul of a New Cuisine: A Discovery of the Foods and Flavors of Africa. 

I am using his book as an entree into the world of African cooking, which I want to learn in order to cook for my little sister, who lives at the base of Mt Kiliminjaro, in Tanzania.  It's a little wimpy of me to start with one of the more European-influenced recipes in the book, I know, but I can't resist anything noodly and furthermore, I'm still a little scared of injera. 

One great thing about this recipe is that it can be made fairly quickly.  The trout has to cure for a few hours, but you could prepare that and then disappear for a couple of hours, say, take in a Tae Kwon-Do class or something?  Then come back and do the rest in about thirty minutes. 

I also loved that I got to use three of the herbs I currently have growing in my garden: mint, chives and basil.  But just a little bit of basil, thank goodness, because my spouse is very protective of that plant. 

As for the berbere, you could make your own, which is probably a smart thing to do, but if you, for example, enter the spice store and realize that there is no way you can happily gad about collecting all the necessary spices with your 17-month child in tow, then don't worry, you can also get a premixed berbere.  I went to my favourite bulk store, For Good Measure, and they mixed me up a pot on the spot. 

So, without further ado, here is how I made Marcus Samuelsson's Trout Spaghetti:

Into a rectangular glass dish, put two trout fillets that you have sliced as thinly as you can manage.  Squeeze two limes over them and add as much chopped mint as you want.  Now add a tablespoon of berbere and 1/4 cup of olive oil and mix it all around.  Cover with Saran wrap and put in the fridge.  Put on your dobok and go to Tae Kwon-Do. 

Come back from Tae Kwon-Do, take your dobok off, put on some pajamas, and stir the trout bits around. 

Put on some salted water to boil.  Once it has boiled, add your spaghetti and cook for nine minutes.  Chop up an onion and put it into a frying pan with 1/4 cup olive oil, a tablespoon of berbere, and 3 tablespoons of butter.  Cook over low-medium heat for ten minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Meanwhile, string and cook some delicious fresh peas to serve alongside.  Also, get your ricotta ready.  I used storebought ricotta, but Marcus Samuellson would have you make your own fresh cheese.  If you want instructions for that, you're own your own, because I took the lazy route: stir some salt and chopped chives into a half cup or so of ricotta. 

Now, drain your spaghetti, put it back in its pot and scrape every last tasty bit of the onions and sauce into the pot and mix well to combine.  Fold in your trout bits and a couple of chopped up basil leaves.  Serve dolloped with the cheese and with some nice sweet peas alongside. 

The berbere-flavoured noodles make for a very unusual pasta.  It definitely tastes like Ethiopian-Italian fusion, which is exactly what it is, I suppose.  I will make this again soon. 

Thank you again to Ruth, the host of Presto Pasta Nights, who appears to be persisting in her South Beach Diet efforts.  What stamina!

Comments

[Ruth]

What a fabulous sounding dish - and it looks wonderful too. Thanks so much for taking us around the world and for bringing it home to Presto Pasta NIght.

[Ulrike]

This sounds great! My entry is above yours at the Presto Pasta round-upand I think we not only share the passion of pasta also the same plate design ;-)

[Yellow House Cook]

Ruth - my pleasure.

Ulrike - your recipe looks amazing too. I've never tried broad beans before but I think I'll give your orecchiette a shot this week.

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