Taktouka With Burrata and Lime-Parsley Oil

Name: Taktouka With Burrata and Lime-Parsley Oil
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: moroccan
Ingredients: 3 tablespoons olive oil; 5 San Marzano or Roma tomatoes (about 1 pound), deseeded and chopped into 1/2-inch pieces; 3 garlic cloves, crushed or finely chopped; 1/2 packed cup flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped; 1/3 packed cup cilantro, finely chopped; 2 teaspoons sweet paprika; 1 teaspoon ground cumin; 1/2 teaspoon fine salt, plus more to taste; 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar; 3 large green or yellow bell peppers (about 1 pound), deseeded and chopped into 1/2-inch pieces; 8 to 10 ounces burrata (1 or 2 balls), drained, at room temperature; 4 tablespoons olive oil; Zest of 2 limes (about 4 teaspoons); 2 tablespoons lime juice; 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic (or 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder or 1 garlic clove, finely chopped); 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley (or 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley); Generous pinch of granulated sugar; Pinch of fine salt

By Nargisse Benkabbou

Updated Oct. 14, 2021

Taktouka With Burrata and Lime-Parsley Oil — David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

Total Time: 30 minutes
Rating: 4(356)
Comments: Read comments

Taktouka is a Moroccan cooked salad traditionally made of bell peppers simmered in a tomato sauce that’s seasoned with sweet paprika and cumin. The end result is a lightly fragrant and flavorful dish that is typically served with plenty of bread. Here, it is also served with burrata. Although the addition of the creamy cheese is not traditional, it makes taktouka a complete vegetarian meal. The optional addition of lime-parsley oil adds a touch of acidity and freshness.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

For the Taktouka

3tablespoons olive oil
5San Marzano or Roma tomatoes (about 1 pound), deseeded and chopped into ½-inch pieces
3garlic cloves, crushed or finely chopped
½packed cup flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
⅓packed cup cilantro, finely chopped
2teaspoons sweet paprika
1teaspoon ground cumin
½teaspoon fine salt, plus more to taste
½teaspoon granulated sugar
3large green or yellow bell peppers (about 1 pound), deseeded and chopped into ½-inch pieces
8 to 10ounces burrata (1 or 2 balls), drained, at room temperature

For the Lime-parsley Oil (optional)

4tablespoons olive oil
Zest of 2 limes (about 4 teaspoons)
2tablespoons lime juice
½teaspoon granulated garlic (or ¼ teaspoon garlic powder or 1 garlic clove, finely chopped)
½teaspoon dried parsley (or 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley)
Generous pinch of granulated sugar
Pinch of fine salt

Ingredient Substitution Guide

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Preparation

Step 1
Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan and add the chopped tomatoes, garlic, parsley, cilantro, paprika, cumin, salt, sugar and 2 tablespoons of water.
Step 2
Stir the ingredients together, cover the pan and cook over medium-low heat for about 15 minutes or until the tomatoes begin to soften. Stir occasionally to make sure they don’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
Step 3
While the tomatoes cook, make the lime-parsley oil, if using: Combine the olive oil, lime zest and juice, granulated garlic, dried parsley, sugar and salt in a small bowl, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Set aside until ready to serve.
Step 4
Uncover the pan and add the chopped peppers, and cover again until the peppers are just cooked, about 10 minutes. (They should hold their shape and have a light crunch). Taste the taktouka and add more salt if necessary.
Step 5
To serve, place the taktouka at the center of a rimmed serving plate. Place the burrata on top and drizzle the burrata with the lime-parsley oil, if using. Enjoy with lots of bread. You can make the taktouka in advance and serve it warm or at room temperature. If you make it in advance, keep it in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

Ratings

4 out of 5

356 user ratings

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Comments

Alisa3 years ago

Sauteing the peppers with the spices before adding the tomatoes will help bring out their sweetness. Putting them into the warm tomato sauce results in boiled peppers. Only add cilantro stalks at first, keep the leaves for garnishing: cooked cilantro is not that great. If the fresh tomatoes are not super ripe, it's probably better to used canned ones or it will be watery. Adding burrata to make it a full meal is interesting. If you add eggs, you got yourself a shakshuka.

what are the criteria for “weeknight meals”?3 years ago

Good but not great, especially considering the prep time. I don’t know how they get to 40 mins on these. Weeknight? Really?

Tommyt3 years ago

I expanded this by putting atop some penne pasta that I mixed with some of the sauce. The fam thought it was watery and we added some red pepper flakes at the table. Fair amount of work for a big meh from the diners. Seems canned tomatoes would have been just as good. Fun Sunday afternoon meal tho and no one missed not having animal protein.

Linda2 years ago

This dish is only made special by the lime oil. The Burrata is a help, too. I added the fresh herbs at the end of cooking and reserved some for plating - wanted more flavor. Upped the spices by almost a tsp each. I was short a pepper so used a zucchini which absorbed the flavors nicely. Served with sourdough bread and more lime oil.

Pegoo3 years ago

I can do this in about 30 minutes if I leave out the lime-parsley oil, which I do. I like it more tomato-y so I only add one to one-and-a-half peppers (of various colors) and find the addition of a bit of smoked paprika some really wonderful depth to this. Delicious!

Katherine3 years ago

For once I did not find many of the other comments very helpful, so adding here that I rated this a 5 stars - delicious as written (more or less - I used a half a pint of halved fresh grape tomatoes plus three Romas), not any more onerous to prep than many weeknight dinners, and while it would certainly be fine without the lime oil it was a 3 minutes extremely well spent. My 1 was running late so after stirring in the peppers I turned off the heat and it sat covered - perfect in an hour.

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