Culinary Journey
Moroccan gastronomy has recently been celebrated as one of the best in the world! A trip to Morocco is also an opportunity to discover new flavors, a rich and subtle cuisine.
In a word: THE TAJINE
In the beginning was the Tagine! The word refers to both the cooking container and the recipe prepared therein. The vessel is made of clay, sometimes glazed and decorated. It is round in shape and the lid may be round or conical. Most culinary historians agree that tajine is of Moroccan origin, very old, especially from the region of Tafraoute.
17th century print
The tajines are sort of stewed stews. The ingredients, meat, fish, spices and vegetables will cook at the same time. The preparations are therefore as varied as possible, often based on olive oil and sometimes argan oil.
Beef tagine with quince, M’rouzia lamb tagine with honey and almonds, pigeon pastilla, chicken with preserved lemons, chicken trid…
Lamb tajine with prunes, almonds and honey
Chicken Trid or R’fissa
As appetizers we find many different Moroccan salads and various stuffed briouates, all delicious ! Desserts offer the whole range of pastries, gazelle horns, milk pastilla…
Stuffed Briwates, vegetable or cheese
Milk pastilla
Mouth already watering ?
And what about the essential Moroccan couscous with seven vegetables !
Fusion cuisine
Moroccan restaurants will offer you family and traditional dishes.
It is true that the recipes are first tasted at home. In this, they remain rooted in history and know few changes in their evolution, unlike the western cuisine.
Morocco is a crossroads between the Mediterranean and the Sahara, Europe and Africa, and is an in-between in terms of cuisine.
In this Mediterranean aspect you can find Berber, Arab but also Andalusian and Jewish influences. There are sometimes surprising alliances, incessant back and forth between salty and sweet.
Pigeon pastilla, icing sugar, cinnamon
Moroccan cuisine is joyful and colorful, it can be both soft and highly flavoured, but never spicy.
A large part of the spirit of this gastronomy lies in the use of spices that give the dishes all its voluptuousness.
For sure, the secrets of good mixes and dosages are well kept.
Holiday meals are often pantagruelic and couscous can be only a second course before the main one !
Tagine with chicken, preserved lemon and olives
Traditionally, they would overlay as many tablecloths as there are dishes to be served.
A friend tells me that when she was invited to someone’s house, she would just discreetly count the number of tablecloths to know how many dishes (six or seven) would come in order to manage her appetite and not offend the lady of the house.
Try to surprise your friends with the following recipe.
La Tanjia Marrakchia
This first recipe will surprise you with its simplicity. Minimum action and manipulation! You will understand better when you know, that it is a dish prepared by men, once is not customary!
The legend
The story tells that one day a woman, weary of her husband’s laziness, abandoned him to his sad fate. At dinner time, he takes the leftovers from the pantry, puts everything in a jar made of earth (tanjia) with some rancid butter and water and goes to the hammam.
Before a relaxing hammam session and conversations with friends about his marital woes , he slips the jar into the oven of the hammam. He forgets his tanjia. After several hours, he ends up retrieving his pot. Oh surprise, oh wonder, it is cooked and damn tasty! As often in cuisine history, accidents may be good and Tanjia was born.
The tradition is still respected today and every day we can see men who carry their tanjia to the hammam oven. The terracotta pot is closed with a lid of cardboard paper tied with a string.
Recipe
In the absence of tanjia, you will use a large pot (ideally terracotta). Put all the ingredients, namely for 4 people: 4 tablespoons of olive oil, 1.5 kg of shank and veal, 1 lemon confit cut into quarters, crushed garlic (6 cloves in shirt), 1 teaspoon of coriander, paprika, cumin, ginger, turmeric, and ras-el-hanout (mixture of spices), bay leaves, a pinch of saffron (1/2 gram) and a teaspoon of rancid butter (smen), salt, pepper. Mix everything, add 25cl of water. It is better to marinate all night.
Cover the pan, bake in oven (140°) or over low heat for three to four hours. Check the amount of water, the meat must not dry out but become confit and melting!
It is ready!
Possibly served with couscous semolina.
Enjoy your meal!
