A little taste of Morocco

On May 5, 2017 by battenburgbelle

Many years ago my big brother and his wife gave me a tagine, which I use far too rarely. But it’s had two outings this year already. And we’re only in May!

First up was a lamb and vegetable tagine from Sabrina Ghayour’s excellent Persiana. I made this when the McGirrs came to visit for dinner. For once I didn’t make Mr McG, of the wonderful Seven Songs, sing for his supper, but he and Sir Battenburg (!) seemed to be very thirsty nonetheless. A veil is best drawn over the liquid refreshments of that evening, but the tagine was sooo tasty. I always love a recipe that tells you to do this, that and the other and then to leave it all to its own devices for three hours. And this is a great way to get your five a day in.

lamb and vegetable tagine

lamb and vegetable tagine

Then Missy B and I popped off to Club Med in Morocco for a week. My excuse was that it would help her revision if I took her somewhere fabulous where she could work and I do a bit of light touch supervision from poolside. It was such a success that we’ve already decided to do something similar next year. One morning, while she was poring over The Odyssey (maybe), I went to a cookery class. More of a demo really, but the dish of the day was a fish tagine. I was quite proud of myself for joining in the conversation, which was conducted entirely in French. It all went very well until one of the young chefs managed to give himself an electric shock, which was a bit distracting for us all. But they whisked him away to the doctor and we carried on learning about the different spices used in Moroccan cookery. I’d only just finished my breakfast, so I didn’t really feel like tucking into a large plate of fish, but a small taste was enough to inspire me to give it a whirl when I got home. I really recommend this – it’s easy to do and you don’t actually need to use a tagine, a casserole dish or saucepan will do the job.

tagine de poisson aux pommes de terres et aux poivrons

tagine de poisson aux pommes de terres et aux poivrons

Here’s what I did (for 4 people):

Tagine

1 onion, thinly sliced
2 tomatoes, thinly sliced
2 medium potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
2 sea bream, skinned and filleted
½ red pepper, sliced
½ yellow pepper, sliced
½ lemon, thinly sliced

Charmoula

5 tbsps coriander and flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
5 cloves of garlic, crushed
juice of ½ a lemon
3 tbsp olive oil

Method

In a bowl, mix the coriander, parsley, salt, pepper, paprika, cumin, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. Marinade the fish in the charmoula for at least two hours.

In the base of the tagine, place the onions, tomatoes and potatoes. Place the marinated fish on top and pour over the charmoula, with a tablespoon of water. Add the sliced peppers and lemon. Cover with the lid and cook on a low heat on top of the oven for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally, to stop the potatoes sticking. Serve with couscous, rice or potatoes. Or just way too much lovely crusty bread, which is what I did.

Bon appetit!

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