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| Ingredients & Couscous Steamer, Ait Benhaddou |
Learn to cook with Mr Action. Fresh seasonal vegetables are his secret. Layer them “just so” in the base of a *cooking tagine then cover with chunks of meat. Flavour variety is added with preserved lemons, olives, mint or eggs. Add your blend of 7** secret herbs and spices (better yet the prepared mix of 35 available in the souk) then put over a slow fire until done. Serve with lashings of fresh bread to soak up the flavoursome gravy. Mr Action also serves homemade couscous (semolina), a time consuming process that had us all making “notes to self” that the “instant” supermarket variety would be ok – unless you were preparing dinner for a Moroccan!
*Don’t confuse a cooking tagine with a decorative one. The decorative ones, whilst most attractive, can contain lead (in the glaze). ** Garlic, saffron, turmeric, coriander, cumin, pepper and salt
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| Care for a date or two? |
Pigeon b’stilla in Fes as guests of Dar Hatim's gourmet chefs. Pigeon meat, eggs, almonds and raisons mixed then flavoured with lemon, saffron, sugar and cinnamon. All wrapped in a light pastry (warkba) and baked. Rich, crispy and very delicious!
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| Really fresh sardines, Essaouira |
Seafood feast in Essaouira. Grilled lobster, sweet sole, prawns and fresh sea bass.
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| Mint Tea in an Azib (seasonal shelter) |
Mint tea is the beverage of choice, a sweet concoction of green tea, mint and sugar. Alcohol is rarely served but can be found in tourist areas. Bars line streets and in the evening customers, mostly men, face out to“people watch” and gossip. I’d prefer a pomegranate champers to a beer but sometimes that’s all there was on offer. Wine is produced locally and we made the effort to sample a few bottles.
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| Local camel butcher, Fes |
Salads were plentiful, many with a citrus or tomato base were garnished with olives, fresh chillies, green or red capsicum, red onion and coriander just for added oomph! Served with lashings of olive oil and vinegar or lemon juice. Sadly we often looked at, rather than ate, salads due to poor water quality. We always, always drank bottled water....
Bread - always fresh and so, so tempting. Available every day in many varieties.
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| Baker's shop in Essaouira |
