Moroccan Home Cooking

Quote from Mourad Lahlou, chef and owner of a Michelin-starred Moroccan restaurant in San Francisco:

"Preserved lemons are Morocco's greatest culinary contribution to the world. No, wait, I'm going all the way with this: They're Morocco's greatest contribution to the world, period."

Preserved lemon rind is one of the flavors in this chicken and artichoke tagine that the housekeepers cooked for us.

I requested the artichokes. They're plentiful here, but kind of a nuisance to pare down to the heart for adding to a tagine, so I wasn't surprised that Fatima sighed a little at my request. She rounded out the dish with olives and peas (also time-consuming to shell, but you can buy them already shelled.) Moroccan cooking is time-consuming in general because it's largely done from scratch. That's also one of the reasons it's so good.

Market vegetables

Artichokes are common.

Starting from scratch in Fes

Tagines are the signature dishes of Morocco. They're a kind of pot roast, rich stews traditionally slow-cooked in conical pots called "tagines," although these days pressure-cookers are often used to save time. Fatima starts with the pressure cooker then finishes things off on the stove in the traditional clay tagine. When you lift the lid, the steam escapes in a fragrant whoosh. It's the ultimate comfort food.

Some common tagine combinations are chicken with preserved lemon and olives, meatballs in tomato sauce topped with fried egg, and lamb with prunes and almonds.

A chicken and vegetable tagine with preserved lemon on top

Preserved lemons are made by packing partially-cut lemons in a covered jar with salt and lemon juice and letting them pickle for several weeks, until the rinds soften. In Morocco you can buy them at the olive stands.

Preserved lemons are on the front row at the olive stand.

Dried fruits and nuts are sometimes part of a tagine.

Spices, also, are commonly sold in bulk. Some of the spice displays are works of art.
 

Spices for sale in Essaouira

I've experimented with cooking tagines at home in Grover Beach, but I never quite get it right, even using spices from Morocco. I think you might need the Moroccan "terroir."

There was plenty of terroir in this tagine served bedside at the Dar Adrar in the Atlas Mountains.

When we went out to lunch with Ahlam, Mark's colleague, the dish for the day was a vegetable tagine.  Mark and I were happy, but Ahlam was dismayed that they weren't serving meat. She told us that when a Moroccan invites someone to dinner in their home for the first time, it's considered very rude if they don't serve meat. On the second visit, you might get away with serving chicken or fish. At least, the restaurant (the Riad Tanja in Tangier) served a wonderful assortment of Moroccan salads: warm and cold first-course dishes.

The sweet-and-savory stuffed eggplant rolls were especially memorable.

With all the good food here, it's practical to dress in a loose-fitting djellaba.

Women carrying a bag together "Moroccan style". The blue garment is a djellaba.