Morocco Event

[Adam]

Every month we have a week dedicated to ethnic food , regional cuisines etc
Next month we are having Morocco.
London is the open to experiments and the competition is very hard in "ethnic" food.
feel free to propose different things.
This is what I think.I will offer a menu.

- shrimps with cumin carot and orange juice sauce
-cous-cous with fish
-tangine of duck with apples
-lamb with prunes
-compote with finokio and zuccini
salad only one : orange with black olives. I work on this recipe.
I am looking for desert.

Thank you

[momoreg]

If you're going to represent Moroccan food, you can't ignore their national dish: pastilla (also spelled b'steeya, bastilla). It's a pigeon pie with nuts and sugar. You can use phyllo for the outside, but the ones I had there were rolled in a crunchier dough, which, after a year of searching, I found out was Yufka dough. Most westerners just use phyllo.

Phyllo pastries are also very common in Morocco, as are fresh fruits. Marinated oranges in rose water (or orange blossom water), with chopped almonds is also something I saw a lot of. Saffron rice pudding with dried figs would do very nicely on a Moroccan menu too. Everywhere you turn in Morocco, you see fresh figs, lemons and pomegranates. Maybe you can make a lemon pound cake with pomegranates and figs, or something along those lines.

Also, because Morocco was a French-owned territory, you will see a lot of French influence in their foods: croissants, petit fours, etc.

[cape chef]

I love moroccan food!!!
lamb, fig and pear tajine
Chicken Tajine with honey and apricots
Koutbar kebobs

Ofcourse honey pastries and coconut cakes.
I also see alot of melons used in desserts.
cc

[Athenaeus]

Momoreg I hope you liked Morocco. I loved it.

Adam

For dessert:

Fruit salad of dried fruits and spicies :
prunes , apricots, figs marinated in orange scented syrop with cinnamon nutmeg and brown sugar and on the top roasted almonds, sesame,hazels.


Gazele's Horns ( )

This is a desert I make and it combined momoreg's suggestions

Almond paste in a shape of a small horn that is coated by thin, phyllo shaped dough, but it's dough and not phyllo!! Scented by rose water and caster sugar.

For your salad that intrigued me most ( What an idea Adam!!!! )
I have visions of oranges with black olives, cumin, garlic and Sahka sauce.
If you cannt make Sahka use the Tunisean Harissa

[Pongi]

I've been in Morocco and love its food, mainly Pastilla that's something really unique! I've also bought there some Moroccan cooking books and planned to try making pastilla at home...but found out it was pretty hard and time-consuming (probably less hard if you're a professional, of course....). The main problem is just the original outside dough , which name is Ouarka and which isn't exactly yufka or phyllo. According to my books, you must be really skilful to make it by yourself, and also many Moroccan cooks buy it already done as in Morocco it's commercially available. In any case, I too had the impression that it could be substituted with Phyllo.

As for the desserts, my book also reports some interesting recipes of sweet pastillas topped with different types of custard.
Apart from the ones described in the above posts, other sweets I have found delicious are sweet briouats (ouarka pastries) and Gazelle Horns (almond sweets). If you like, I can post some of these recipes...

Pongi

[Athenaeus]

Originally posted by Pongi
I have found delicious are sweet briouats (ouarka pastries) and Gazelle Horns (almond sweets). If you like, I can post some of these recipes...

Pongi

I was faster Pongi

I have stayed quite a long in Morroco and I have the original ( ) recipe

[Pongi]

If so...please POST IT, Athenaeus!!!


Thanks in advance,

Pongi

[momoreg]

How is oarka different from yufka?

[mermaid]

Don't forget the cinnamon for the b'steeya. Not the same without it.

And you'll be needing belly dancers.

The restaurant I used to dance in served a simple dessert - big bowl of fresh fruits and nuts.

Wish I'd kept up my dancing.
oh, well.

[Athenaeus]

Momoreg I don't have even one book about kitchen of Morocco.I am almost certain though of what I am gonna tell you.
The reference of Pongi's book is wrong.
Ouarka and yufka is the same.
It's just that the jewish community of Morocco uses the word yufka.
The Jewish community of Morocco is very vivid and active . It's active in a way that people need to differ themselves from this community.

I am almost certain about that , I wait with interest other responses.

Chef Adam you cannot persuade me that you have not even one Moroccean cook in your kitchen...

Mermaid... in Marakes where I spent seven months people were doing two jobs.
They were dancing and they were telling the future.
I wasn't dancing.

[cape chef]

A friend of mine who is from Morocco and is a waiter were I work helped me with some ideas today. We discussed at some lenth "Diffa"Which means Feast. This is were a succession of moroccos best known dishes are served. He explained to me that these are not daily events but are usaully rezerved for the whealthy. I took some notes from my friend sied, The first dish we discussed is called "Bestilla" which is a round pie made with many layers of paper thin Warqa, which means leaf. Inside are three seperate layers, two being savoury and one sweet. Stewed pigeon and the spice "Ras-el-hanout" play an important role in the savoury layers. the sweet layer is prepared with crushed sauteed almonds mixed with iceing sugar and cinnamon. Bestilla is cooked on both sides and served with more sugar and cinnamon sprinkled on top. another dish we talked about is "Choua" (steamed shoulder and ribs of lamb) served with salt and cumin. Or in the country side "Mechoui" (barbecued lamb).
Then come the tajins,Chicken,lamb,fish,game...The last tajin is always sweet and is usaully lamb, honey and onion.
Finally comes the steaming cous cous.
after comes fresh fruit and green tea, Only fresh spearmint is used The tea is heavily brewed and sweetned.
Some times the tea is served with a cresent shaped pastry called "qa'b el-ghazel (horns of the doe) it is a thin layer of dought wrapped around moist almond and sugar paste.

Sied, promised me tommorow he will brings some of his books on the cuisine of Morocco. He even will bring me a mini tajin because I was so interested in his country.
cc

[Athenaeus]

Cape Chef

Your knowledge is always very precious and beyond books.

Chacun son tour... Everyone for his field...

[cape chef]

Thank you for your kind words Athenaeus,
There are many here on cheftalk with great knowelage.
cc

[momoreg]

There's nothing that says Morocco quite like sweet mint tea... That was one of the best things about that country.

Athenaeus, please tell more about your fortune telling career.

I have had my day as a Middle eastern dancer as well.

CC- thanks for all the info. I always thought that oarka and yufka were the same; now I'm curious...

[Rachel]

That maybe CC, but all of us are mere imitations next to you. There are many CC wannabes and wish-to-bes on Chef Talk, but the Real McCoy is you!
Rachel (Actually I'm a kokopuffs wannabe - that man runs THREE MILES a day!! I don't even DRIVE that much!)