Driss very kindly decided to have a tajine dinner party on Sunday to introduce me to some of the other Fulbrighters that he knows here, and some of their friends. (That is Driss over there to the left.) He told me he'd teach me to make tajine, which is a pretty common dinner dish here. The word refers to both the ceramic dish that you cook it in, and the food itself. So I went over to Driss' apartment for an evening of mint tea and conversation, salad, and tajine. Here are my two take-aways about the food so far in Morocco: I still love that red pepper paste that I mentioned in a previous post. But, there are two other foods that I have decided are the bomb! One is pickled lemons. I know! Doesn't that sound weird? But they are pickled still in the rinds, and then they get sliced up and added to the tajine near the end, and we also had some in the green salad and they were so yummy. And, the second one will really surprise those who know my eating habits: OLIVES! Honestly, I generally don't like olives at all, and make a beeline right past the olive bar at Wegman's. But here, I have tried some that are probably marinated in that same red piquant paste, and some that have a bit of a lemony back-flavor, and I really liked them. In the fashion of Morocco, and of Youth everywhere, we started cooking at 8:30 pm and ate our dinner at 11. It was late dining for me, but I met some pretty interesting young people, I ate a tasty dinner, and I now have the basic recipe for tajine under control. I understand though that although the basics remain constant, every cook has his Tajine Maison, and no two are really fully alike. Here are some pictures, but I'll put the full process and pictures over on the Recipes page of this site, which has been waiting patiently for an entry. I am getting better at the "bread as utensil" technique. Clear benefit of eating right from the tajine itself: very few dishes!!
2 Comments
Beth
2/13/2017 05:59:45 pm
I am in love with that mint tea!!! I bout a teapot there but I'm afraid to put it right on the burner.
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Marcie
2/14/2017 01:44:57 am
Yeah, it's really good! I do see them putting it right over the stove, but there are two kinds of pots, too-- a heavier silver version and a more lightweight something else. I haven't tried making it myself yet.
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Marcie StutzmanTeacher, Researcher, Adventurer, Explorer; Maybe crazy; Possibly too old for this Archives
October 2018
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