FlyingChopstik

I was asking because ive been following a thread on clay pot cooking and a couple of cookbooks where many people mentioned that food tastes better when prepared in clay whether cooked or otherwise. Ive also read of other peoples experience making yogurt in clay but they never specified whether the clay was glazed or not. If porous clay would harbor bad bacteria, than i dont wish to risk it.

Yes the interior is the same as the outside for la chamba. I was curious because i've heard of people using clay in older cultures. Hmmmmm....

Hey guys, So I've been wondering if any of you have had the chance to cook any recipes from this amazing cookbook, Olives, Lemons, and Zataar by Rawia Bishara. She is the head chef and founder of my favorite Middle Eastern restaurant in Brooklyn called, Tanoreen. Rawia is Palestinian from Nazareth. The food is some of the best that you will taste outside of the Middle East. I've cooked many of the recipes since purchasing the book in February and they are really scrumptious--wish I had photos but will try to post some. My favorites are the pickles and sauce section. The tahini sauce and basil pesto are winners with friends and family and many of the recipes are my go to's. Other favorites: Chicken fetti--stewed chicken topped with tahini yogurt sauce, toasted nuts and pita chips! YUM! Muhammara--red pepper/walnut dip lamb with freekeh--really delicious and unique flavor if you've ever had this smoky green wheat harrissa--coconut/semolina cake--one of my favorite cake recipes and a huge hit with my co-workers arabic bread aka pita bread---I've been getting better at getting the "puff" fattoush--I always make my salad this way baked eggplant casserole--this is really really good especially the next day. I suggest you bake this in a clay pot. shakshuka---deliciousness---I included a photo below of the one I made for brunch. Ever since I got a cazuela, I cook it in that now. Brussel sprouts--this is one of my favorite dishes from the restaurant and trust me you will like it! Eggplant napolean--really creative--fried eggplant rounds layered with pesto and baba ganoush with tomato salad--HEAVENLY! Ok thats enough of my faves--what are yours? Has anyone else cooked any recipes from this book? Please share!!!! http://www.eater.com/2014/2/18/6277561/first-look-rawia-bisharas-olives-lemons-zaatar-book

hello everyone, I usually make homemade yogurt quite often by bringing milk to about 180-200 degrees and then allowing it to cool until its about 110-112 degrees before adding a few tablespoons of yogurt. I then stir gently and transfer everything to glass jars or pyrex, cover it with towels and leave it in the oven with the pilot light turned on for 8 hours. The yogurt always comes out delicious and sometimes I strain it for the Greek/Turkish yogurt consistency. My question is have any of you used clay pots to ferment your yogurt in? I have a chamba casserole pot that would make a good candidate but I just want to be sure it's ok to leave liquid in it for such a long period of time.

This is the site where i read about warqa substitutes. She suggests filo 10 , country style http://moroccanfood.about.com/od/glossary/g/Warqa_Ouarka.htm

Thanks! Im so looking forward to the chicken bastilla. Cant wait to see your photos. Make it make it!

Thanks Linda! Im not sure about the country filo and wish i could find it. I read somewhere that the country filo would be suitable. If you decide to use it, let us know how it turns out! This is the brand of brik pastry that i used. It was pretty strong and indidnt have to cover it or worry about it drying out like filo. Do see if you can find it at a specialty shop though because on amazon its expensive! Brick Doughs / Feuilles Sheets on Amazon

Thanks Smithy!

Seafood, spinach and noodle bastilla that i cooked yesterday. I posted about my experience making the bastilla in the bastilla thread.

Well i tried to get insight on making homemade warqa dough on a different thread since my attempt at it produced warqa that i feel wouldnt hold up to making bastilla. I really wanted to make the seafood bastilla recipe from Paula Wolferts The Food of Morocco. Back in 05 up until 09 it seemed that there were many posts on Moroccan cooking, even from Wolfert herself. I learned a lot from reading these old posts. Hopefully i can get you guys to awaken from your slumberand keep the discussion and sharing of Moroccan dishes going. So back to the bastilla, i followed the recipe to Paulas Seafood, spinach and noodle bastilla recipe. I own the kindle version of the cookbook and there seemed to be a step missing because she says to cook the spinach until wilted, drain it, squeeze out excess water and then shred. After that step there is no other mention of the spinach. I ended up adding it as a top layer over the noodles. The biggest headache about this recipe is finding a suitable substitute for warqa dough. I didnt want to use the suggested filo dough because the texture is just not the same. I was too nervous about my own homemade warqa so i found Feuilles de Brik leaves at Kalustyans (in NYC) a 10 pack was $7. They were super easy to work withand the closest ive found to the real thing. I even used some of my small warqa dough to layer on the bottom since i only had 1 package. The recipe was very easy to follow though it took a long time with prepping and assembling. The end result was worth it. The charmoula was perfect. I do wish to add that i sauteed the fish, shrimps and scallops in butter, a little salt and pepper in a skillet for 5 minutes before adding to the pastry. I also marinated all of the seafood in the charmoula overnight. Scallops were not a part of the original recipe but i had some so i threw them in. The bastilla was delicious and even better than the one i had in Essouira, Morrocco. It was a hit with the hubby and my friend. I strongly urge you to try the recipe with homemade warqa or brik pastry so you can get that nice crunch.

Hello everyone, I made warqa dough for the first time today, following a recipe from Paula Wolfert's The Food of Morocco cookbook. It was surprisingly easy to make, however, i am concerned that this pastry is way too fragile to use. Im not sure if i did something wrong. The leaves are very delicate, especially around the edges. Some of them have rips in the centers. I brushed each with olive oil and layered them according to instructions and popped them into a bag. I was planning on making Paula's seafood bastilla in a couple of days but i think i might end up using filo dough. Has anyone made homemade warqa? Have you used it for any recipes such as bastilla? Is yours soft or crispyish? The leaves came out more like a spring roll consistency then a filoish consistency. Please help. Im curious of other peoples experience with this.

Chicken tagine with apricots Lamb tagine with prunes, fried almonds, and tagine bread

Lamb tagine with prunes and appples ---melt in your mouth tender prunes. The apples came out more crisp than expected.

Good to know! Thank you!

Thanks for the tip! Im thinking of cooking scallops or the calamari tagine.

Hassouni that us what was hoping to find out from current owners. Maybe we came a 9 years too late? Supposedly the souss tagines gives stronger flavor to the food---this is from the mouth of the employee at tagines.com. Trouthound has both and he said that if he had to do it all over again, he would go with the souss. The rifi is rustoc and contains a morw porous clay. Patrickamory and Smithy also own rifi tagines. I think that either 1 will be ok but perhaps they can share more of their experience?

Brams makes beautiful tagines and pots. Which one did you get? Here are the tagras after soaking in water for two hours and seasoned with olive oil, salt, and grated shallot( i didn't have onion) as per Paula's tip in The Food of Morocco. I baked it in the oven for about 2 hours. The shallot blackened amd left marks in the tagra which irked me at first but im sure that the bottom will darken with continued use. Vanessa from tagines.com also mentioned that you can use the tagras on the stove top at low heat. Has anyone tried this?

I just spoke to Vanessa at Tagines.com. She said that they have to update their website but under cooking tagines, they only have in stock the tagines on page 1 and 2. There is nothing else past page 2 under Cooking Tagines. She also told me that the most popular tagine that they sell is the Souss tagine. Their personal favorite is the Rifi which is made by housewives but both are handmade. The Souss comes from the Sahara and is rich in mica clay. She mentioned that the flavors come out stronger in that one. I corresponded with Trouthound and he said that mica clay can withstand heat better and he owns both the rifi and the souss. Mica clay can also be found in the Chamba pots from Columbia. I've been debating whether to get 1 or the other. So far I am leaning more towards the Souss. I just seasoned my tagras that I purchased from tangines.com for a 2nd time and I turned the heat up too high I guess because my apt started smoking. I'll post photos later.

Hi Patrick Thanks for sharing! Thats interesting! Im actually looking to get an unglazed pot for that reason because the food tastes better with each use supposedly. id love to hear what results you have from reseasoning again. The tagine that i have from Toiro kitchen is glazed in the inside. You may want to check that out. http://toirokitchen.com/products/fukkura-san/

I also noticed that i can only view up to page 2. Im going to email them about that. Ill let you know what they say. What are you going to get?

Thanks for the links Smithy. I will check those out! Hassouni-- theres no issue with tagines.com now. That was years ago. I just ordered a tagra from them and it arrived in about 7 days.

This is the interior of the pot. Its pretty shallow compared to most bean pots. Usually people cook soups in them but i would like to find other uses for it. The soups were mushroom and chicken with tofu and vegetables. These photos are from a year ago. I had the pot in a box since last winter.

I meant im curious of the difference in the dish if cooking in an unglazed vs a glazed tagine.

The sous looks cute too. Are you going to get one??? Do you think thete will be a difference in the outcome of The food?

Ohok that should be sufficient maybe even the large might work out better for me too. I am curious as to what the difference would be in cooking in both. Didnt you do an experiment like that a while back? I rember reading it on one of the threads. Btw, havent forgotten about the other donabe pics. I will post those today. I had it boxed up since i havent used it in a while.