Wolfert

Sackville girl: Thanks for sharing the recipe as you saw it prepared in the Zagora style. Having been there for such a short time I never really got a chance to learn any of th local dishes. I must try your recipe. Perhaps you didn't know that the tagine you posted is produced on the western coast of Morocco in the town of Sale. The term tagine slaoui means a tagine from Sale. By the way, I went to your site of recipes. What a huge and interesting collection! You should publish a book. The variety is so damm interesting. Fifi and Nancy: I need to re-read and soak up the incredible outpouring of wisdom the two of you have put forth. Thank you for taking the time to put down all your insights. The braised and browned chicken dish called djej mhammer (meaning reddish due to the huge amount of paprika) that you prepared in two pots is what I want to write about right now. Nancy, I have a comparison that is a clear match to your experience...well almost. The span is 30 years between the first time I made the recipe and the last time about 4 years ago. This wouldn't mean anything but I just happen to have the two recipes in front of me, side by side.. In my first book, from now on to be referred to as CFM (couscous and other good food from morocco), I printed almost the same recipe for djej mhammer using two chickens as you tested the other day. It is a classic dish from Rabat. I am sure I cooked it in a tagine at that time because I lived in Morocco and I didn't have a heavy casserole made of enameled cast iron. I had copper caseroles and earthenware tagines, but not expensive French cookware.. To help make the book accessible, my mother and best girl friend, both living in the states spot tested a lot of the recipes using whatever pots they had to make sure the recipes worked. ,. In the slow Med published 2 years ago, I suggested cooking the two chickens in an LC. I called for the same amount of spices and herbs as in the traditional recipe. I upped the garlic and reduced the butter (chickens in morocco are scrawny and need that extra fat to cook up juicy), and the method used for browning was broiling.. Here is the kicker: I notice there are three important changes: the water,the pot, and the browning of the chicken. In CFM I bring 3 cups of water in a 5 1/2 quart casserole with cover to the boil , lower the heat, cover, and cook l hour . When ready to brown, I do it in a skillet and brown one chicken at a time. That is because I didn't have a broiler in Morocco. In Slow Med I bring 1 1/2 cups of water in a large enameled cast iron pot and cover and cook the chicken for l hour. (There is no mention of a tagine as an alternative .) and I broil the chicken. . My mother and best girl friend living in the states spot checked a lot of the recipes using whatever pots they had to make sure the recipes worked. So which recipe, if any, do you want me to type up? Can you see that the bourma had some insight into the dish and corrected the error? What else can I say?

No, you aren't missing a thing, This is the word used aboout 30 years ago on the eve of the nouvelle cuisine to explain a reduction sauce. I had the great honor of studying with Andre Guillot who termed the word. BTW It's a really good recipe.

chef zadi: the late Mirielle Johnston wrote a book titled" TheCusine of the Rose" back in the 80's. There is room for another. Go for it.

Is it diluting the batter or blotching up the 'look' of the clafoutis ? I do it to avoid weeping,. If you feel like scrolling back to the photo I posted you'll see what I mean. I toss 'just pitted' cherries in sugar, spread them out on a plate and place them, uncovered, in the freezer just long enough for the the openings to freeze. The sugar is with the cherries. This means you make the batter without sugar. I do this because Charlou Reynal, one of the most famous chefs in the Limousin, told me this is the method to create the lightest clafoutis. Place the chilled sugared cherries on the bottom of the pan, spread over the batter and bake. Result:. No blotching.

Smithy, that was a wonderful report. Thanks so much. The photos look good, too. You mentioned (see your quote) the pot has been sitting around holding pinecones. So it hasn't been used in a long time. Or ever? Do you remember whether you were supposed to soak it before curing back when you bought it? I'm only guessing but the huge evaporation of liquid might have happened due to the super dry walls of the pot. On the other hand, 1 cup of liquid for a chicken or its equal in weight in thighs doesn't need more than l cup. Tagines like braises do better with less liquid. I'm sorry, I don't have the time to type in the recipe today. Saturdays are difficult around here.If anyone who has the book and feels up to the challenge, you have my permission. If not, I'll type it up tomorrow morning and then if you are all still interested we can discuss the claypot versus the LC. I'm very interested. If the chicken came out right with the claypot, it would have been meltingly soft and juicy. Followed by broiling, you should have a crisp skin just barely holding the chicken flesh in place. Fifi: We need your help. Thanks for providing the name of the pot. I am beginning to set up a grid with names of pots, curing,et. I love your pot! It is beautiful. How high are the walls versus the diameter? I have some similar ones used in the eastern mediterranean to make moussake, and Turkish guvec (meat and vegetable stews). Guvec uses only the liquid the meat and vegetables throw off during the cooking to keep everything juicy. t.

Chef Zadi: you know it's the diversity of cooking in North Africa that is so intresting and so unknown on this side of the pond. We need you to guide us through the center core of the region. I might be able to help with the Tunisian side as well. I am familiar with their cooking which is very different from Algerian and Moroccan styles. I worked as a culinary spokesperson for the Tunisian olive oil industry for about 5 years and was taught a lot of interesting quirky recipes. So, chef zadi please speak to us. Smithy: thanks so much for passing along the wok versus diffuser information. Sorry about the toothpicks. Actually, I have been there myself with one spice or another.

Yes, it really does look wonderful.

Just to make sure we are all on the same page: Chickpea flour which used to be cheaper than white flour made from wheat is used to make socca in Nice and farinata in Genoa. In fact, in every Mediterranean coastal town there is a grainy snack food made with the flour. Tunis: fenugreek flavored butter cookies called ghoriba homs Tangier: cumin flavoerd, egg based pudding called karantika Gibraltar: ditto Israel: falafal Antalya, Turkey: Hibes (a type of hummus made with the flour and tahini) Palermo: panelle Cadiz: Tortillitas Please feel free to add to the list. I'm looking for more references

Well, I am very flattered. Thank you so much. Sorry to brag, but the article that accompanied the recipes won the coveted MFK Fisher award that year. I always thought it was the story. Now, I'm wondering if the jury just loved the recipes!

In the same issue I published a recipe for quince and okra tagine with lamb or chicken; a whole fish stuffed with shrimps and swordfish and baked under a cloak of a different charmoula recipe; orange and radish salad, and lentils with khlea (Moroccan preserved meat). There might have been some sort of Marrakech dessert pastry as well. The recipe for the shrimp stuffed fish is in my grains and greens book.

I was given a digital camera for my birthday last year. I was playing "food stylist."

I just described some fish dishes in the other forum on tagines. The most popular fish in inland Morocco is the shad and its roe so you should go for it. Or use trout as was suggested above. Or carp if you want to bake a whole fish. on charmoula: I have published more than a dozen formulas for charmoula. Frankly, I have never made up my mind which is the best. It really depends on the quality of the spices I'm using. When someone brings me the ground cumin from Morocco I need less of it than what is available here....and so on. I know this is a nuisiance to read. But a recipe isn't a blueprint; it is a sketch....With that said, I will type in the recipe from the magazine. It is unreadable as posted. . Eggplant Smothered with Charmoula This dish should be prepared ahead of time so the eggplant absorbs the charmoula. serves 4 Ingredients:2 medium eggplants, about 1 1/2 pounds total; coarse salt;l clove garlic peeled and minced; 1 teaspoon sweet paprika, pinch of the hot;; 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin;, 3 tablesopons finely chopped cilantro; 3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley; 3 tablespoons lemon juice and 1/2 cup olive oil. Slice eggplant into 3/4" rounds and sprinkle lightly on both sides with salt. Place in a colander, cover with a cloth, and weigh down the slices with a heavy pot or cans for 30 minutes, until the eggplant exudes its bitter juices. 2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. to make teh charmoula, whisk together garlic, paprikas, cumin, half of the herbs, lemon juice, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and salt to taste; set aside. 3. Pat eggplant dry with paper toweling and lightly brush each slice with olive oil. Spread them in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake until tender and golden, about 25 to 30 minutes. This will prevent eggplant from absorbing too much oil during frying. Remove eggplant from oven and set aside to cool completely. Heat remainig olive oil in a medium skillet over high heat. Working in batches, add slices to hot oil and fry until crisp and brown on both sides, about 1 minute per side. Drain on paper towels and transfer eggplant to a shallow dish. 5. Whisk charmoula once more and spoon over eggplant. Sprinkle remaining herbs on top. Let stand 1 hour; then serve at room temperature. c\Paula Wolfert. as printed in Saveur Magazine, 1994

There are many recipes for fish tagines or baked fish dishes along the Moroccan coast. Inland, in the town of Fez, there are a whole slew of dishes using shad and shad roe. It is the only country I know where they love shad roe as much as Americans do. The shad is stuffed with dates or almond paste, but you can substitute carp. . The shape of the tagra is to accomodate the shape of a 4 pound fish. It is baked in a 350 oven for about 45 minutes.Sometimes the fish is cooked on top of the stove; other times in the oven. Also, thick fillets of white fleshed fish are smothered in vegetables and baked or cooked in a regular tagine without the conical top. Usually canes or slivers of celery or carrots are used to keep the fish fillets from touching the oh-too-hot bottom of the tagine. It is slow cooked for about 1 hour. Amazingly, the vegetables keep the fish from over-cooking.

In the first edition, I had to give in to pressure (no pun intended on the poor fruit) and let the reader choose. I did the same this time round. But I did devise a truc to keep the juices from seeping out: roll the pitted cherries in sugar, then slip them into the freezer to chill the opening and, thus keep the juices from weeping whlie baking. BTW: there is a huge mistake in the first edition, the spelling of clafoutis. It was a copyeditor's zeal to show that you don't write a singular noun with an 's' tagged on. It is my fault I didn't catch it in the galleys. The clafoutis was lukewarm or cool-- as it should be. It didn't harm the fabric, but thanks for asking. Bux: Pictures tell a lot and Therese picked up on the fact that the clafoutis was on valuable threads. Do you think explaining the temperature clafoutis is best served is an ok post on this thread?

Thanks< Linda, for your kind words on the photo. I couldn't resist sharing this photo of my cherry clafoutis photographed in achamba pot (see the claypot thread) when Linda mentioned it. FYI:The material underneath is actually the back section of a Izzy Miyaki jacket I purchased in Paris in 1983. The very one I wore for the book party to celebrate the first edition of CSWF . Luckily, he cut clothes loose that year. I intend to wear it this fall for any event planned to celebrate the updated version.

Great list. I would like to add chickpea leavened bread and the rusk called kaak made in the Middle East. A brilliant use of over-soaked, fermenting garbanzo beans! Just for the record: in Morocco, humus without tahini is called serrouda.

The p(l)ot thickens. Sorry I couldn't resist. Thank you, gingerly, for that information. I will certainly try the buttermilk on a new comal that I am planning to use to cook Turkish flat breads.

Since beans are traditionally cooked in pot bellied clay pots and very often sealed, the amount of liquid should never be a problem. I just checked all my bean pots and they are glazed inside..So maybe you are right about the water and the unglazed pot..hmmmm that is interesting. Come to think of it, I don't think we used clay pots to cook beans in Morocco. I salt beans from the start so I haven't had that experience. .. I love the concept of 'the bean between.'

This is the truth: Roden's first book was published in 1972. At that time, very few editors understood the difference between fresh and dried coriander. I know Rodin did, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn her editor just changed fresh to ground during the copyediting stage. Magazines at that time were doing the same thing. I was lucky and had Fran McCullough as my editor. She had just finished editing Diana Kennedy's first book. Diana's commitment to the truth helped lead the way.

The extremely tight texture of the Italian clay made it impossible for me to get the molasses or the oil and ash to stick. I decided it wasn't worth it. It works with two of the most important Moroccan clay tagines and that is what is important.

update on curing the Italian clay plates with molasses or ash: zilch

Chef Zadi: your version sounds delicious. One variant of the Moroccan sauce charmoula includes tomatoes and goes beauifully with fish and shellfish.The following charmoula is spread over fish or shellfish in a tagra or clay cazuela. I learned this recipe from a Berber cook named Rakia who was one of the main cooks for the leader of the National Berber party back in the 70's . I still remember her laugh -- a kind of gutteral snort and she smoked koutoubia cigarettes and when she pounded herbs for this charmoula she would blend like a jackknife fromthe waist to do it. She was 65 years old then. I showed her a blender and she immediately changed her method to the following: Alas, I don't think she is with us anymore . 1 1/2 pounds firm white flesh fish 2 cloves garlic pounded with l teaspoon salt 1/2 cup torn up leaves of fresh coriander 1/2 cup of torn up leaves of fresh parsley 3/4 teaspoon sweet paprika 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin 1/8 teaspoon cayenne 2 teaspoons best quality tomato paste ' 1/4 cup fruity olive oil 1 to 2 teaspoons cider vinegar Lemon juice to taste combine garlic, herbs and 1/3 cup water in a blender. Blend until completely smooth. Pour into a saucepan; add the spices and remaining ingeredients except the lemon juice and thin with up to 1/2 cup water. Simmer 5 minutes. Leave to mellow and cool down. Pour over fish in a tagra or cazuela. Heat very slowly on top of the stove and when the fish is just barely cooked, remove the pan from the stove and let it finish cooking in the receding heat. Reheat just before serving; adjust seasoning with salt and lemon juice to taste. Serve with anise flavored Moroccan bread.

Truthfully, I don't remember this version of eggplant with charmoula being one of my favorite recipes so feedbackwill be interesting. Please be kind. The story that accompanies the recipe is on my website in the articles section and might be of interest to those of you who want to know why in the world people like Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Paul and Jane Bowles and others including yours truly went to Tangier in the first place. Hint: It was the Paris of the 50's for writers and painters. I emailed a copy to Elie to see if he could blow up the text and somehow paste it here so I wouldn't have to type it in

I am a very old and dear friend of Russ Parsons. Maybe 25 years??? Is that possible ? That said, he did two things that I don't believe he should have: 1) He outed me at egullet so now I have to be me and not 'hedgehog.' 2) He doesn't soak his beans. Other than that he and his wife Kathy are always welcome at my home for lunch. I still respect and adore him, but I believe in soaking dried beans to their fullest. Even changing the water if necessary. After a full soaking I put them in a sandy clay pot shaped like a pot belly and add just enough liquid to cover along with grated onion, salt, aromatics. I cover with my wrinkled parchment and a lid, or seal it with an oil-flour-water mix and lid, and bake the beans or chickpeas slowly in the oven for a few hours. I think Sami has some tagras. If you have my Moroccan cookbook, you'll find detailed directions on how to cure it.

If it is my recipe I promise to post it here for everyone. I did publish a charmoula dressed eggplant in Saveur back in 1994, and I remember the photo was on the upper left side of the page, but it was alone on the plate. I don't remember publishing a recipe for grilled chicken to accompany it. I'll look for it today and scan it in.