Savoring Morocco
One of my favorite gastronomic experiences when I return to Morocco, the country where I was born, is to partake in a "diffa." This multi-course feast is usually served during a "moussem" or tribal festival held in honor of a local saint, or to celebrate a bountiful harvest. Seated under a large, billowy tent, on plump sofas around low, round tables, the meal stretches for hours as guests savor a succession of courses, ranging from exquisitely spiced salads to tagines (exotic stews) and couscous, Morocco's national dish.
Any local cook will tell you that the best Moroccan cuisine is eaten at home, lovingly prepared by the lady of the house. Yet, a handful of renowned restaurants scattered around the country offer a superb sampling of local cuisine.
Some of the finest Morocco has to offer is prepared in Fez, widely recognized as Morocco's culinary capital. The ancient city's labyrinthine "medina" (old city) has changed little since biblical times, and the Fassis (inhabitants of Fez) pride themselves on the authenticity of their local cuisine. One of the best places to sample it is at the lovely Al Fassia restaurant inside the world-renowned Palais Jamai Hotel. At the Al Fassia, the menu always features an assortment of deliciously seasoned salads of cooked or raw vegetables. Cumin-scented roasted peppers, grated carrots sprinkled with orange juice and cinnamon, or tender beets sprinkled with cumin are among the most requested. The restaurant's rendition of bastila is widely recognized as one of the country's best. This Fez specialty, the crowning dish in Morocco's extensive culinary repertoire is an exquisite blend of shredded chicken (pigeon is sometimes used in Morocco), cinnamon, saffron, and herbs encased in a flaky, filo-like dough.
Tagines are also a specialty. The word "tagine" refers to the finished dish as well as to the earthenware pot topped with a conical lid in which it is cooked. Tagines are made of meat, fowl, or seafood, and fresh seasonal vegetables or fruit, and flavored with exotic herbs and spices. Tender cubes of lamb or beef, are simmered to the melting point with prunes, honey and sesame seeds in a sauce lightly tinged with cinnamon; other favorites consist of chicken and preserved lemons fragrant with saffron and ginger, or fresh seafood poached in a cumin-accented tomato sauce. Tagines are served from a communal dish set in the center of the table, and tradition warrants the use of chunks of warm "kesra" to sop up the exquisite sauces. For that reason, most Moroccan meals begin with a traditional hand-washing ceremony when a young member of the household hands everyone a bar of soap, and pours a trickle of warm water on upturned palms. (In most households and restaurants, however, silverware is offered as an alternative.)
Marrakech, like Fez, prides itself on its regional cuisine. Marrakech, which nestles within a 3,000 acre palm grove, is known as the Pink City because of its uniform ochre-colored walls, typical of the architecture which prevails in these arid regions. The city is also becoming home to a growing community of European jet-setters who seek refuge from dreary northern winters under Marrakech's cerulean skies. Thanks to this cosmopolitan influx, the city of over a million boasts some of the best Moroccan restaurants in the country. One of them, the Restaurant Yacout, is a jewel of Moorish architecture deep in the Marrakech medina. The romantic, fairy-tale hideaway attracts European movie stars and artists. The cuisine at Yacout is prepared follwed traditional methods: saffron-scented tagines of beef, veal, or chicken are simmered to a melting tenderness over charcoal fires, and here too, eating with your fingers is de rigueur. A newcomer to the local restaurant scene is the Restaurant Le Tobsil, on par with the Yacout both in its cuisine and its surroundings.
For an evening of folklore and Disney-like entertainment, many visitors gather under the massive tents at Chez Ali, a vast fantasy village in the Marrakech palmgrove. Here, waiters and waitresses dressed in their own tribal costumes also double as entertainers. Whole roasted lamb, or mechoui, is one of the specialties, and so is a flavorful vegetable-topped couscous. Couscous, the cracked durum wheat semolina that is a staple of Moroccan cuisine, refers to the grain as well as to the finished dish. Usually couscous is served on Fridays, the Muslim day of rest, when the family gathers for a midday meal, much like many American families gather for a Sunday dinners. On more formal occasions, couscous is the final dish served at a "diffa" when, as tradition warrants, it immediately precedes dessert. Sometimes, couscous serves as a stuffing. One of the specialties at the charming Hotel Ryad Salam in Taroudant, a charming city in the south of Morocco, is a turkey stuffed with couscous mixed with chopped dried fruit.
Every cook treasures his or her own recipe for couscous and dedicates hours to its preparation. (In the United States, instant couscous is available in supermarkets or in bulk, in health food stores.) Couscous is steamed in a "couscoussier" or couscous pot, which consists of a tall double boiler topped with a tight-fitting sieve. The sieve holds the grain (or pellets) which will eventually plump up to several times its size thanks to the steam emanating from the broth below. In the pot below go the ingredients for the herb-filled broth, such as lamb, beef or chicken, and fresh vegetables. Couscous Beidaoui, or couscous in the style of Casablanca, is brought to the table mounded on a large platter, topped with a steaming crown of meat and seven kinds of vegetables. In Fez and Rabat, the vegetables are sometimes replaced by caramelized onions and chunks of lamb simmered in a ginger-accented broth. Along the coast, freshly-caught fish simmered in a spicy broth is set atop the hillock of steamed grain. In Casablanca, the Restaurant Al Mounia behind city hall off the Place Mohammed V serves several mouth watering versions of this national specialty.
Most meals end with trays of fresh, seasonal fruit. In December, Morocco's famed tangerines (named for the people of Tangier), appear on every table. In the spring, they are replaced by peaches, pears, and cherries grown in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. And in summer, nothing beats slices of sweet, vine-ripened watermelons. After the fruit course, come the pastries, platters of them: they can range from honey pastries and crumbly almond cookies, to delicate half moons filled with almond paste called gazelle horns. Glasses of sweet mint tea, the national drink, signal the end of a "diffa."
Bismillah! as the locals say. May you enjoy this meal!
Click here for Kitty's favorite couscous recipe.
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