Moroccan lamb with prunes and apricots
12:26 AM
From Asia and the Middle East to Africa, Europe, and back, spices have traveled far to find their place in the cuisines of many nations. But there's something very special about the flavors used in Moroccan food. Even though individually the spices seem similar to ones used in other cuisines, Indian per se, it's the unique blend that makes them so distinctively Moroccan. Arabic, Mediterranean, Moorish, and nomadic African cultures have had a great influence on the food culture of Morocco. And the ancient spice trade profoundly effected the play with flavors, contributing to how we recognize Moroccan cuisine today.
The need for preservation led to the liberal use of spices and the techniques of drying, salting, pickling, and fermenting. It's quite common to find dried or preserved fruits in many Moroccan dishes. This slowly braised lamb tagine features dried prunes and preserved lemons. Dried dates, apricots, and raisins are also very common. Lemons, preserved in salt, are used in a variety of dishes for adding citrus flavor or as a condiment. The tart/bitter lemon flavor truly brings out the savoriness of meats, particularly lamb. Instead of the usual roast lamb for Easter, how about a Moroccan tagine?
Tagine, named after the vessel the stew is cooked in, is pretty much the nationally recognized dish of Morocco next to couscous. It can be made with almost any meat and even seafood. The clay cooking vessel has two parts, a bowl-like pan and a conical lid, sometimes with a small vent hole. Cooking in a tagine produces the most succulent meat because the dome top locks in moisture by allowing condensation to recirculate and help along the cooking process. The meat ends up being so tender that it just about falls apart when pressed with a fork. There's really no better stew than a Moroccan tagine.
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