Tagine times three

Maybe it's not fair to start at the end, but here we are, the #1 Cooking Group, happy happy happy with the fruits of a couple of hours of labor this past weekend: an amazing menu highlighting preserved lemons, Moroccan-inspired cooking, and tagines.

On cooking day, we began at the beginning, with Jessica teaching us her method for making preserved lemons. There's no better way to find the paper cuts you didn't know you had than to immerse your fingers in lemon juice and kosher salt! Amid yelps of "YOW" and a few expletives deleted, we each managed to cram chunks of heavily salted lemons into a pint-size canning jar, replacing the lid with a plastic lid and writing the date on top. (The jars will be turned, to redistribute the salt, for seven days, then refrigerated for a month before use. For those of us who are more middle-age, writing the date on the jar is a necessary reminder!)

Of course, just like on television, we had some "ready" lemons for cooking, so it was on to the recipes, each of which use preserved lemons, but with very different results:

• Chicken Provencal with Preserved Lemons, a la Jessica
• Lentils, Spinach and Turkey Sausage with Preserved Lemon (also Jessica's adaptation)
• Swordfish Tagine (my own invention)

To round out the meal, we also made:

• Fresh cucumber salad with herbs
• Couscous

Any of our three main dishes could be made in a tagine (the word "tagine" refers both to the pot, and to the many stew-like dishes cooked in it), or a stockpot or Dutch oven, and to prove it, we used each of those to prepare one of the recipes. I'm embarrassed to admit that I actually enough tagines to have made the entire meal in them (is there a support group for this?!), though the capacity of each is small, perfect for a dish that serves six. As we were cooking for twelve, we would have had to use two tagines per recipe. We decided to try the two in this photo for the swordfish: on the left, a red clay tagine from Morocco; on the right, a stoneware tagine I designed in the studio of my friend, potter Bob Fishman.

Jessica led us through her two recipes, for the chicken and the lentil stew. She has an easy, improvisational style and a "don't worry, be happy" attitude about cooking that makes you feel you can attempt anything. Even more important, she shares my philosophy about measuring (don't), and hot sauce (more is better).

First, into the oven went the chicken, in a heavy stockpot. We cooked the lentils in a Dutch oven on top of the stove. For the tagines we reserved the swordfish dish, for two reasons: the fish cooks quickly, which meant that the tagines wouldn't have to be subjected to heat for long (we did use diffusers on the gas cooktop); and we were able to use the traditional technique of building a "platform" out of celery stalks to set the fish above the steaming liquid in the base of the tagine.

One of the best things about Ninecooks groups is the opportunity to experiment, and if you can't experiment on (oops....I mean with) your friends, how will you ever learn to cook? I cobbled together this swordfish recipe from bits and pieces of other recipes. It looked good on paper, but I'd never actually made it. Turns out it is a winner, not just for a first-time recipe, but a stunningly delicious dish that will definitely make an encore appearance in my kitchen.

Laura used the mandoline to create paper-thin slices of seedless cucumber. After salting to remove some of the liquid, she mixed the cucumber with herbs, sherry vinegar and olive oil to make a light and piquant salad. With 15 minutes left in our cooking session, we debated for...oh...a nanosecond or two whether to make real couscous in the authentic couscoussier, using the rake-and-fluff method, or to cheat a bit and use instant couscous from a box.

You know how this story ends. The couscous was great, the preserved lemon dishes divine, and we even had room for dessert.

SWORDFISH TAGINE WITH CHARMOULA

Charmoula is one of the most popular condiments of Moroccan cooking, like sofrito is to Latin cuisine. It always contains parsley, garlic, lemon and olive oil, but this kicked-up version is more of a relish. This recipe is my adaptation of a recipe for grilled swordfish, combined with recipes for fish tagine, and would work just as well with salmon, tuna, halibut or cod loin. Serves 6.

3 tsp ground cumin
1-1/2 tsp ground coriander
3 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1-1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, or more to taste
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/3 tsp black pepper
1-1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
1/4 bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1/4 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
3/4 grilled red bell pepper (or jarred roasted red peppers), chopped
3/4 preserved lemons (12 wedges), pulp removed, finely chopped
1/2 cup small cherry tomatoes, halved
6 oil-cured olives, pitted, halved
3 stalks celery, cut in half lengthwise, then into 3-inch long slices
1-1/2 lbs swordfish steaks or other fish, cut into a total of 6 pieces

For the sauce:
1-1/2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp sugar
3 tsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp olive oil

Make the charmoula: In a small, dry frying pan, toast cumin and coriander until slightly fragrant, about 1 minute. Remove to a large bowl. In the same pan, sauté garlic in 1 Tbsp olive oil until lightly cooked, 1 minute. Add to the mixing bowl. Add paprika, cayenne, salt, pepper and lemon juice. Whisk well. Add remaining olive oil slowly, then add parsley and cilantro. Then, add pepper, preserved lemon, tomatoes and olives, to make a relish. Set aside 1/4 of the charmoula.

Place fish in a nonreactive glass or ceramic baking dish, and rub on all sides with the remaining 3/4 of the charmoula.

In the base of a tagine or Dutch oven, arrange celery stalks to form a “platform” for the fish. Arrange fish pieces on top, along with the charmoula marinade.  Mix together the sauce ingredients, and pour over the fish.

Cover and bake in a 350°F oven, or cook in a tagine, for 15-20 minutes or until the fish is just cooked.

Comments

[Angeline]

Oh so tasty! I think the whole "stew-like" quality of tagine cookery lends itself to a relaxed style when creating a meal. I am thinking of using the tagine to do some lamb. Maybe with prunes, maybe with green olives? Any suggestions would be welcome!

[Lydia]

Cooking Moroccan, by Tess Mallos (my recommended book of the week), has recipes for lamb tagines with dates, with raisins, and with prunes, so I think you're on the right track. There's also an intriguing lamb tagine with sweet tomato jam, and a lamb tagine with quince. The one that really sounds like spring, though, is lamb tagine with peas and lemons. I'm happy to share any of these recipes!

[rupert]

What else can one cook in a tagine?

[Angleline]

I'm thinking this could be used like a slow cooker or dutch oven for anything you might want to do in the "slow and low" style of cooking. I'm going to try a roast in my tagine this weekend. Hoping the slow-sweaty-low heat method will keep the meat nice and moist while infusing some awsome flavor. (I'm going to be using a venison roast - which is dangerously lean - so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will give it lots of taste without turning it into a pot roast or adding strips of bacon to the too of it....)

[Lydia]

Angeline, please let us know how the venison roast turns out. Are you going to use something sweet with it? Prunes, or maybe dried cherries, might be nice.

[Angeline]

The pot roast was perfect in the tagine! I was able to reduce the amount liquid I used (just a little vino) and didn't bother to go in and turn it... just put it in the oven and let it go.

I just reduced the sauce a little on the stove top after it was out of the oven and it was great!

[bob]

Glad to hear that the roast turned out well in the oven.

We tried a chicken recipe this weekend in a cast iron base tagine with a stoneware lid, slow cooked over a low flame on the stove top. The chicken was so moist and tender!

A few follow up questions if you don't mind, Angeline. For your roast, what temp was the oven set at. Did you pre-heat the oven. How long did you roast the venison for and how much did it weigh. Was the size of the tagine adequate?

And finally, do you feel that the outcome of cooking the roast in the oven was more or less desirable than cooking the same meal on a stove top over a low flame with diffuser?

tia,
bob

[Pauline]

I made Morroccan chicken with preserved lemons. It was good but I think my lemons were too salty. How much salt should I use for six lemons?? Also, there was a comment about using the whole lemon vs just the rind. Next time I'm going to use just the rind because I didn't like the mushy texture of the whole lemon.

[Lydia]

Pauline, most recipes call for just using the rind of the preserved lemon, not the pulp (which I think gets mushy and bitter). Did you rinse the lemons before using in your recipe? Usually that's a good idea.

[Paul]

Hi ,

I wanted to do some tagine cooking , I bought a ceramic tagine which can only be used in the oven . What temperature and time do you suggest for roasting meat in the oven.

[lydia]

Paul, I'd use a fairly low temperature, maybe 325°F, and be sure to have a bit of liquid in the tagine. What kind of meat are you planning to roast?