Tagine cooking: Go Morocco

What ever you want to know about Morocco, you can find it here!

Saffron

Some of the recipes in this section contain an ancient ingredient, saffron. This spice is extracted from the Crocus sativus (saffron crocus), the only eatable one of the 80 in the crocus family. Saffron is obtained from the pistils of the flower and must be harvested by hand, which is why the cost is so high. Apart from this, 150,000 flowers are needed to produce one kilo of saffron and they are not easy to cultivate. Saffron has mythical origins. Legend relates that the Greek god Hermes happened to mortally wound his friend Crocus. Small flowers with intense color and strong scent then grew where his blood fell to earth and fertilized it. Saffron was long considered a mystical spice: it was used to dye the robes of Roman priests and Cleopatra is said to have used it to preserve the beauty of her skin.

How can you select high quality saffron? The main thing is to look at its appearance: saffron should be a vivid red without any trace of white impurities. It is better to buy it in filament form and not as powder. It should be slightly moist and have a sharp odor with slightly bitter aftertaste. You can also do a tactile test: take a filament between thumb and forefinger and immerse in warm water. The filament should leave yellow and not red color on the skin.

Tagine,Tajine,Tagines

Tagines come in all shapes and sizes The most common are for cooking, cooking tagines are normally glazed and can be painted in traditional designs,Plain tagines without the glazing are also used.The tagine is not only a cooking pot it is also used to serve food,normally moroccans eat directly from the tagine,using bread to scoop up the food.This is a nice easy and relaxing way to eat food.
There is also a large variety of serving tagines these are used for serving food.They are very ornate with many colourfull designs.This type of tagine can not be used for cooking.
Ornamental tagines are use mainly in decor and come in a vast variety of colours and designs, many decorated with silver or brass,sometimes with gold.
Shop Morocco Specializes in moroccan tagines, and always carry a large variety in stock.

Fish Tagine

Fish Tagine (Serves 4-6)

Ingredients
1kg Monkfish or Sole (or similar),
450g onions, peeled and chopped
1 small whole garlic (crush the cloves)
175g dried apricots, chopped
85g flaked almonds
55g sultanas
400g chopped tinned tomatoes
1½ tbspn ground ginger
2 tspn black pepper
2 tspn cinnamon
3 tspn ground turmeric
1½ tbspn paprika
1 tspn cayenne pepper
1 tbspn olive oil
2 tbspn honey
1 tspn saffron
300ml fish stock
lemon rind, chopped
25g coriander leaves, chopped

Instructions
Heat the olive oil in the tagine and add the spices, garlic and onion. Allow the onion to soften.
Add the apricots, almonds, sultanas, honey, saffron,lemon rind, tomatoes and fish stock. Bring to the boil, and then simmer for 45 minutes.
After 30 minutes, add the fish and finish cooking for 15-20 minutes.
Garnish with the coriander leaves.

Tagine cooking

viernes, 6 de febrero de 2009

Go Morocco

No hay comentarios:

Free Argan Soap

Visit Us!!

Loyalty Points

Saffron

My blogs

Join Shop Morocco

Archivo del blog

Tagine,Tajine,Tagines

Care for your Tagine

Fish Tagine