Morocco Time

Hamou and I really love shopping at World Market – ok, him, not as much, but he tolerates it, which is saying something. They have a whole section of foods from various countries, like Manner wafers (made by a branch of my family in Austria!), all kinds of Japanese candy, Devon Custard/Spotted Dick, etc…

In their ethnic cooking area, we found a line of foods called ‘Al Fez,’ made by First Quality Foods in Bristol. After cracking up a little bit, we decided to get the “Moroccan Style Dinner Kit.” You know, it wasn’t really Moroccan, but it wasn’t bad, either. I had to explain to the co-chef that his suggestions of “adding more ???? and ????” defeated the whole purpose of a KIT, but after we got past that, we dug in.

Someone on the LP Thorn Tree recently asked about Yacout in Marrakech. To be honest, I wasn’t that impressed. It was good food and service, true, but as for what I liked to eat best in Morocco:

* beef tagine in Taddert
* fish from stall #25 in the Djemma el Fna
* freshly made sardine/egg/pepper/tomato sandwiches with harissa from vendor in Rabat’s Souika Market
* chicken salad sandwich from small French-style cafe in Khemisset
* watermelon from Tinerhir (and dates too)
* “ah’ha’baz” – Berber flat bread made on side of oven, cooks with hot pebbles embedded in it (must flick all of them out before eating!, also Tinerhir
* warm fenugreek salad made by friend in Sale
* gelato from Casa
* sharwarma from tiny storefront in Marrakech (down the street from L’Escale)

I could probably go on and on, but the best food I ever had in Morocco, and possibly in my life, was Fassi. Not from Fes, o you Fassi snobs, but made by a little Fassi cook who’d worked all over the country. He worked for Hotel Yasmina during one of my stays there, and thank God, because I was starving to death. We made up our own version of Iron Chef, in which I’d bring home some ingredient from the market, and he’d make a whole dinner around it. One of the most memorable was made with that bright orange squash that you see cut open to display the quality – I brought him half of one, and I can’t even begin to describe the results. I can honestly say (this is for you, Paul) that if anyone had come between me and that plate of food, they were likely to get stabbed. It was like someone had asked me, “What is the tastiest dish you can imagine?” and then made it. I actually did a little skip around the terrace after dinner because I was so happy, which worried my husband to no end.