Tuesday 27 September 2011

Slow Cooked Beef With Herbs - A Little Taste of Morocco

This is one of those books that I bought cheaply at a garden centre. No fancy chef.  No TV show. But a lovely and inspirational book which includes information about Morocco with lots of picures not just of the food, but all sorts of photos of stuff associated with Moroccan food, so I consider this book a bargain.  Does it conatin authentic recipes?  I have no idea but it certainly has all the flavours associated with middle eastern recipes.


What I like about North African dishes is that you can make something fairly traditional (e.g. a stew) and throw in some spices (e.g. cumin, cinnamon) and you then transform the dish into something that is different.  You might not serve stew at a dinner party, but you might serve a Moroccan beef tagine with couscous.

Actually I did serve stew once at a dinner party, it was game casserole with Stilton cheese & herb dumplings.  I guess what I am saying is, it is not difficult to adapt something you might make a lot and sounds a bit "plain", into something that seems completely different and exotic! 

I chose this dish as a family meal for the weekend, when I have more time to prepare and cook meals.  Also being the summer months, it did not seem right to cook a stew or a casserole.  However Morocco is hot and if I call it a tagine, then it seems OK to cook it during July or August (which admittedly was more like winter this year).  Also as these are austere times, choosing cheaper cuts of meat then cooking them slowly for a long time, produces something that is both cheap, easy and tasty - which ticks a lot of boxes for me!

The recipe also uses ingredients that you tend to have stored in a cupboard anyway and we grow lots of herbs - and this uses lots of herbs, so a winner!


To complete the dish I made couscous, which is so easy to prepare (just add hot water and leave to stand).  To make the couscous slightly more interesting and more visually attractive, I stirred in fresh mixed herbs and pomegranate (and no, holding a cut one upside down and whacking the shell does not get the berries out any easier)!!!!

I introduced my daughter to couscous when she was young on the premise that couscous was like little rice!!! It worked and she does not her nose up at it - but I do know that not everyone likes it.  I guess you could have it with rice.

Of course the true test of success is my daughter eating it without making any comments whatsoever - so this meal was a success!





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