Moroccan cuisine, tajine

There's a Moroccan restaurant in Portland called Marrakesh. It's the only one in town that I'm aware of, and for whatever combination of reasons I've never been there. In fact, before going to Morocco my only experience with Moroccan food was the occasional couscous, which is usually fine but never all that exciting, frankly.

When I told my friend Adam that I was going to be in southwest Europe and looking for something to do for ten days or so, he suggested Morocco as a possibility. One of the many selling points was the food. I don't think I had ever heard the word tajine before, but it turns out that they are the typical Moroccan dish, and man, they rock! There is a wide range, but generally a tajine is essentially a stew, often with some kind of meat and some veggies. That doesn't sound all that exciting, I suppose, but the mix of flavors and the way they are spiced makes for a really delicious meal. Here are some examples.

This was the first tajine I had, chicken with lemon and olives.

They would often start you off with a small plate of olives and some fresh bread. I guess they are called tajines because that is the name of the traditional dish that they are served in. Anyhow, the chicken tajine here was on the rooftop terrace of a home turned hotel in Moulay Idriss. The family lives in the ground floor and they have about ten rooms between the second and third floors. This was the same place from my earlier post of the call to prayer. Frankly, it was quite a romantic place. The sun was setting, the call to prayer echoing off the surrounding hills. Just me. I believe food should be shared, and that was part of my motivation for photographing some of my meals. I feel like in this way I can share my meals with others. A bit corny, perhaps, but it kind of makes sense to me. So here you go. Join me, please. I have a few more tajines to share.

This was my second tajine. Lamb with prunes, apricots and almonds. Very nice.

This was at this little out of the way place in Chefchaouen. Most of the tourists stuck to the restaurants on the main square in the medina, the old town. This place, though, was out in the ciudad nueva, the newer part of town, which I believe was at least partially built by the Spanish who colonized this part of northern Morocco. Anyhow, a lot of the food I had in Morocco was sweet and savory like this. Very nice if you're into that kind of thing. I liked this little place so much that I went back the next night and had a veggie tajine.

I'll write more about Fez soon--I'm pacing myself, balancing blogging against more serious pursuits such as my current job and housing hunts. For now I'll just say that I really loved Fez. It was my favorite city in Morocco, by far, really. Such energy there. So old. So, so old. Wonderful. And good food there, too. Here was a spicy meatball and egg tajine I had on my first night there.

You can't tell from the photograph, but this was a little hole in the wall place on one of the main walkways in the medina--I wouldn't really call it a street as there are no motorized vehicles, although it certainly serves that purpose. Another lovely meal for one...