I took my daughter to Marrakesh for an explosion of the senses.  We explored the souks, were bombarded by the sounds of the snake charmers and call to prayer and felt the 35 degree heat on our bodies.  It was wonderful, especially as we left England in the grey rain.

Her favourite part of the holiday was the cooking lesson at Chef Tariq’s. It started with a tea ceremony, where we learnt about the different infusions and the history of the sugar loaf (Bea was given one to take home!). This was followed by a lesson in the herbs and spices that go into any traditional tagine.  Having made tagines for most of my career it was not surprising that I found out I have been doing it wrong, (over complicating it – I think

 

We made 3 marinades for different tageines.  All with the same base, ginger, turmeric, salt and pepper.  These were:

Sweet (cinnamon, ginger, turmeric, salt & black pepper): goes with lamb tagine & caramelized prunes, apricots and other fresh fruits like quinces etc…

Lemon (ginger, turmeric, salt & black pepper): goes with chicken tagine, preserved lemon and green olives

Normal (sweet paprika, ginger, turmeric, salt & black pepper): goes with vegetables tagine & couscous with vegetables, with the Moroccan soup ( Harira) and with the meat balls.

Along with these we made 3 Moroccan salads and couscous (which take much longer than the packets here in the UK say).  Bea’s favourite bit was making a rose out of tomato skin.

After we had finished the cooking class and before lunch we were shown around the gardens, filed with plum, apricot and almond trees, coriander, parsley, thyme and bay; all grown for their own use of course. One thing I thought was particularly good was that they support women in the local communities, teaching them to cook and sell their wares.