The Art & Magic of the Tagine

[Alexandria Profile]

The classic Moroccan cookery is often one that introduces "the Tagine", the triangular topped clay, earthenware oven baking vessel commonly used in Morocco and the indigenious Berber lands, spelt Tajine ..

The storied port city of Tangier, at the edge of North Africa has an international legacy that is reflected in its amazingly extraordinary fish tagines, lamb tagines and chicken tagines ..

Here is our Moroccan fish Tagine récipe served with Charmoula, a smoked paprika, cumin, cilantro and garlic sauce ..

Fish Tagine with Saffron & Tumeric and Olives ..

1 / 2 Cup Evoo ( I use Eco Greek Extra Virgin Olive Oil in this dish )
1 / 4 Cup minced fresh parsley
3 large garlic cloves minced
3 tablsps of fresh minced cilantro
1 tblsp smoked paprika ( I use Smoked Pimentón from La Vera, Extremadura )
2 tsps Tumeric
10 Saffron Threads soaked in boiling wáter for 12 minutes + the water
6 fish fillets of cod, seabass, turbot or Saint Pierre or fish of your choice
1/2 kilo of carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
1 / 2 kilo of eco bio red ripe tomatoes ( or San Marzano if you prefer )
1 médium sized minced onion or 2 shallots + 1 small leek
1 lemon thinly sliced or preserved Moroccan lemons
1 tsp salt
24 Kalamata Greek Olives or olives of your choice
1 médium sized red horn pepper or bell pepper
1 / 4 tsp. Freshly ground black pepper
Additional Parsley minced for garnish
1 jumbo sized Tagine or sub an oven proof earthenware ..

1 ) Combine the first 7 ingredients in a large glass bowl ( the Evoo, the parsley, the garlic, the fresh cilantro, the paprika, the tumeric and the fish )
2) Refrigerate 2 hours
3) Now preheat oven to 200 C degrees and arrange the carrot sliced finely lengthwise on the bottom of the tangine
4) The next layer are the tomatoes sliced finely
5) Now, the onion or the shallots and the leek
6) Now, add the lemon slices, and the salt and freshly ground pepper
7) Place the fish on top of the pre-made bed and adjust salt and pepper
8) Place strips of red horn pepper or red bell and the olives on top of the fish
9) Pour the saffron threads with the water on top of the fish and all the liquid from the glass bowl that you marinated in the refrig ..
10) Bake in the tagine 40 minutes approx ..
11) Be careful not to dry the fish and check at 25 to 30 minutes as it may need to be removed from the tagine and tented to keep warm.
12) Increase the oven to 225 C and fish should flake effortlessly ..

Serve with couscous .. and a glass of White Sparkling or Still Wine of choice ..

Simply divine ..

Have a lovely weekend ..

[Renée Profile]

What a lovely and tasty recipe, Alexandria! Thanks so much!

I am making something similar today, but using lamb, which will go well with your Persian Jewel Rice. I can easily get Smoked Pimentón from La Vera from our supermarkets. We are very lucky with a good selection of ingredients in our supermarkets.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I make a few tagines, I have a tendency to make them up as I go along, or I follow the recipes in Arto der Haroutunian's North African Cookery or Sabrina Ghayour's or Claudia Roden's recipes

My most made is probably chicken with salted lemon, green olives and bulb fennel. This week I made one with mutton and merguez sausage. Don't think I've ever made a fish one,might try it

The problem with serving tagines to British people, is that to many Brits spicy = curry, and there's a tendency even to assume that the mild Moroccan spicing is an error on the cook's part. I doubted Roden's quarter teaspoons of spice until we went to Morocco and found they are completely authentic

I use a lot of pimenton de la Vera, but I've not put it in a tagine, as I don't think of it as N African

[Joanbunting Profile]

I love cooking and eating tagines. I also love Morocco and several years ago did a couple of days cooking course in Fez. I still use the recipe book that I was given and I always have HM preserved lemon in my store.Finding spices is no problem in these parts because we have quite a large North African community.

One of my favourite is a lamb and prune tagine but I also adore the many and varied Moroccan salads.

[Alexandria Profile]

@ Renée,

Thank you very much .. I love Moroccan Tagine Cuisine .. Yes, I saw your amazingly incredible Persian Rice and Lamb dish on my Persian Rice Post ..
Have a lovely weekend ..

@ Joan Bunting,

Thank you for your feedback .. Yes, I also prepare a Lamb and Prune Tagine too .. I am a grand enthusiast of Tagine Cuisine and Moroccan gastronomy ..
Have a wonderful weekend ..

@ Stokey Sue,

Yes, I too prepare a Chicken & Preserved Lemon with Olive Tagine too and a Lamb with Prunes amongst others as I mentioned above ..

I am going to order the cookbook that you mentioned when I get home ..

I had made this Tagine many times and since we live on coast, we truly enjoy and are basically Pescatarians the majority of the time, and so we find this method of cooking just so sublimely exquisite ..
Yes, I am aware of many recipes on British Forums and personally, having a Mediterranean palate, I am not too fond of over spiced or extreme use of chili peppers either ..

I like a sprinkle in the right dish however, we prefer the classics of regional Mediterranean cuisine and the sublime factor .. I use classic traditional recipes of regional Spain predominately and from time to time, I like Moroccan and Persian Cuisines, French of course, Greek and adore Italian regional .. The Thai, Japanese, our 2 Asian Fave cuisines, we prefer to eat out .. Indian we dine out every 4 to 7 weeks more or less. I am a grand fan of Tandoori Fish & Prawns and I like Vegetarian Vindaloo !

Thanks for the feedback and have a lovely weekend ..

I did not have Moroccan Paprika, so I used La Vera (pimentón ) however, they also grow alot of Spanish Paprika for Spain .. The amount was quite tiny as well ..