How To Cook Well In Morocco with Rory O'Connell Season 1 Episode 7
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00:00May your table always be full.
00:04Kerrygold, proud sponsor of How to Cook Well in Morocco.
00:30Our final destination on this wonderful trip through Morocco is the city of Azouira.
00:54Known as Mogador until the 1960s, it is famous for many things.
00:59Behind me, the port and the fish that comes into this port, some of which we'll be eating as we go along.
01:06Further back from the port is the Medina, the only designed Medina in all of Morocco, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
01:14There's much to eat, there's incredible arts and crafts, there's music, there's the people,
01:20and as always, an extraordinary blend, a melting pot of cultures, religions, foods, so much to discover here.
01:29Leaving the port, you have to pass under the Bab el Marsa, locally known as the Port Gate.
01:43Built in 1769, this beautiful gate, which looks to have had its origins or its influence in Roman architecture,
01:52is, I find, really compelling, with its pediment, its pillars, and then when you look more closely,
02:00you start to see some of the motifs on it and the significance therein.
02:04There's a panel which gives the name of the king and his architect, who designed it in beautiful Arabic script,
02:11and then there are little raised Mogador roses, some of them with the Star of David on them.
02:19There's two rather stumpy little cannons at either side on top, near the pediments, that never fired a shot, my type of cannon.
02:26Perhaps, for me, the most interesting detail, are the three crescent moons, representative of the Christian, Muslim, and Jewish faith,
02:37sitting quietly, side by side, it would seem to me, in harmony, at least on this gate, if life were ever thus.
02:45Every village, every town, every city, some, even at petrol stations, when you stop to have a coffee,
03:01there will be carpets for sale all over Morocco.
03:03And over the years, I've bought carpets here.
03:06I've been that soldier who's wrapped them up as small as I can and held it on my lap on an airplane,
03:11back in the day, when you could do that.
03:13The possibilities are endless.
03:15I'm particularly taken by a carpet down here that's Berber, and that's made of wool.
03:21And that also has the added advantage of being reversible.
03:24So it could be a summer carpet, or a winter carpet, or a mood-changing carpet.
03:28Because one side is this beautiful white wool, and then the background is just a little bit of a flecked with red and white.
03:36And then there's this fantastic border around the outside, which I really love,
03:41which again harks back to me to some traditional Irish, or the appearance of Irish, sort of weaving techniques.
03:48And behind them is this gorgeous, sort of soft red and white.
03:55I mean, if you were to do nothing and to lie on that, well, you will walk on it if you get it home.
04:00The question is how to get it from this wall to my house.
04:04That's the problem.
04:06Sometimes when I travel, I might have a cooking class to learn a new skill about a particular food from a particular area.
04:23I've never thought about coming to an atelier, a workshop like this, and learning how to make skills involved in the astonishing marquetry that we associate with Esauera.
04:35Because all over town, you'll see workshops and shops selling, exhibiting these incredible pieces of furniture,
04:43from tiny little boxes to great big chairs, something you can sit on, something you can put something in, and so on.
04:49And they're concentrating on the tuya tree with its dark roots and then the paler timber which comes from the trunk to make extraordinarily skilled pieces of furniture.
05:02But whatever you think about it, and the look of it, it's an astonishing skill, a craft that's so deeply ingrained in this area, it's mesmerising.
05:12Gabrielle is having a class and she's putting little, thin little strands of aluminium into this piece of tuya wood.
05:19And then there are little shavings of lemon wood. Can you imagine these little shavings being placed into little ridges that you'd carved out in the timber,
05:30building up this astonishing skill that's been in this area for centuries.
05:35It's mesmerising, really, and really regarded as being one of the true treasures of this region of Morocco, and specifically of Esauera.
05:44A wonder.
05:44The food market here is absolutely fantastic, and it's full of local people buying food, of course.
06:00And I've come across this gentleman in a fabulous olive stall, while he's got other things as well.
06:04But he's building his olives up into these beautiful constructions, and then he decorates them all over,
06:10not just for the beauty of the appearance, but with the various different flavourings.
06:15It really is a sight to behold.
06:17And he's got preserved lemons, and capers, all sorts of different things.
06:23And there's nothing fake about these constructions, because you do see fake piles of spices,
06:29which are actually sometimes just made of timber and dusted with spice.
06:33But he's started, and he's using such delicacy.
06:35Look, as he just places the last little piece on top, he's taking such pride.
06:40And behind, also, there are great big basins and mounds of preserved and pickled vegetables.
06:45This is really fantastic.
06:47Local peoples are arriving, just buying their own particular favourite.
06:51This is just local commerce.
06:52This is a wonderful vegetable stall, and I've come across this lovely persiline,
07:02that they cook down very slowly for ages, until it's sort of quite mushy.
07:06And that'll go into a briouette, among other things.
07:09Then, this is curious.
07:11The basil that they're growing here, it's very, very like Thai basil,
07:15in slightly the way it looks, but particularly the way it smells.
07:18Absolutely fascinating.
07:19And then, cardoons, which looks like a sort of relation of the celery.
07:24And if you've ever struggled, peeling celery will then multiply it by 10,
07:29when it comes to cardoons, to get the threads off the outside,
07:33which can be unpleasant to eat.
07:35And again, this will be cut into pieces, probably poached,
07:38and that will also go into some tagine of some description.
07:42Great big fat radishes, and mountains of herbs.
07:47Mountains and mountains of flat parsley.
07:49Mountains of coriander, or cilantro.
07:53Just massive things.
07:54Some chilies up at the back.
07:55Dried rosemary.
07:57It's fantastic.
07:58It's fantastic.
07:59Just on the other side of the lovely gate,
08:09heading back towards the Medina, does this line of restaurants,
08:13where you can come along and choose your fish, and they grill it,
08:17and they're going to serve with a simple salad of tomatoes and green pepper and onions.
08:21I'm going to have what this fish here, which is curiously called a white fish,
08:26even though it's got lovely shades of pink.
08:29That's the one I'd like.
08:30Chocron.
08:31So that will appear in a few minutes at the table, hopefully all grilled and delicious.
08:35My fish has landed.
08:39It's cooking in this sort of trough of burning coals, really.
08:44And it's very, very hot.
08:46It's also quite smoky.
08:47In a time-honored way, fire, fish, something to prevent the fish from falling into the fire.
08:55And behind me, behind several of the other restaurants, exactly the same thing is going on.
09:00It's amazing and wonderful.
09:03He's turned the fish over now.
09:05Lots of lovely colour on the skin.
09:07Gorgeous shrimps being grilled there.
09:09Different things going to different tables.
09:12Wonderful, thank you.
09:13That looks so good.
09:14Thank you so much.
09:15Fish looks beautifully fresh, as it did when I bought it.
09:19And a few things, really, honestly, that I like more than a piece of grilled fish.
09:23A nice wedge of lemon and a fresh lovely tomato salad to go with it.
09:27It's really delicious.
09:32Really fresh tasting, lovely.
09:34I love the look of this fresh tomato salad with a little bit of very thinly sliced green pepper and onion.
09:42And I've noticed a few times on my trip in Morocco that when they're serving green pepper raw,
09:50they slice it really thinly.
09:53And it's really delicious like that.
09:54If it's sliced too thickly, it can be sort of tough and hard work.
09:59A little bit of bread, perfectly cooked fish.
10:03You know, I mean, let's face it, this isn't a white glove situation, but I could not be happier.
10:08Cooking lessons are very popular with visitors in Morocco, and often these take place in private homes.
10:25I visited Hadija's house to learn how to make a sardine meatball tagine.
10:30Believe me, much more delicious in taste than perhaps the sound.
10:34I love your grater.
10:38Yeah, this is older.
10:39Yeah.
10:40You can grate it a little or a mixer and mixer.
10:43You can blend this.
10:44Yeah, you can blend it.
10:44Yeah.
10:46Okay.
10:47I think it's...
10:48It's a lovely watery pulp like that.
10:51It's so efficient, so quick.
10:52We're putting that straight into the tagine.
10:54Mm-hmm.
10:55I have here parsley and coriander.
10:58Chop like that.
10:59It's okay.
11:00Yeah, lovely.
11:00Okay, and this garlic is now, you can add the spices here, half a spoon turmeric and paprika.
11:10I mean, the colors are already so good, aren't they?
11:12Yeah, and pepper.
11:12Lovely.
11:13Plenty of pepper.
11:14Culiander parsley.
11:16Yeah.
11:17I mean, it's so decorative looking.
11:18Yeah, cumin.
11:19Before you stir everything in.
11:21Yeah.
11:22Ginger.
11:22Yeah.
11:24What a lovely balance.
11:26A little bit salt.
11:27Olive oil.
11:27Olive oil.
11:28You can make it a little bit here.
11:30All right, quite a bit of olive oil.
11:32To mix it.
11:33Do you want to mix it?
11:34Yes, of course.
11:34Yeah.
11:34Do you think I'm up to it?
11:38Now, how's that looking, Hadija?
11:40Yes, it's good.
11:41And take this.
11:43You can put it here.
11:45It's staying boiling.
11:47Yes.
11:47Five minutes until six minutes like that.
11:49Yeah, now cover this.
11:50Okay.
11:51Now the sardines.
11:52You do it now, I'll follow you, okay?
11:53Yeah, two fingers, one here and one here.
11:56Push it good until two.
11:58See, bound.
12:00Move like this.
12:02So, oh yeah, the head and the, yeah.
12:03And flip this place.
12:05Yes, here, yeah.
12:06And then using two, well, I'm using two times.
12:09Is that all right?
12:10It's not bad.
12:10Just first time, it's good.
12:11Yeah, for first time, it's good.
12:13Okay, I'll have something.
12:15The next stage is to grind the sardine fillets into a minced meat consistency using an old-fashioned
12:21mouly legume.
12:23Then the remaining parsley, coriander, and garlic are added, as are the now familiar spices,
12:30cumin, pepper, turmeric, paprika, and a little salt.
12:35Then some harissa paste and preserved lemons are added.
12:41The lemons give extra acidity and saltiness.
12:44Another generous pour of olive oil, and everything gets mixed together before being shaped into
12:49little balls, which are placed into the spiced tomato and herb sauce, which has now reduced
12:54somewhat.
12:55The final ingredients are sliced olives, and three slices of lemon.
13:00Then the lid goes on for 10 minutes.
13:08I mean, wow.
13:10Look at that.
13:12Fantastic, Adija.
13:13You want to taste?
13:14Yes, I'd love to taste.
13:16Oh, it's so tender.
13:17Look at that, the way it yields.
13:20Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm.
13:22It's sweet and delicious.
13:23You can get the lemon, and the spices are sort of peripheral, but delicious, and sort
13:29of perfuming and scenting everything.
13:31Fantastic flavour.
13:33Absolutely pure.
13:34This is precisely the reason I came to Morocco, to learn how to cook this.
13:39Thank you so much.
13:45Kerrygold.
13:46Proud sponsor of How to Cook Well in Morocco.
13:52Kerrygold.
13:52Proud sponsor of How to Cook Well in Morocco.
14:00In the last seven years, Ireland has opened 27 new embassies and consulates general around
14:06the world as part of the Global Ireland Programme.
14:09James McIntyre was appointed our first resident ambassador to Morocco when the embassy in Rabat
14:18was opened in 2021.
14:19While we were in Esauira, I had a chance to meet the ambassador and have a quick chat about the
14:25connections between Ireland and Morocco.
14:28The Moroccan people, like the Irish people, have a great sense of place and of community.
14:33And, you know, you meet, Moroccans meet one another, and one of the first things that they will ask is, like we do at home, is, you know, where do you come from and try and establish a bond.
14:46Yeah, that common ground, something to talk about.
14:49A common ground.
14:52Moroccans are so warm and so welcoming.
14:56I am constantly reminded that this is my second home, and I really feel that after three wonderful
15:02years here so far.
15:03Ambassador, everywhere, apart from there being food everywhere for sale, I mean, it's amazing.
15:09So, clearly Moroccan people cook at home all of the time.
15:12Obviously, as far as the food is concerned, we're in a country which has one of the great cuisines of the world.
15:19Of the world.
15:19And I believe the Moroccans love our butter.
15:22They do indeed.
15:22We are the number one country for the import of butter and also in the top three for processed cheese and queson.
15:32So, very strong dairy exports to Morocco, which we look forward to continuing.
15:38We're delighted to see two-way trade growing.
15:43It's not just in one direction.
15:47We in Ireland have increasingly been buying fertilizer from Morocco, cars from Morocco, the Dacia.
15:55This is something that has surprised me to hear.
15:58Yes, which are now made here, assembled here.
16:01Moroccan fruit and vegetables that we're importing in increasing quantities.
16:08Ambassador, thank you so much for taking the time.
16:10I'm envious of your position here and being able to spend so much time in this wonderful country.
16:16Thank you so much for chatting to us.
16:18Thank you very much, Rory.
16:19I hope you've had a wonderful time here.
16:20I'm standing here on a rooftop in the Villa Morocco in lovely Essouira with the bay behind me.
16:38And I have a wonderful opportunity to learn how to cook a very beautiful dish that I think is reflective of modern Moroccan cooking.
16:48There's no spice here.
16:49No spice?
16:50No spice.
16:50Okay.
16:50Just this.
16:51We've had lots of spice, so I'm happy for no spice.
16:53Are you beginning?
16:54Yes, please.
16:55Salt.
16:56A nice generous sprinkle of salt.
16:58Salt.
16:59Lovely.
17:00Pepper.
17:00Pepper.
17:01Pepper.
17:03Inside and on top.
17:05Yes.
17:05Lovely.
17:07What a beautiful fish.
17:08And this is dried thyme.
17:13This is so easy, so quick, so lovely.
17:15Lots of lovely slices of lemon.
17:18Pink grapefruit.
17:20It looks so fantastic.
17:21Much of the flavor is going to be lovely.
17:23Oranges.
17:24And this is...
17:25Olive oil.
17:26I love olive oil.
17:28It's a generous drizzle.
17:32Again, within and without.
17:34And this is orange.
17:37Lovely fresh orange juice.
17:39Yes.
17:39Lemon juice.
17:43Simple as that.
17:46So what happens now?
17:47Into the oven?
17:48Yes.
17:49For how long?
17:5050, 20 minutes.
17:51Until it's just cooked.
17:52Yes.
17:52Fantastic.
17:57Hyatt, the fish is cooked.
17:58It's good.
17:59Now what happens next now?
18:00Okay.
18:01Now?
18:02Lots more lovely citrus.
18:04We've seen such wonderful things on our way down through this country.
18:07It's really remarkable what the country produces.
18:09The food is just...
18:10And the ingredients are just spectacular.
18:12Oh, I love that arrangement.
18:14A little formality.
18:16Oh, yeah, that looks fantastic.
18:18Can I take the paper for you?
18:19Wow, doesn't that look just spectacular?
18:21Yes.
18:26Look at that.
18:27And a self-sourcing fish dish.
18:30I mean, this is really simple, but beautiful cooking.
18:34So on point.
18:35Morocco is the world of the color and the odor.
18:39The color and the smell.
18:40And the perfume.
18:41Yes, yeah, yeah.
18:42That's just so gorgeous.
18:45Lovely deep, dark black olives for that lovely sort of meaty olive flavor.
18:52Fantastic.
18:52So I get to taste.
18:53Okay.
18:54Will I help myself to a bit of the fish?
18:57My notebook.
18:58I've been trying to take my notes, but I've been too busy watching you.
19:01No, I'm so excited about this.
19:06Mmm.
19:08Mmm.
19:09So delicious.
19:10The flavor of the citrus fruit and the lovely firm texture of the bream.
19:15And it's perfectly seasoned.
19:16Just so.
19:18Mmm.
19:19This is everything.
19:20I mean, it's good.
19:23This is a dream.
19:24I am happy.
19:25Here I am.
19:25I am happy.
19:26In one of the most beautiful places in the world.
19:28With one of the most beautiful cooks in the world.
19:30I am happy.
19:30And you've created one of the most beautiful dishes in the world.
19:33We're very happy.
19:34Thank you so much.
19:36I'm so happy.
19:36I'm so happy.
19:36I'm so happy.
19:36We've eaten a lot of really wonderful fish in Essawira, as you'd expect.
19:54What we haven't seen is the classic chicken with preserved lemons and olives.
19:59One of the great, simple, but great dishes of the Moroccan kitchen.
20:04And that's what I'm going to cook here.
20:06So our chicken has been marinating overnight.
20:07And we spiced the chicken with a classic combination of Moroccan spices.
20:12We had some pepper and salt.
20:16Then some sweet paprika.
20:19And ginger then, which we peeled and grated into a little paste like that.
20:25Cumin seeds, which we've seen everywhere.
20:28Garlic then, coarsely chopped.
20:30And, of course, a little pinch of the wonderful saffron.
20:35So that's it.
20:36A little bit of olive oil with that.
20:38And you marinate that overnight.
20:40Once you've done all of that, it's pretty straightforward after that.
20:44We're going to, in our case, put our marinated chicken into a lovely heavy casserole.
20:50We have a couple of more ingredients to go in.
20:52We've got some chopped parsley and coriander.
20:54And some chopped onion and a cinnamon stick.
20:57So that goes in.
20:58And then water to not quite completely cover, you know, sort of three quarters of the way.
21:05All we do now is lid on, heat on, and cook until the chicken is tender.
21:15Our chicken has been cooking for about an hour.
21:17The cooking time of the chicken will be determined by how big the chicken is.
21:22So the chicken should feel firm to the touch like that.
21:26This is definitely cooked.
21:27Now, at this stage, we're going to add two more essential flavours.
21:31So we have our preserved lemon.
21:34This is easy enough to do, really.
21:36It just takes a bit of time.
21:38We slit the lemon from top to bottom.
21:40But as you can see, it's still hinged in a kind of a floral sort of way there.
21:44And you add a lot of salt.
21:47Press them into a jar and cover them completely with extra lemon juice.
21:50Put them somewhere and forget about them for three or four weeks.
21:54There's a quicker way of doing it where you boil them quite simply in very salted water until the lemon is tender.
22:00In either case, both will give you a lovely result or, of course, you can buy them very easily.
22:05Now, then when you come to use the preserved lemon, we usually just scrape out the flesh, that soft flesh, from the inside.
22:13And then you chop the rind of the lemon into little sort of into dice, like this.
22:20So sprinkle those in.
22:21And then the other ingredient that we need to put in, green olives.
22:27So lovely, big, fat, juicy olives that I just squashed and removed the stones.
22:32So the chicken has been getting to know the lemon and the olives.
22:34And that's looking just as it should at this stage.
22:38But I know my chicken is cooked.
22:40And as I said, I don't want to overcook the chicken.
22:42So I'm going to remove the chicken pieces from the liquids.
22:46And I've got this really wonderful traditional tagine, which I suppose if I was being brave, I could have cooked the tagine in this pot over a very low flame.
22:57But it's my sister's tagine, and I need to take it back to her intacts.
23:00So lifting out the pieces of chicken, and I'm going to put my chicken back into the oven to keep warm.
23:07And I'm going to turn the heat right up under that liquid now until it's syrupy.
23:11Now, the liquid has reduced down, and it looks exactly the way I want it to be.
23:18As you'd expect, we're serving this with couscous.
23:20So we have soaked our couscous.
23:23We've used a little light chicken stock, a little bit of salt, a little bit of olive oil.
23:28I'm going to sprinkle some lovely dried apricots, pistachios, green flecks, a few little coriander leaves, a few little fresh parsley leaves.
23:38We're nearly ready to go.
23:39So, my chicken, which we determined was cooked, keeping warm in our beautiful tagine.
23:50Remove the lid.
23:52And then I'm quite simply going to pour all of those lovely juices over the top.
23:58Perhaps, again, a tiny little bit of greenery just perched on top.
24:03There we are.
24:03I think I've done justice to one of the great recipes of the Moroccan kitchen, a tagine of chicken with preserved lemons and green olives.
24:13Lovely.
24:13I'll see you next time.
24:23Bye.
24:26See you next time.
24:27Thanks.
24:27Bye.
24:28Bye.
24:28Bye.
24:29Bye.
24:33Bye.
24:34Bye.
24:35Bye.
24:35Bye.
24:35Bye.
24:39Bye.
24:40May your table always be full.
24:53Kerrygold, proud sponsor of How to Cook Well in Morocco.