"morocco" news and stories

Tagine and vegetables. Photo: jkdjulia, Flickr.

• On pulling out the tagine and delighting in an all-day cooking class in Morocco, while a taste of the country will hit Pittsburgh and a recipe for Cucumber Mint Salad/Sorbet.
• Roasting? That's so last year. Care to try an electronic turkey fryer this Thanksgiving?
• Writer Miriam Rubin muses about this summer's farmers' market gems and the joys of canning.
• Beer bits: The Steel City Big Pour is over, but some brews live on, and more beer festivities are on the way.
• Be still our vino hearts -- the grapes are overflowing, which means falling wine prices and great grabs.

Last week, one of my friends from Spain brought back an interesting selection of cheeses from Guía, a city on the Canary Islands just southwest of the Moroccan coastline. I was struck by one of the cheeses in particular: Queso de Flor. The one I ate was dry yet had an intriguing pungent meaty sheep's milk flavor reminiscent of Torta del Casar. The cheese is handmade with sheep and cows' milk mixed with the juice of the thistle-like flowers that grow on the isalnds. Knowing about the flavor of cheeses, like Torta del Casar, I am tempted to say that the majority of the cheese's potent taste derives from these thistle flowers.

Like most artisanal cheeses, it's unusual to have absolute consistency. Production depends on multiple variables, namely the milking of the cows and sheep and the soil (the availability of thistle). The reason why the Queso de Flor that I tasted was dry is because of the season. The best time to try this cheese is during the spring when the cheese is luscious and creamy. In fact, every May, there is a cheese festival, the Fiesta del Queso, to celebrate the art of making this cheese.

Although this cheese is not available yet in the U.S., there are a variety of cheeses that are similar that come from Portugal and Spain. They have a creamy paste and a strong thistle-like taste. I highly recommend the Portuguese Azeitao or the Spanish Queso de la Serena. You can find them at Murray's in NY: $21.99 per pound for the Spanish one and $18.99 for a wheel of the Portuguese.

You can't help but really like Ellie Matthews. Ten years ago, she won the Pillsbury Bake-Off with her Salsa Couscous Chicken recipe, a blend of salsa and the flavors of Morocco.

Now she's written a book about her experiences: "The Ungarnished Truth: A Cooking Contest Memoir."

NPR's Steve Inskeep recently chatted with Matthews. Turns out, she's an unbelievably down-to-earth, sweet woman with a self-deprecating streak that you can't help but appreciate. Throughout the interview, she insists that she's not anyone special, that she "doesn't claim to be a better cook than anyone else." Typically, Matthews says, she will "buy ingredients that look good, wrestle them into a pan, and serve a meal."

"I'm not a fussy cook," Matthews said. "I don't put four different kinds of sea salt into something, or 18 different kinds of vinegar" (it could be assumed that the book title partially refers to the fact that her final recipe for the contest wasn't garnished or artfully arranged, but she won anyway).

What's more, she didn't even really seem all that impressed with the prize money. She simply enjoys cooking, and was a little disappointed when she won because she knew it would disqualify her from participating in the contest again.

As for what she did with the money? She admitted, "I'd like to think my life is just more than just what I buy on a whim or how I indulge myself," and then said that if she was, say, at a plant nursery, she could maybe splurge on a new plant for her garden.

Again: how can you not like this woman?

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Could you imagine waking up at dawn each morning to knead and shape dough, letting it rise for a few hours, then take it to a centrally located oven where it is baked alongside everyone else's? This is the norm for many families in places like Morocco, though with modernization the tradition is beginning to fade.

In Pixar's latest film Ratatouille, Remy the Rat learned his culinary skills from the best of the best - Thomas Keller, owner of French Laundry in Yountville, California.

Is your organic food really all organic? The Department of Agriculture is preparing to approve a list of non-organic ingredients that could make the cut in food stamped with their organic seal

Eric Asimov takes a look at the delights of Beaujolais in 'The Pour'

Frank Bruni asks some of the more prominent names in the food industry which meals or moments in their pasts were "pinnacles of carnivorous gluttony." Yes, pig snout made the list.

This week's recipes:

Lamb Schnitzels With Mint-Horseradish Pesto, Confit Byaldi, Lamb and Bulgur Kibbe With Garlic Yogurt Sauce, Chicken With Couscous, Moroccan Anise-Flavored Bread (Khubz), Tagine of Fish, Pea and Crab Salad

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Easy Exotic: A Model's Low-Fat Recipes from Around the World is the cookbook by Padma Lakshmi, the new host of Bravo TV's Top Chef series. The book was originally released in 1999, and features recipes that Padma cooked or ate when she traveled the world as a working model. For the home cook, this translates into healthy dishes that are easy to prepare - not always completely "authentic," but with enough flavor to spice up your daily cooking routine. It includes about 60 recipes, some of which are more traditional, and some of which are simply influenced by the traditional. All are easy to prepare and make liberal use of fresh herbs and spices. The countries touched on are Spain, France, Italy, Morocco and India, and there is also a generic Asian category, which is more about general flavors than specific dishes. Some of the other dishes include Chicken Tagine (Morocco), Chole (India), Rajma (India), Spanish Tortilla Cake, Sauteed Steak in Red Wine (France) and Penne all' Arribbiata (Italy). A half-dozen or so dessert recipes wrap up the book, because models have sweet-tooths, too.

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