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Moroccan cuisine is one of the world's most diversified

When you get right down to it, having a day off in February, … la Family Day, is a really good excuse to stage a Sunday Family Day Eve dinner, particularly if your many year wedding anniversary coincides with Family Day. Or something like that.

Dinner menus are always a discussion. What to serve. What did we serve when they were over last? Who can't eat what? What do we not do much of? How about Moroccan? How about multi-course from all over the place? We like theme menus but we also like the shotgun approach. We settle on some Asian, Moroccan, French and American. Done deal.

Fusion menus are particularly good if you are not shackled by dictates of culinary purity. The idea of throwing something a little off the tried and true beaten track is also an attraction - ergo the Moroccan dish.

A little on Morocco. On Nov. 18, 2006, Morocco celebrated the 50th anniversary of its independence. Morocco recovered its political independence from France on March 2, 1956, and on April 7, France officially relinquished its protectorate. So ended centuries of rule by invasion and occupation by Arabs, Europeans and other busybodies. As a result of the centuries of rule and intervention, Moroccan cuisine became one of the most diversified cuisines in the world. The cuisine of Morocco is a mix of Arab, Berber, Moorish, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean African, Iberian and Jewish influences. The cooks in the royal kitchens of Fez, Marrakech and Rabat refined Moroccan cuisine over the centuries and created the basis for what is known as Moroccan cuisine today.

Paula Wolfert, a renowned authority on Moroccan cuisine and author of Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco, made an interesting observation: "To my mind four things are necessary before a nation can develop a great cuisine. The first is an abundance of fine ingredients, a rich land. The second is a variety of cultural influences: the history of the nation, including its domination by foreign powers, and the culinary secrets it has brought back from its own imperialist adventures. Third, a great civilization; if a country has not had its day in the sun, its cuisine will probably not be great; great food and a great civilization go together. Last, the existence of a refined palace life; without royal kitchens, without a Versailles or a Forbidden City in Peking, without, in short, the demands of a cultivated court, the imaginations of a nation's cooks will not be challenged. Morocco, fortunately, is blessed with all four."

Morocco produces a large range of Mediterranean fruits and vegetables and even some tropical ones. The country produces large quantities of sheep, cattle, poultry and seafood, which serve as a base for the cuisine.

Spices are used extensively in Moroccan food. While spices have been imported to Morocco for thousands of years, many ingredients, like saffron, mint, olives, oranges and lemons are homegrown. Common spices include cinnamon, cumin, turmeric, ginger, paprika, anis seed, sesame seed, coriander, saffron and mint.

The Moroccan midday meal is the main meal, with the exception of the holy month of Ramadan. The typical formal meal begins with a series of hot and cold salads, followed by a tagine (a stew of meat or poultry with vegetables). The tagine will more than likely be served over couscous. A cup of sweet mint tea is commonly used to end the meal. It is common for Moroccans to eat using their fingers, and use bread as a "utensil."

Sweets are not usually served at the end of a Moroccan meal, although desserts such as kaab el ghzal (gazelle's horns), which is a pastry stuffed with almond paste and topped with sugar, do exist. The most popular drink is green tea with mint. Traditionally, making good mint tea in Morocco is considered an art form and the drinking of it with friends and family members is one of the important rituals of the day.

Now, in case you missed your tagine on the weekend, try this one.

Lamb Tagine

Should serve six

2 tablespoons (30 mL) olive oil

2 large onions, peeled and sliced

2 pounds (1 kg) lamb meat, cut into bite-size cubes

1 teaspoon (5 mL) ground cumin

1 teaspoon (5 mL) ground coriander seed

1 teaspoon (5mL) ground ginger

1 teaspoon (5 mL) ground cinnamon

salt to taste

1 teaspoon (5 mL) ground black pepper

Juice of one half to 1 lemon, more or less, to taste

1 tablespoon (15 mL) minced ginger

2 cloves garlic minced

2 tomatoes seeded and diced

1 cup (250 mL) eggplant, large dice

1 cup (250 mL) carrots, large dice

1 cup (250 mL) zuchinni, large dice

1. Heat the oil in a large, heavy-bottom pot over medium heat. Brown the meat, reserve. Fry the onion, garlic and ginger in the same pan until soft. Add the lamb meat back to the pan. Season with cumin, coriander, ginger, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Pour enough water or stock into the pot to cover the meat. Simmer over low heat for 1 1/2 to two hours, until meat is tender and the mixture is stew-like.

2. Add the carrots and simmer until cooked but still a little firm. Add eggplant and simmer five minutes. Add zucchini and simmer five more minutes.

Serve with couscous, which has an addition of golden raisins, saffron and topped with chopped cashews. Yum.

If you have a question for Albert Cipryk, teacher/chef at Niagara College, he can be reached via Niagara Culinary Institute, 135 Taylor Road, RR4, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., L0S 1J0, or e-mail acipryk@niagarac.on.ca

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