Moroccan cooking is known as one of the best, may be the North-African challenger of the French one. Specialities are numerous and diverse, from North to South, and using spices requires real skills, to harmoniously mix all tastes without any being stronger than the other. The cook can use the utmost modern equipment, or worked seated on her heels on a beaten earth ground in a doyar, she will put the same care into her preparation.

Food is prepared to be eaten with hands, even with only three fingers of the right hand. Salads are prepared with crudités cut into very small cubes, meats are cooked for a long time, and will split easily under the bread piece, small pastries, pancakes, pâtés can easily be savoured in a few bits.

The celebration table is heavily loaded with a lot of different courses. It is covered with many small plates, two or three different salads, a soup, then comes one or two tajines, a pastilla, after grilled meat spikes as starters. There are many other sorts of desserts than the well known “gazelle horns” , and you must taste briwats, shebakias, jawzias, all these small cakes with almond, pistachio, chocolate, coconut or honey fragrances… or the very plain and absolutely delicious cinnamon oranges.
And the meal finishes with a coffee flavoured with cinnamon and pepper or a mint tea.

This is traditional and rich cooking we offer you to discover during one of our long week-ends, and through a few recipes you can make at home... when you have, like in Morocco, “baldi” (natural, of good quality) spices, cumin, turmeric, coriander, ginger, saffron, various peppers and red paprika, cardamom, cinnamon, parsley… and when you are able to get the secrets of the Lallas (ladies) of Fez who prepare themselves “ras-el-hanout” (spices mix) that are true symphonies of more than 40 ingredients.

The diet is Mediterranean, a lot of vegetables, some meats like chicken, beef, also goat and even hedgehog. Pigeon and lamb, as camel are reserved for banquets and holydays. The breakfast is abundant, with pancakes, bread, cheese, olive oil, and, after the mint tea, coffee, often with milk.

The cooking is made with oil; fishes are fried and seldom grilled. Meats are grilled, often after having been soaked for the night in a marinade. Tajines, with meat or fish, are cook for a long time on a small fire, the different ingredients being added one after another. The concept of blue or rare meat is foreign to the Muslim world, for hygienic grounds as well as to observe the “hallal” slaughtering rules.

The recipes above are coming from the whole world. Not only do we want to give you some hints of Moroccan food’s world, we also want to explain how you can use saffron. Saffron, that was for a long time the sole indigenous European spice! Moroccan recipes, traditional recipes, and world food… let’s go to the kitchen!

Our Moroccan recipes