Maroque Newsletter

Welcome to the latest edition of the Maroque newsletter.

Gosh is it really November, where has the year gone? Sorry, that makes me sound ancient, try again.  It's nearly Christmas! I hope this finds you all in great spirits, limbering up for the festive season.

In this newsletter I will finish my selection of room makeovers with a Moroccan dining room.  I hope you have found the series useful (if you have missed any, all the past newsletters are on the site here).  Beginning in the New Year I will have a new series: watch this space!

The recipe this month is a Moroccan twist on a traditional British dish, and another great way to use preserved lemons.

We have added a seasonal gift selection to assist you with your buying, click here for more details.

And finally, I want to tell you where you can come and see us: Maroque is coming to town...

Moroccan Dining Room

I believe a dining room should be rich and welcoming.  A place to entertain your friends and family in a relaxed environment.  Giving your dining room a Moroccan theme will make it warm but also give it a sense of the exotic, a hint of surprises yet to come.

The lighting can be more subtle than in a living room, allowing you to use one of the more ornate centre lights, possibly an antique effect centre light that will cast intricate patterns across your ceiling.  Click here to see some examples.

Hanging some window frames in the room will give a different dimension and make an interesting change from pictures.

Dress your table with the boldest of colours: a Moroccan silk table runner, some traditional Moroccan bowls filled with flowers, complemented by twinkling tabletop lanterns.  Your guests will imagine they are dining in Marrakech.

Food

A Moroccan friend advised me that once you start using preserved lemons you use them in everything.  I'm not there yet, but this adds a great twist on the traditional roast chicken: Anglo-Moorish fusion cooking!

Moroccan roast chicken with preserved lemons and saffron

Ingredients
Serves 4

1 medium chicken, ideally free range
2 preserved lemons, quartered
pinch of saffron, lightly crushed
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 pint of chicken stock
flour to thicken gravy
salt and pepper

Oven at 200C, gas mark 4.

1.  Wash the chicken and wipe away excess water.  Place the quartered lemons in the cavity of the chicken.  Put in a medium sized roasting tin.

2.  Rub the skin with the crushed saffron and season liberally with salt and pepper.  Drizzle the oil over the chicken rubbing well into the skin and the saffron.

3.  Roast for 20 minutes per pound plus 20 minutes (45 minutes per kilo plus 20 minutes).  Basting every 1/2 hour.

4.  When cooked, remove the chicken from the oven, wrap in tin foil and place on a warmed plate.  Make sure all the juices from the chicken are left in the roasting tin to flavour the gravy.  Leave the wrapped chicken to rest in a warm place for 30 minutes.

5.  Skim any excess fat from the roasting tin, leaving about 1/2 tablespoon behind to mix with the flour.  Add the flour to the tin mixing well to form a paste.  Place the tin over a hot plate and slowly add the chicken stock to make the gravy.  Season to taste.

6.  Carve the rested chicken and serve with the saffron and lemon flavoured gravy.

Site Update

This year I have pulled together some seasonal gift ideas from across the site by colour theme, as well as by price, to help narrow down your search.

I have added some more gift sets, but please feel free to create your own by adding a basket to your shopping: we will do our best to make it up, given the shipping parameters.

We have expanded our food selection with: