Maroque Newsletter

Welcome to the latest edition of the Maroque newsletter.

A belated happy new year.  I find myself sitting down to write this with so many ideas buzzing around my head it's a job to know where to start.  I have lots of ideas and plans for Maroque that I want to implement over the next 12 months deciding what comes first is a challenge!

As a theme over the next few newsletters, I will be looking at some of the main ingredients in Moroccan cooking and revealing a little about their history and significance in Moroccan culture: in this newsletter I look at the art of mint tea.

The recipe this month is designed to whisk you away to warmer climates and imagine yourself paddling in the Mediterranean.  This heady mix of spicy couscous and aromatic shellfish broth will do wonders to banish those winter blues.

We've had a New Year spruce up: our catalogue has had a re-jig, I hope you find it useful.  We have loads of new stock items from our own Maroque saffron to some great new lanterns, with some at a bargain price.

The Art of Mint Tea

Mint tea, known as atay bi nahna, is the national drink of Morocco, and is an integral part of Moroccan hospitality.

A steaming glass of the fragrant, sweet, light tea is offered as a sign of welcome.  It is drunk in the morning, offered throughout the day while bargaining, conducting business, or wandering about, and served at the end of the meal to aid digestion.

A blend of Chinese gunpowder green tea and fresh mint, traditionally sweetened with at least four sugar lumps per glass, it is incredibly refreshing on a hot day.

Tea only arrived in Morocco in 1854 when, during the Crimean War, the blockade of the Baltic sea drove British merchants to seek new markets for their goods and they disposed of stocks of tea in Tangier and Mogador.

At feasts and on special occasions, mint tea making can be an elaborate ceremony: the best green tea is chosen and only fresh spearmint (mentha spicata) is used.  A fine silver plated, bulbous-shaped teapot is selected for brewing and the heavily sweetened tea is poured rhythmically into fine glasses.  For additional ceremony, a fresh, fragrant orange blossom or jasmine flower may be floated in each glass.

Mint Tea

Ingredients
Serves 2

300ml (1/2 pint) water
5 tsp sugar
1 tsp green tea
bunch of fresh mint leaves

or

300ml (1/2 pint) water
5 tsp sugar
1 tsp Maroque mint tea blend

1.  Bring the water to the boil.  Put the sugar and the green tea with fresh mint leaves (or the mint tea) in a small traditional Moroccan teapot, and add the boiling water.

2.  Leave to steep for 5 minutes, serve hot.

Saffron Tea

A variation on mint tea is saffron tea, less widely drunk but a very pleasant alternative.  This tea is a speciality of the southern Moroccan town of Taliouine, the saffron capital of Morocco.

Ingredients
Serves 5

2 tsp of Chinese green tea
1 tsp of saffron threads
900ml (1 1/2 pints) water
Sugar to taste

1.  Rinse the teapot with boiling water.  Add the tea and saffron to the emptied pot.

2.  Bring the water to the boil and immediately pour into the teapot.  Leave to stand for 5 minutes.

3.  Pour the tea through a strainer into warm glasses.  Add sugar to taste and decorate each glass with a lemon slice if liked and a mint sprig.

For a fascinating insight into the art of mint tea making I recommend reading Traditional Moroccan Cooking, Recipes from Fez by Madame Guinaudeau.  This book, first published in 1958, is by all accounts the first on Moroccan cooking since the 12th century.  A very interesting read full of amazing details, it may be less useful as a cookbook unless you are cooking for 10 to 20 people (using a whole goat).

Food

Spicy Couscous with Aromatic Shellfish Broth

While sitting in the depths of winter I wanted to include a recipe that conjured up sitting on the shores of the Mediterranean on a warm evening.  This is the type of dish you may enjoy along the coast by Tangier or Casablanca.  The soup-like stew is ladled over cooked couscous and mopped up with lots of bread.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

For the couscous

500g (1 1/4lb) medium couscous
1 tsp salt
600ml (1 pint) warm water
3 tbsp sunflower oil
1-2 tsp harissa paste
25g (1oz) butter, diced

For the shellfish broth

500g (1 1/4lb) mussels in their shells, scrubbed and beards removed
500g (1 1/4lb) uncooked prawns in their shells
Juice of 1 lemon
50g (2oz) butter
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 tsp coriander seeds, roasted and ground
1 tsp cumin seeds, roasted and ground
1/2tsp ground turmeric
1/2tsp cayenne pepper
1-2 tsp plain flour
600ml (1 pint) fish stock
120ml (4 floz) double cream
Salt and ground black pepper
Small bunch of fresh coriander, finely chopped, to serve

1.  Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4.  Place the couscous in a bowl, stir the salt into the water, then pour over the couscous, stirring.  Set aside for 10 minutes.

2.  Stir the sunflower oil into the harissa paste until combined, then using your fingers, rub it into the couscous and break up any lumps.  Tip into an ovenproof dish, arrange the butter over, cover with foil and heat in the oven for 20 minutes.

3.  Meanwhile, put the mussels and prawns in a pan, discarding any mussels already open, add the lemon juice and 50ml/2floz water, cover and cook for 3-4 minutes, shaking the pan, until the mussels have opened.  Drain the shellfish, reserving the liquor, and shell about two-thirds of the mussels and prawns.  Discard any closed mussels.

4.  Heat the butter in a large pan.  Cook the shallots for about 5 minutes, or until softened.  Add the spices and fry for 1 minute.

5.  Remove from the heat, stir in the flour, the fish stock and the shellfish cooking liquor.  Bring to the boil, stirring.  Add the cream and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.

6.  Season with salt and pepper, add the shellfish and most of the fresh coriander.  Heat through, then sprinkle with the remaining coriander.

7.  Fluff up the couscous with a fork or your fingers, working in the melted butter.  To serve, pass around the couscous and ladle the broth over the top.

Note: Try making your own harissa paste from our harissa dry spice mix - I think the flavours beat ordinary ready-made pastes hand down.

Site Update

The shopping section on the site has had a bit of a revamp.  Hopefully things will be a little easier to find, but we still have the site map if things are not where you expect them.

There are lots of new items hopefully to entice you, and even more waiting for some sun to shine so that I can photograph them.  All of the new items are listed under the "What's New" section, but here's a brief tour:

I have sourced our own saffron, the finest grade sargol saffron, great quality, really worth a try.  We have some new slippers in stock together with a selection of Sienna Miller-style wide leather belts.  A new selection of tagines and matching platters and bowls, which will hopefully prove very useful when the weather gets a little warmer.

Finally a huge henna lamp standing 6 feet tall, and a bargain iron globe.

Thank you for your continued support.  If you have any comments, ideas, suggestions I would love to hear from you.  Please email info@maroque.co.uk.

Kind regards

Julie Woodard
Maroque