Maroque 3rd Birthday Newsletter
Welcome to the latest edition of the Maroque newsletter. It's Maroque's 3rd birthday this month. I have no idea where the time has gone! I feel Maroque is quite grown up now.
I hope you have had a relaxed and enjoyable summer, I was intending to say the weather has been fairly mixed with not much opportunity for Moroccan outdoor living, but as I look out the window it's wall-to-wall sunshine and about 25C, so hopefully an Indian summer is in store.
Continuing our look at the main ingredients in Moroccan cooking, this time I explore saffron: an essential ingredient in so many Moroccan dishes.
We have a host of new items on the site and some very pretty hand made linen Moroccan kaftans, ideal for lazing around on a hot summer day.
And as a special birthday thank you, I have an offer exclusive to newsletter readers at the end.
Saffron
Saffron is an integral part of Moroccan cooking and crops up in half the tagine recipes you look at, it imparts such a unique quality to any dish, and it also happens to be one of my favourite spices.
It is described as the most precious and expensive spice in the world. Saffron threads are the dried stigmas of the saffron flower, Crocus Sativus Linneaus. Each flower contains only 3 stigmas. These threads must be picked from each flower by hand and approximately 170,000 of these flowers are needed to produce 1kg of saffron filaments, taking around 370 to 470 hours (60-odd days) to produce.
Iran is the world's largest supplier of saffron, producing over 80% of the world supply, most of this is exported to Spain, where it is rebranded and sold on!
The harvest period is traditionally from late September to late December. Drying is the most important part of saffron production as this activates the processes which release aroma, colour and flavour.
The spice is graded according to the proportion of red stigmas compared to the yellow or white parts of the flower known as the style. The colour and flavour is in the stigmas, more yellow and white parts result in a lower grade saffron. The highest grade saffron contains only the pure red stigmas, these are cut and separated from the style prior to the drying process, and this enables it to retain its pure red colour and highest flavour.
This type of saffron is called sargol in Iran, the equivalent Spanish name is coupe (meaning cut). Pushal (or La Mancha) saffron is not cut like sargol and therefore contains more yellow parts from the style.
Having tried the various grades of saffron, the sargol is far superior and when you look at the various saffrons around you notice the yellow and white parts in them. We have decided to supply the highest grade sargol saffron as our own Maroque saffron.
Food
Saffron and cardamom creme caramel
A creamy luxuriant dessert with subtle flavours reminiscent of Morocco.
Ingredients
Serves 4-6
600ml (1 pint) milk
115g (4oz) sugar, plus 4 tsps for caramel
Good pinch of saffron threads
2.5ml (1/2 tsp) cardamom seeds
5-10ml (1-2 tsp) rose water
4 eggs lightly beaten
60ml (4 tbsp) boiling water
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. Heat the milk, sugar, saffron and cardamom in a pan until the milk is just about to boil.
2. Set aside to cool. Add the rose water, the gradually pour the mixture into the eggs, beating all the time. Set aside.
3. To make the caramel, heat 60ml/4tbsp sugar in a small heavy pan until melted and dark brown.
4. Stir in the water, holding the pan at arm’s length as the caramel will spit. Let it bubble before tipping it into individual dishes. Swirl the dishes to coat the base and sides evenly. Leave to cool.
5. Strain the cooled custard, pour into the dishes and stand them in a roasting pan. Pour cold water around the dishes to two-thirds of the way up.
6. Bake in the oven for about 1 hour, or until the custard has set.
7. Cool, then chill for several hours or overnight.
8. To serve, run a knife around the edges of the creme caramel dishes and invert on to plates. Serve immediately.
Site Update
We have added a selection of items across our range including a 1 metre wide table, some lovely new tea glasses, and some hand made linen kaftans in a range of colours.
We have also expanded your selection of gift ideas with a range of small gift packs hand tied with raffia, they make an unusual thank gift or birthday present, please click to see our selection.
Thank you
Maroque has now reached the grand old age of three! To help celebrate and to say a very big 'thank you', I'm offering a discount of 11% (why 11, well it was 10 last year and were one year older) on all your purchases both on Maroque and Bhatik until 18th September. All you have to do is type THREE in the offer code at the bottom of the delivery details page.
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