Maroque Newsletter
Welcome to the latest addition of the Maroque newsletter. With the nights drawing in and the decidedly icy feel to the air, it seems autumn has finally arrived with vengeance. All the more reason to draw the curtains, light the fire and fill the room with twinkly lanterns and try to imagine you are settled in for a cosy Moroccan evening.
My last look at places in Morocco is not a city but a region: the high Atlas Mountains. As they are often cold and snowy, I thought them best left to winter.
Seasonal gift newsletters (can I use the C word in early November?) are always very difficult to get right, too early and people delete in disgust, too late any I've missed the boat. Hopefully this year I have found a solution!
High Atlas mountains
From the snow covered peaks to the lush, green, peaceful valleys full of butterflies, the Atlas Mountains have always been a high point on any tour of Morocco.
The Atlas mountain range is the biggest in North Africa, extending about 2,400 km (1,500 miles) through Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, and including The Rock of Gibraltar. It separates the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines from the Sahara Desert.
At the heart of the Range lies Jebel Toubkal, North Africa's highest mountain. At 4,165 metres its peak is snow capped all year round.
You can even ski in the High Atlas Mountains for a few months of the year, but the main attraction is the breath-taking scenery.
Driving the Tiz-n-Tichka high pass is a fascinating experience. Leaving the Dades valley floor you'll wind your way up and across this majestic range that seems to go on forever before descending to the warm plains around Marrakech.
The pleasant summer climate of the High Atlas means that it is often sought out as an escape from the blistering heat of Marrakech and, as such, there are some stunning boutique hotels for you to chill and absorb the breath taking scenery, the most famous being Richard Branson's Kasbah Tamodat. I would love to tell you how fantastic it is but sadly, I haven't been. I have added the hotel web site to our hotel list, and hope to check it out soon!
Recipe
Autumn is my favourite time of year to cook, with an abundance of fruit and vegetables to choose from and an excuse to start preparing hearty, warming dishes. One of the fruits that I find interesting to use is quince. Quinces were popular with the Moors for their perfume and are still abundant in Morocco today (as well as my garden in Suffolk). In medieval times to give a quince to a lady was a declaration of love.
I came across this warming autumnal tagine using quinces.
Tagine of lamb with Quince
Ingredients
750g (1 1/2lb) lean lamb cut into large chunks
2 onions, finely chopped
60g (2 1/2oz) butter
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp saffron strands
1 stick cinnamon (or bark)
600ml (1pt) water
Sea salt
2 large quinces
2 tsp runny honey
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1. Place the lamb, onion, butter, ginger, pepper, saffron and stick of cinnamon either in a tagine on the hob (if your tagine is suitable) or in a heavy based pan and fry gently in the butter or about 10 minutes, until the spices give off their aroma.
2. Add the water and bring to a simmer. Transfer to a tagine or transfer your tagine to the oven for about 1hour to 1 1/2 hours until the meat is tender, topping up the water if necessary.
3. Cut the quince into 8 pieces and remove the core but don't peel. Place the quinces in the tagine and stir in the honey and ground cinnamon, add water if necessary the quinces should be just covered. Continue to simmer for 30 minutes until the quinces are quite tender. Add salt to taste.
4. Serve with warm bread
Serves 4
Christmas gift newsletter
I have so many ideas to help with your Christmas shopping, the newsletter would have been far too long. So I will be sending out a separate newsletter titled Christmas Gifts (I know not very original, I may come up with something more inspirational before I send it).
I will be pulling a selection of gift ideas from both Maroque and Bhatik and grouping them by people you might buy for. My aim is to try to solve your most difficult buying conundrums. And if not, possibly a treat for you! I'll send this in the next few days. I hope you find it useful.
Site update
I have added a Christmas gift section at the top of our catalogue which I hope you will find useful.
Out and about
We will be at the Gadget and Unusual Gift Show in Norwich, on the 18th and 19th November, it would be lovely to see you if you are in the area.
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