Aside from harira, and salatat bangar, our old Moroccan babysitter introduced me to preserved lemons. I had no idea what they were, and thought it sounded nasty. My dad used to always eat pickled Indian lemons (super spicy and potent), but this is nothing like that. These are simple: miniature lemons, preserved in salt water, no added spices or preservatives. Just pure lemon, resulting in awesomeness. The pickled rind gives the lemon a unique tangy flavor that cannot be replicated by using regular lemon. It isn’t quite as tart as a lemon, nor acidic. You just have to try it because I seriously am at a loss for adjectives to describe it!
I have never been to Morocco but it is on my top 3 list of places I want to explore. I know that the beautiful mountains surrounding Morocco allow for cool summer evenings. The flavors of this dish- saffron and ginger – are definitively Moroccan, and perfectly complement the traditional Middle Eastern cumin flavor. Tagine dishes are perfect to warm your household with the pleasant scents of North Africa. It is cooling down here in the UAE -meaning it was 87 the other morning, and I thought there was a slight chill in the air – ha!
So I bought my favorite kitchen tool, my tagine, from the Le Crueset outlet in Northern Virginia. The tagine really brings out the flavors of the dish while keeping the meat particularly moist. It is incredibly versatile, as you can make everything in it – from meat to eggs, to vegetable tagines. I definitely recommend this one because of the cast iron bottom, rather than the usual clay bottom that can often seep dangerous chemicals depending on the glaze used- ick.
I should add, there is one caveat to using preserved lemons: you must rinse and slice them. I forgot to do so this last time around, and my mom keeps mentioning how salty the dish was, especially since the olives only add more salt to the dish! So note to self – don’t forget to rinse.
This looks delicious!! I am so intrigued by this tagine! I’d love to buy one and try it – I’m a sucker for traditional cookware 🙂 You said you got it from the outlet in NoVA – which one?
You would love a tagine, Heba! I got it from Leesburg Outlet – http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/store_listing.asp?id=14. If you go to the main office, you can say you are a AAA member, get a coupon, and then get a coupon to get a discount book that is good for 20% or maybe $20 off a Le Crueset purchase. I think it was about $100? I dont think I paid more than that – although walking into that store, I was tempted to spend a lot more.
Lol, I kept calling it tangine … instead of tagine. oops. Yea, I’ve been to Leesburg Outlet before – they have a lot of cool stuff. And awesome idea about the coupon book – didn’t even think about that! I’ll look into it for sure! Thanks 🙂
Found it online: http://cookware.lecreuset.com/cookware/product_Moroccan-Tagine_10151_-1_20002_10103__ $175 is a bit steep for me, but I guess it’s an investment just like healthy/organic food 🙂
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