Marrakech + Flatbread

Moroccan food was something I discovered later in life. When I was working in a restaurant, which notoriously served super rich and super seasoned food - you'd be shocked at how much butter, cream, salt and egg yolks we went through - I got very excited when one of our chefs of Moroccan heritage would cook staff meal. The absence of butter laden sauces and presence of spices for flavor cleansed the palate and refreshed the stomach. Having heard the rumors of the amazing spice souks (markets) I had to go to Morocco.

Constrained by time we chose to spend a full day in Marrakech and a few days in the High Atlas Mountains. In Marrakech we lost ourselves in the never-ending maze of souks. Bright sunny skies and color was everywhere - in the clothes, foods, spices, and rugs.

When I say, "lost ourselves", I'm not joking. At the end of the day we walked ourselves back to our riad (house), only to find ourselves back at the main square we had left over a half hour ago! Marrakech was an intense experience to say the least, and we welcomed our escape to the High Atlas Mountains. But, not before enjoying a hot, delicious, chicken and preserved lemon tagine.

We considered renting a car to drive ourselves to the High Atlas Mountains, but in the end decided not too. After getting lost on foot so many times it was absolutely the right choice.

In the High Atlas Mountains we chose to stay at the Kasbah du Toubkal. It's a great place to stay if you enjoy hiking. The hotel is run by local Berbers, born and raised in the neighboring villages. They will show you the best hikes or take you by donkey. In the evening you can book some time in a private hamman and then enjoy a delicious Moroccan feast. With dinner, which will most certainly be tagine, a delicious flatbread is served. Its cooked outside in the Kasbah courtyard the traditional way - over a fire.

Back in London, where a fire won't burn outside, on account of the sleet and general all-the-time wetness in the air, I've been making flatbread in a pan, on the stove. A grill pan would work just as well. Flatbread is super simple to make and goes well with tagine to help sop up the juices. In Marrakech, we had flatbread with chilled onions and eggplant that had been previously chopped up and melted in a pan with olive oil. Any Moroccan dip would go great with homemade flatbread.

FLATBREAD

• 315 g all-purpose flour
• 6 g active dry yeast
• 6 g salt
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 1/2 c to 3/4 c warm water

METHOD

Combine flour, yeast, and salt in a bowl. Stir the drys together to mix. Add olive oil and 1/2 c of the warm water. Use your hands and begin to work the dough. If its too dry, add a bit more water. The dough should be sticky at first. Once you knead the dough it should come together into an elastic, glossy dough. Cut into pieces and roll out into desired size - should be about 1/4 inch thick. Lightly brush a pan with olive oil and cook flatbread. The pan needs to be about medium to high heat. Monitor the heat - if the flatbread is on too long you will get more cracker-like flatbread, and a pan that is too hot might make a doughy flatbread - cooked on the outside, but not in the middle. Serve warm with tagine or any Moroccan inspired dip.

Another Moroccan favorite is cous cous. In Morocco, it is often served with roasted vegetables, chicken, or lamb.

Cous cous is quite simple to make and most suggest you just rehydrate with warm water or stock. To make cous cous in a more traditional way, place the dry cous cous in fine mesh container and have it steam over hot, gently boiling chicken stock (vegetable stock is fine too). Fluff, and repeat.

 

Comments

[elra]

How lucky that you've visited Morocco. I love Moroccon food very much, and hope to visit one day.

[OysterCulture]

What a wonderful trip description and pictures. You are so fortunately to be able to take advantage of your relative proximity to all these wonderful, and conveniently culinary places. Morocco is about at the top of my list of places to visit. I event picked out the cooking school I want to go to. I have several friends from there, and as you know - there is something spectacular about homemade Moroccan food - all the flavor combinations. Thanks so much for sharing and adding some color to a very wet and dreary SF day.

[Sam]

I love moroccan food (in fact I'm cooking a tagine today!) I'd love to visit sometime, the markets look amazing.
It must have been wonderful having traditional Moroccan food cooked for you on that wood fired oven. Fantastic!

[Natasha - 5 Star Foodie]

Excellent info on Mococco and it's cuisine! Love the flatbreads and cous cous!

[Kitchen Butterfly]

I LOVE Middle Eastern Cuisine......the spices slook so gorgeous and the flavours....wow. For the last week, I've been spending serious time with my recipes from Morocco cookbook...hmmm, I feel something coming on!

[mycookinghut]

I love Moroccan food!! I discovered Moroccan food just a few years ago and absolutely love it. The lemon chicken tagine, OMG delicious! Did you have yours at Chez Chergrouni, at Djemma el Fna?
I love the flat bread, yum!!
Anyway, we went to Essaouira - a coastal town a few hours from Marrakesh, was amazing too. Totally different from Marrakesh. It was also a place that I remember I had the best bread in the world. The breads are freshly baked - the little business was owned by a family, that supplies breads to a local family restaurant.

[gastroanthropologist]

mycookinghut - Yes! The tagine picture is from Chez Chergrouni...we sat outside overlooking Djemma el Fna and saw so many interesting people walk by! Since we headed straight to the mountains we missed coastal Morocco. Best bread in the world?! - sounds like I may need to make a second visit.

[lisa from dandysugar]

I love Moroccan food. Your photos are delicious--love the photos of the spices and the bowls. I was thinking about making flatbread this week or next, so your recipe comes at the perfect time!

[Lori]

I don't know that I've had anything that was spefically Moroccan food before. I have no doubt I would love it. The pictures of the spices are beautiful. It is always so hard to going back to giving $5 for a tiny bottle when you return home after seeing them so plentiful like that.

So glad to have the recipe for the flat bread. That is something I've wanted to try making at home.

[cheffresco]

Amazing photos! I would love to go to Morocco. The flatbread sounds delicious!

[The Duo Dishes]

You have some of the best travel tales to share. All that influences your cooking. It's a nice pattern.

[deana]

Lovely blog.. great theme. I look forward to visiting again.

[Sophie]

I do love Moroccon food. It is so versatile too!

Lovely pictures & you never seem to stop travelling,...

The flatbread looks amazing & ooh so tasty!

[Maria]

Oh, I dream of visiting Morocco some day! It's definitely on my to do list. This all looks great ... love the flavors.

[Katrina]

I had no idea you went to my morocco - one of the most fascinating places on the earth in my view.

what we liked the most about the food there was....an ordinary sandwich of a pitta bread with a boiled egg and a potato mashed into its insides, with some olive oil, cumin and salt on top. honestly, I found it better than any tagine

[Tangled Noodle]

I so enjoy your travel/food posts - the photography, as always, is beautiful and the descriptions so evocative. And isn't it great to be able to recreate even a small portion of it back at home? Thank you for the flatbread recipe - it's definitely something I must try!

[Darina]

Lovely photos. I've been wanting to go to Morocco for the longest time. I so envy all of these places you have been visiting. For now I must remain an armchair traveler. I really enjoy the posts of all of your travel, A.