Cuisine: North African Lamb Tajine with Dates

There's something about home-cooking that leaves you feeling more than merely satiated at the end of a meal. There's more to it than simply physically mixing raw ingredients and chemically transforming them into unique flavor combinations. Home-cooking, particularly the highly prized sub-genre dubbed "Mama's cooking", contains other ingredients that you won't find on the shelves of your local supermarket. These are elements of tenderness, passion, and nostalgia, ever so subtly and delicately woven directly into the gastronomic tapestry of distinct dishes. Neurologists have already demonstrated how specific flavors and aromas can induce increased brain activity by contributing to memory formation and association. They also simultaneously lead to the release of chemical transmitters that create the sense of pleasure and other highly complex human emotions. Simply stated, genuine home-cooking is not about eating to live, but more aptly living to eat - a perpetuation of both family traditions and biological sustenance that fits conveniently in your spoon.

Whether your mother is a renowned cook or not, everyone can attribute at least one special "comfort food" recipe to that truly incomparable woman in our lives. For many of my friends here in the States, it was her Mac-n-Cheese, her crispy fried chicken, or her hearty lasagne. For me, it was my mother's tajine. The tajine (طاجين) by itself simply refers to the very distinct ceramic cooking vessel that is used across Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia to slowly braise meats and vegetables to a juicy, spicy, and tender perfection. In essence, a two-thousand year old Saharan Crock-Pot. The purpose behind this form of cooking derives from conserving water in the desert climate of North Africa, and the science behind it lies in the pot's conical lid that cooks via convection, circulating moisture and spice molecules ever so gently for hours. Of the countless recipes and variations stretching across the large region, I'd like to share my mother's sweet tajine of spiced lamb with Medjool dates and orange blossom honey. This recipe can very nicely substitute dates for dried Turkish figs as well.

As with all my recipes, I don't generally measure any of the spices or condiments (thanks, Mama). I'll attempt to describe amounts, but I feel that tastes differ and you may find yourself adding more or less of a certain ingredient as you see fit.

INGREDIENTS: 

For the lamb marinade (optional, but recommended, usually done the night before):

0.5 kg lamb leg, cut into cubes
0.5 cup olive oil (or enough to coat the meat)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cumin 

1 teaspoon ground coriander
0.5 teaspoon paprika 

0.5 teaspoon ginger 

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon pomegranate molasses

1 teaspoon garlic paste or minced garlic
1 tablespoon cooking wine
1 teaspoon salt

For the tajine stew:

0.5 kg lamb leg (either marinaded from above or freshly cut)

1 large yellow onion, minced or cut into thin slices

4 cloves fresh garlic, minced

1 small chunk of fresh ginger, minced

1 clump of fresh coriander/cilantro
Pinch of saffron threads

1 cup of lamb or beef broth

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon of Ras el Hanout** 

1 teaspoon paprika
**A Moroccan spice blend, can be made ahead or special ordered. If you can't do either, loosely substitute with spices mentioned above for the lamb marinade

For the finishing sauce:
 

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon orange blossom water
1 tablespoon honey
7-10 fresh Medjool dates (or dried Turkish figs)

1-2 dried chilli

THE METHOD:

• Combine the olive oil, honey, pomegranate molasses, and all marinade spices and blend in a food processor until a smooth paste. Pour over cubed meat and mix for even coating. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.
  
• Bring 1 cup of lamb or beef broth to near boiling, then add the pinch of saffron and remove from heat. Allow the saffron to steep in the broth for at least 5 minutes.

• In the base of a tajine, heat on medium high and add the marinated meat. Brown the meat evenly for a couple minutes, then remove. If the meat does not exude enough oil, add a tablespoon of olive oil to prevent burning. Remove the meat from the tajine and set aside
  
• Add the minced/sliced onions, minced garlic, and minced ginger to the heated tajine. Add more olive oil if necessary and sautee for a few minutes until slightly golden and moist, careful not to burn. Spread the onions evenly on the bottom of the tajine.
  
  
• Upon the bed of onions, placed the browned meat along with its marinade juices. Spread the meat throughout the tajine, then add enough saffron infused broth to fully cover the bottom of the tajine.
  
• Sprinkle the spices for the stew evenly over the top of the meat, along with drizzling 2 tablespoons of honey. Cover with the tajine lid and reduce to very low heat and simmer for about 45 minutes (length of simmer time will depend on how large you cube your meat). Try to avoid opening the tajine during this time.
  
• Upon opening the tajine, you will notice that the amount of liquid has increased, or practically doubled. Spoon out about half of the liquid until the original levels have been reached. SAVE this liquid and place in a small sauce pot.
  
• Evenly arrange the Medjool dates or figs throughout the tajine, placing them in between the pieces of meat and ensuring that they are partially submerged in the remaining liquid. Place a small bunch of cilantro (coriander) stems/leaves directly on top of the meat and cover again with the tajine lid. Simmer gently on very low heat for an additional 40-45 minutes.
  
• In the separate small pot, heat the saved liquid extracted from the tajine. Add some finely chopped dates or figs to the liquid, along with an teaspoon of cinnamon, honey, and orange blossom water. A whole dried chili can also be added to give the finishing sauce a kick. Bring to low simmer and reduce until the sauce starts to thicken. Once soft enough, mash the chopped dates into the mixture to help thicken the sauce. Taste to determine desired level of sweetness, adding honey if necessary.
  
• After 40-45 minutes, open the tajine again. If the meat is tender, discard the coriander/cilantro stems and mix the ingredients of the tajine thoroughly. Take the finishing sauce from the sauce pan and remove any date pits or other fibrous solids. Preferably, you can run the sauce through a strainer for a nice smoother sauce. Pour this reduced sauce back over the meat and date/fig  mixture in the tajine.
  
• You can either serve this finished dish in the same tajine you used for cooking or you may transfer the contents to a more decorative serving tajine. An optional, though highly recommended garnish is fried blanched almonds, toasted sesame seeds, or roasted pine nuts sprinkled over the top. Eat this tajine hot with a nice doughy bread to soak up the sauce.
  

For those of you who are new to tajine cooking and would prefer a better, more visual idea of how to prepare this dish using the traditional method, please watch my quick-n-dirty Lamb Tajine Tutorial below! The recipe is not exactly identical to the one mentioned above, but the overall process is the same.

For other amazing home-style dishes from North Africa, please refer to my recipes for Moroccan Chicken Bastilla and Tunisian Shakshouka!

Cuisine: Morocco's Acclaimed Chicken Bastilla

Last Christmas, a graduate friend and fellow food lover told me his department was hosting its annual holiday pie contest. Certainly there would be an expected overload on traditional dessert pies and other sweet confections, but his culinary interests sparked grander intentions of a more "exotic" nature. Why not a savory pie? No sooner had he mentioned "bastilla" was I immediately transported back to my days in Morocco and Tunisia, reveling in the sweet and spicy,  pastry-filled concoction of saffron chicken and cinnamon almonds. Bastilla on my mind the entire week, I knew what had to happen that weekend. With good old Arabic classics on surround sound and Mama on the phone, I set out in my kitchen to make some Maghrebi magic.

While variations exist all throughout North Africa, the most renowned bastilla can be found in Morocco. Described in the West as a "spiced meat pie", a title that I feel greatly undermines the true nature of the dish, bastilla is generally recognized as a savory stuffed pastry consisting of three very distinct internal layers. Traditionally, the primary layer consists of shredded pigeon, braised to perfection in a broth of saffron, onion, and cilantro. These days, chicken is most commonly used, although a number of fusion chefs have begun to experiment with both red meats and fish. The spicy secondary layer is made from cooking eggs in the remaining broth until a form of "scramble" is created. The sweet final layer (and quite possibly the most divine) is a blanket of fried almonds, ground and mixed with cinnamon, sugar, and orange blossom water. All of these layers are traditionally wrapped in layers of warqa, a crepe-like dough, although paper-thin filo is more commonly found outside of Morocco. Each layer imparts a distinct and complex attribute that, when combined properly into the final product, possesses an almost synergistic explosion of flavor. 

As with all my recipes, I don't generally measure any of the spices or condiments (thanks, Mama). I'll attempt to describe amounts, but I feel that tastes differ and you may find yourself adding more or less of a certain ingredient as you see fit.

INGREDIENTS & METHOD:

Making the chicken layer:

3-4 large chicken thighs (dark meat is moister and more flavorful)
2 white onions, finely chopped
1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
5 cloves of chopped garlic or 1.5 tablespoons garlic paste
2 cups of water
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon Ras el Hanout** 
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon tumeric powder
Large pinch of saffron threads
2 tablespoons olive oil

**A Moroccan spice blend, can be made ahead or special ordered. If you can't do either, substitute with 1 big teaspoon each of ground cumin and coriander.

• Heat the olive oil in a large pot. Add the garlic/garlic paste, onions, cilantro, and all of the spices *except* saffron.
• Combine well and fry the mixture until onions are lightly browned, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low and cover the pot, cooking the onion mixture for a couple minutes.
• Meanwhile, bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a sauce pan. Once boiling, remove from heat and add the pinch of saffron, allowing it to infuse into the hot water.
• Add the chicken thighs to the main pot, burying them under the onion mixture. Pour the 2 cups of saffron water into the pot to cover the chicken.
• Cover with a lid and allow the chicken to simmer until cooked, around 20 minutes.
• When cooked, remove the thighs from the onion broth and allow to cool, then shred the chicken into strips and set aside. Remove and discard any bones.
• Reserve the remaining onion broth for making the scramble layer.

Making the scramble layer:

6 eggs
Broth generated from cooking the chicken

• Add 6 eggs into the pot containing the remaining onion broth.
• Stir the mixture frequently to prevent any burning and simmer on medium-low heat until all liquid has been cooked off. 
• The finished product will become a spiced egg scramble. Set egg mixture aside.

Making the almond layer:

 2 cups of blanched, slivered almonds
0.5 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1.5 tablespoons orange blossom water
1 cup frying oil

• Heat oil on high in a frying pan. Add the blanched almonds and fry until light brown, careful not to burn them.
• Remove the fried almonds from the pan, strain from excess oil, and allow to dry before placing them in a food processor.
• Add the sugar, cinnamon, and orange blossom water to the food processor then grind until a crumbly blend is formed. It's fine if the blend is moist. Set almond mixture aside.

Assembling the bastilla:

Package of filo dough
Half a stick of butter, melted
1 egg yolk, beaten
Cooked products for all three layers
Powdered sugar and cinnamon for "dusting" the finished pie

• Roll out the package of filo dough. Handle with care, as each sheet is like tissue paper. When not actively working with it, keep it under a damp tea towel to prevent it from drying out.
• In a 12" round pie dish, lay out four overlapping filo sheets (each folded in half for extra strength) from the center of the dish in the shape of a cross, allowing the sheet to drape over the edge of the dish. 
• With melted butter, carefully brush an even coat over the filo sheets on the inside of the dish.
• Add the shredded chicken to the dish to form the first flat layer. Cover the chicken layer with two additional overlapping filo sheets, then brush the top with butter.
• Add the egg mixture and spread out evenly over the top to form the next layer up. Cover the egg layer with two additional overlapping filo sheets, then brush the top with butter.
• Repeat the same steps from the previous two layers for the final almond layer.
• When all layers have been added, take the excess filo draped over the edge of the dish and fold back over the top of the pie. Remember to brush with butter between sheets.
• Add 5 more sheets of filo over the top of the pie, brushing with butter between each sheet, and tucking the excess dough into the dish around the pie's circumference.
• Finally, brush the top of the pie with egg yolk and place in the oven at 350 F for around 25 minutes, or until top is golden brown.
• Dust the finished bastilla with a light layer of powered sugar and cinnamon.

Due to the multiple parts and confusing filo folding in this recipe, I decided to shoot an amateur video to better demonstrate the process. And you even get a sampler of some awesome North African music, both in Arabic and Amazigh!