How easy it would be to give a kitchen inspired gift I would like to receive. But I would rather give the intended recipient(s) something they would really want. My latest opportunity to find just the "right" gift was a lot of fun to acquire and proved to be an inspiration in its own right.
Low and behold the gift of this Tagine:
Our good friends, Doug & Susan, recently moved into their home at the Marrakesh Country Club in Palm Desert. The best way to describe the styling of the housing structures would be Hollywood Regency. You know .... mansard roofs and pullman doors.
The tricky part of a Hollywood Regency home paired with the name Marrakesh is how to decorate. Fortunately the week before our visit to see them and their new home, they came through our town. I mentioned to my hubby John, "let's pay attention to what they're talking about for their new place. Maybe we'll figure out just the right housewarming gift."
Like a gift delivered from the gods, our friends brought a design book to show us the ideas they were thinking about. Susan said she was going for a bit of the glamour age that Hollywood Regency dictates, but wanted to give a nod to the Moroccan influenced name.
While they both slipped away to the restroom, John and I quickly thumbed through the book for ideas. See what we saw?
After work one evening, we went to the nearest Williams Sonoma and selected our gift. Very pleased with ourselves, we took ourselves out to dinner discovering a fantastic Pho restaurant in the mall, 9021PHO. But I digress....
The gift was well received and the enthusiasm of what to cook in it the next night took on a life of its own. After much research we decided on a variation from Epicurious's Chicken Tagine with Couscous. Being we were not in the land of Morocco, we shopped at the next best ethnic store in the Coachella Valley, Cardenas Market.
A market full of wonderful meats, spices and produce but alas no couscous. Adapt! Purchased orzo instead. We got a little enthusiastic with our chicken buying and bought too much for our Tagine vessel. Punt!
We decided it was enough that the Tagine inspired us to make this dish and instead chose the casserole in-the-oven route to bake our feast. The couscous portion of the meal now turned into a toasted orzo with figs to accompany our braised meat.
We were in a bit of a hurry to get the dish in the oven for a slow cook and didn't get photos documenting the assembly. It is not terribly difficult as you'll see in the recipe below.
The reason we were in a hurry, is we were aiming to have another type of Moroccan experience. Market shopping...
We perused every one of the stalls at this bi-weekly swap meet while our dinner concoction was brewing. By the time we got back home, the most aromatic fragrance drifted to our very hungry tummies. Imagine how pretty this picture would have been if we could have fit it in the Tagine.
Again, no more time for picture taking...we were over the top ready to eat. But check out the big cinnamon stick floating in our dish. It permeated every bit of the meat. Did the same kind of treatment in the broth where the orzo cooked.
Chicken Tagine (adapted from Epicurious)
Toasted Orzo with Dried Figs (My own invention):
**Recipe Below**
Low and behold the gift of this Tagine:
Hand painted Tagine |
Courtesy Palm Springs Modernism Week |
Like a gift delivered from the gods, our friends brought a design book to show us the ideas they were thinking about. Susan said she was going for a bit of the glamour age that Hollywood Regency dictates, but wanted to give a nod to the Moroccan influenced name.
While they both slipped away to the restroom, John and I quickly thumbed through the book for ideas. See what we saw?
After work one evening, we went to the nearest Williams Sonoma and selected our gift. Very pleased with ourselves, we took ourselves out to dinner discovering a fantastic Pho restaurant in the mall, 9021PHO. But I digress....
The gift was well received and the enthusiasm of what to cook in it the next night took on a life of its own. After much research we decided on a variation from Epicurious's Chicken Tagine with Couscous. Being we were not in the land of Morocco, we shopped at the next best ethnic store in the Coachella Valley, Cardenas Market.
A market full of wonderful meats, spices and produce but alas no couscous. Adapt! Purchased orzo instead. We got a little enthusiastic with our chicken buying and bought too much for our Tagine vessel. Punt!
We decided it was enough that the Tagine inspired us to make this dish and instead chose the casserole in-the-oven route to bake our feast. The couscous portion of the meal now turned into a toasted orzo with figs to accompany our braised meat.
We were in a bit of a hurry to get the dish in the oven for a slow cook and didn't get photos documenting the assembly. It is not terribly difficult as you'll see in the recipe below.
The reason we were in a hurry, is we were aiming to have another type of Moroccan experience. Market shopping...
If one can't go to the Moroccan Quarter in Granada...then the next best thing is.... |
The Indio Evening/Night Market, picture courtesy Susan Myrland |
Again, no more time for picture taking...we were over the top ready to eat. But check out the big cinnamon stick floating in our dish. It permeated every bit of the meat. Did the same kind of treatment in the broth where the orzo cooked.
If the Tagine didn't cook it, it made a lovely centerpiece |
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 large chicken (about 3 pounds), cut into 8 pieces
- Kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper and Ras El Hanout (Moroccan spice)
- 15 cipollini onions, blanched and peeled
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1/2-inch piece ginger, finely chopped
- 1 cup chicken stock or canned low-sodium broth
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon saffron
- 1/2 cup olives, pitted
- 1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- 1/2 lemon, chopped
Toasted Orzo with Dried Figs (My own invention):
- 1 lb of orzo
- 1 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
- 1-inch cinnamon stick
- 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/4 teaspoon of Ras El Hanout
- 1 cup roughly chopped dried figs
It was well-received indeed! And the chicken and orzo were equally delicious the next day. Thank you so much :-)
ReplyDeleteIt was so much our pleasure to share the adventure with you!
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