FoodMuseum - Restaurant

Tagine Djej Emshmel

Chicken with preserved lemons and olives (Moroccan dish, 8 persons)

A tagine is a Moroccan, earthenware cookpot with a conic cover. It is also the name of a dish prepared in a tagine.

Ingredients

8 chicken thighs

150 g chicken livers (cleaned)

6 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

1 teaspoon powdered ginger

1 teaspoon sweet paprika powder

¼ teaspoon roasted and grounded cumin seeds

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

Pinch of saffron, soaked in a little bit of hot water

1 cup of chopped fresh parsley and coriander leaves

2 preserved (salted) lemons (Morroccan shop)

4 tablespoons mild olive oil

750 g grated onions

200 g black olives (stoneless)

2 lemons’ juice

4 dl water

salt

Preparation:

• Remove the skin from the chicken thighs

• Put the olive oil in the tagine

• Place the tagine on a low fire and wait until it is warm

• Add chicken, livers, garlic, ginger, paprika, cumin and pepper

• Add 4 tablespoons of grated onions to the mixture and stir

• Add the chopped fresh herbs

• Add the saffron (with the water)

• Add the water

• Bring the mixture to the boil slowly, put the cover on the tagine and simmer for 30 minuts on low fire.

• Take out the livers and chop them

• Add the remaining grated onions with the chopped livers

• Simmer for at least 30 minutes, till the meat is soft

• Wash the preserved lemons, cut them in 8 slices and lay them, with the olives, in the tagine

• Simmer for about 10 minutes without the cover

• Add the lemon juice and salt to taste

• Sprinkle with some fresh coriander leaves and serve with plain couscous, rice or bread

(recipe inspired by Paula Wolfert - Good Food from Morocco (John Murray Publishers, London 1973)

Londen

The Bombing of Adrianople

(10 stuffed and fried riceballs)

This recipe from La Cucina Futurista was created by the futurist artist Pascà d’Angel. The name of the recipe refers to Filippo Marinetti’s ‘ZANG TUMB TUMB”, an avantgardist acoustic poem. The poem was inspired by the gunfire and explosions of the Battle of Adrianople (Edirne, Bulgary, 1912), where the Bulgarians defeated the Ottomans, and which Marinetti witnessed as a reporter. In this recipe Pascà d'Angel associates the violence of the battle with the sizzling and bubbling of the riceballs when they are thrown into the boiling oil. Pascà d’Angel’s recipe wasn’t as innovative as Marinetti’s poem. In South-Italian tavola calda fried rice balls were (and still are) a common snack.

Ingredients:

2 eggs

100 g black olives (stoneless), cut in slices

50 g capres

100 g mozzarella, cut in 10 slices

5 salted anchovis filets

25 g butter

100 g rice

½ liter milk

breadcrumbs

salt

black pepper

frying oil

Preparation:

• Cook the rice in the milk till half done.

• Add butter and salt and take the pan from the fire.

• Add 1 egg and stir

• Let the mixture cool down and divide it into 10 portions

• Add 1 slice of mozzarella, ½ anchovies, 3 or 4 capres, olive slices and pepper to each portion

• Try to make small balls of each portion, the rice on the outside

• Cover the balls with whipped egg, roll them through the breadcrumbs and fry them in hot oil.

Mole Pablano de Guajolote

Serves 8-10.

Ingredients:

6 ancho chiles

4 pasilla chiles

4 mulato chiles

1 turkey, cut into serving pieces

4 Tbsp. lard (or canola oil)

2 onions, chopped, about 2 cups

4 cloves garlic, chopped

½ teaspoon anise

4 Tbsp. sesame seeds

2 to 3 sprigs fresh coriander

1 tortilla or 1 slice of toast, cut up

1 lb. (about 3 medium) tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped, about 2 ½ cups

1 cup blanched almonds

½ cup raisins

½ tsp. ground cloves

½ tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. ground coriander seeds

1 ½ 1-ounce squares unsweetened chocolate

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:

The Chiles

Wash the chiles in cold water. Remove veins, stems and seeds and tear them roughly into 1- to 2-inch pieces. Place in a bowl and soak them in hot water, about 1 cup to six chiles – about 2 ¼ cups – for about an hour.

Put the chiles and the water in which they’ve soaked in a blender or food processor and briefly blend. Don’t overblend or the mixture will lack character.

The Turkey

Cover the turkey pieces with salted water; bring to a boil and simmer 1 hour. Drain, reserving 2 cups of stock. Dry the pieces of turkey thoroughly with paper towels. Heat the lard in a skillet; then brown the turkey pieces in the hot fat, a few pieces at a time. Transfer to a large, flameproof casserole or dutch oven you can take to the table, reserving the lard. (I would then take the turkey meat off the bone.)

The Rest

Combine the onions, garlic, almonds, raisins, cloves, cinnamon, coriander seeds, anise, 2 tablespoons of the sesame seeds, fresh coriander, tortilla or toast, prepared chiles and the tomatoes. Blend or process a small amount at a time to make a coarse puree. Heat the lard remaining in the skillet, adding, if necessary, enough fat to make about 3 tablespoons. Cook the puree in the hot fat for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the 2 cups of turkey broth, the chocolate, salt and pepper to taste, and cook, stirring, over low heat until the chocolate has melted. The sauce should be quite thick – somewhat thicker than heavy cream. Pour the sauce over the turkey in the casserole and cook, covered, over the lowest possible heat for 30 minutes. Just before serving, sprinkle with the rest of the sesame seeds.

As with many stewish foods, this dish only gets better with age.

From: Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz - The Complete Book of Mexican Cooking (Bantam Books)