Instead of using a traditional registry for their recent wedding, my friends advised their friends and family to give used kitchen supplies as gifts. While scouring the kitchen in search of a suitable gift, my eyes fell upon my Moroccan tagine. Tagines are beautiful and create amazing dishes. I use mine on the stovetop, as a sort of slow cooker that is especially useful for North African stews, saucy lamb meatballs, or tender chicken and fish dishes. On top of its practicality and aesthetic appeal, a tagine also had nostalgic appeal for the pair who I intended to give it to, as they had spent a semester traveling together in Morocco, where couscous and vegetable tagine dishes are incredibly common.
Despite realizing the tagine was the perfect gift, selfish and nostalgic impulse took over and I kept mine, purchasing a new one for my friends. If you are looking to buy a tagine, check out the elegant Emile Henry tagines at The Chopping Block. Those guys are easy to clean, large enough to feed a family, and stunning to look at.
Thinking about the tagine had me drooling for a Moroccan dish, and I knew I had preserved lemons in the pantry, which are a staple in many of my tagine recipes. Preserved lemons provide an almost olive-like flavor to the dish, but with a citrusy bite. The lemons lose some of their overpowering sourness and the peel loses its bitterness through the preservation process, so the entire lemon is chopped and used. They’re really easy to make, too, although the ones I used I picked up at The Spice House when I lived in Chicago.
This recipe comes from Ghillie Basan’s beautiful little book Tagine: Spicy Stews from Morocco (2007).
Fish Tagine with Preserved Lemon and Mint
The marinade, or chermoula, comes first. Pound 3 garlic cloves, a red chile, and salt into a paste. Add a bunch of cilantro leaves, a pinch of saffron, and 2 tsp cumin and then add to 3 Tbs olive oil and the juice of one (fresh) lemon. Set aside two teaspoons of the mixture. Add 2 lbs of chunked fish fillets (haddock or cod preferably) to the chermoula and let sit for an hour or two in the frig.
Heat a few Tbs of grapeseed oil in the base of the tagine and saute chopped onion, carrot, and celery until softened. I used two celery ribs, two small onions, and a few small carrots. Adjust based on the size of your tagine – mine is a 9 inch. Add a chopped preserved lemon and the two teaspoons of chermoula set aside and a can of plum tomatoes. Cook for 10 min, then add 2/3 cup fish stock (or water) and 2/3 cup white wine or sherry. Again, adjust based on the diameter of your tagine. Bring the liquid to a boil, set the tagine cover down on the base, and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
Finally, add the marinaded fish to the tagine, cover again, and cook for 6-8 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, leftover preserved lemon, and a bunch of shredded mint leaves.
Simply delicious!
If you’re interested in using Moroccan tagines or cooking with similar flavors and ingredients at home, you can always learn some new skills in our cooking classes like Food and Wine of the Mediterranean or Seafood on the Grill.
