Epicurious
by Amy Sherman
Morocco provides a myriad of foodie shopping opportunities. On my first trip to Morocco back in November I bought spices and cookies to share with friends and family. On this trip I brought back even more. The first thing I bought were two lemon wood spatulas. Similar to wooden spoons, they have a flat bottom for scraping and I am sure they will come in very handy. I only spent a little over a dollar each, and I’m already sorry I didn’t buy more because I think any cook would appreciate them.
Ras el hanout means "top of the shop." It’s a blend of up to 20 or 30 spices used in recipes such as tagines. I didn’t use all the ras el hanout spice blend I obtained on my first trip, so I didn’t buy more of that, but I did stock up on a lot more cumin, because it is so much more pungent than what we can get. It has a very distinctive aroma. I also bought paprika, turmeric, saffron, ginger, and cinnamon stick. In my cooking classes with Access Trips, I found these were the spices I used the most. I also purchased harissa, a special request from a chef who once worked in a Moroccan restaurant.
Rather than buy spices at the souk where you see mostly tourists, I asked our guide Abdellah to take us to where Moroccans buy spices everyday. He took us to Daoudiate, a tranquil middle-class neighborhood in Marrakech and a friendly shop called Confiserie Al Qoda where they also sold dried fruits and nuts. It was a great off-the-itinerary stop and everyone on the tour purchased spices there for very reasonable prices.
On my last day, I surprised the manager at the poshDar Les Cigognes by asking if the house driver would take me to a supermarket. I ended up atMetro, which is a bit like a restaurant-supply store. I was particularly intrigued to see the fresh produce both local and international, the dairy products, lots of different grades of flour, and the wine selection. I bought bouillon cubes, flavored with saffron andsmen, a distinctive aged butter that tastes a bit like cheese and is sometimes used in tagines and couscous. Smen and preserved lemons are not practical ingredients to import so I will try making them at home. I would have liked to buy a couscoussiere, but I didn’t have the room to bring it home in my suitcase. Hopefully each of my purchases will enhance my Moroccan cooking, until my next trip…
What ingredients and cookware have you brought back from trips abroad?
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