Convenience food - Marrakech style

Jamie Oliver’s latest venture takes him to cities in Europe and North Africa. In one programme he visits Marrakech. I have never visited Morocco and my only impression of the city came from this programme. It seems a city of narrow alleys and markets with plenty of colour, spice and aromas and the guide books Lonely Planet and Fodor back this up.

In one scene a young boy around 12 years old knocked at the door of Jamie’s small apartment early in the morning. He then hurried off along the road with Jamie hot-footing it behind him – demonstrating he was much less nimble than the youngster! The young lad carried six dough balls on a large tray. Eventually they arrived at a baker’s and the boy left the tray behind and went off to school. Other children had also done the same and each mum had marked her dough balls so that they could be differentiated. The children would collect their breads, now cooked, on return from school for lunch. This was the most efficient way of each family obtaining hot, fresh bread. On top of this the children are given a responsibility not to mention exercise. That’s three things many UK children miss out on chaperoned back and forth in cars and coaches with their Monster Munch and string cheese!

Jamie also demonstrated how young single men sort out their evening meal. The men go with an earthenware pot to purchase meat, spices, fruits and vegs plus some olive oil all from the same vendor. The vendor puts everything in the pot together and the ingredients are then slow cooked. And we marvel how Waitrose and Sainsbury’s now offer some lemon or herb butter and parsley with their fish!

Later the young single males can enjoy this “stew with attitude” as Jamie puts it in his inimitable style. Add some of the wonderful bread and a glass of wine and the Moroccan bachelors’ dinner compares extremely favourable with the supermarket ready made meals or the greasy kebab favoured by many of their counterparts here in the UK.

Jamie’s tagine recipe can be found at http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/beef-recipes/beef-tagine. The special tagine pots are not needed – a casserole dish or even a saucepan is sufficient