In the late ’60s and early ’70s my family and I would spend our entire summer holidays in Tangier; Until this very day, I still feel the nostalgia of those wonderful days.
By ISAAC MASSIASA market in Tangier(photo credit: AYA MASSIAS)
Tangier is located on the Maghreb coast, only 45 minutes by boat from the Spanish town of Tarifa, located in the southernmost tip of Spain, where Europe ends (or begins). From my house in southern Spain, on a clear day one can see the Atlas Mountains as well as houses in Tangier – that is how close we are to North Africa.The history of Tangier is exceptionally rich; I had the privilege of experiencing Tangier in its colonial era, at a time when it was the destination for European and American diplomats, spies, writers, artists and businessmen; everyone who was anyone, including the entire European bohemia, would make an appearance in Tangier. During this fabulous colonial period, there were over 162,000 Jews living in Morocco.Those were truly the golden days of Morocco.In the late ’60s and early ’70s my family and I would spend our entire summer holidays in Tangier. Until this very day, I still feel the nostalgia of those wonderful days.My family owned a lovely house in the mountains on the outskirts of Tangier, where we had a swimming pool, horses and five dogs.Muhammad and Zorah, a lovely couple from Tétouan, worked in the house and took care of every household chore, including the cooking, of course. Zorah was an incredible cook; for this reason we would call her manitas de oro (hands of gold). Every Tuesday and Thursday morning, I would join Zorah on her food market visit, where we would walk through the medina market. Zorah seemed to know every single Berber in the food market. These Berbers would descend from the mountains at dawn to sell their daily fresh food products.Last week I decided to spend a day in Tangier with my wife, Aya, and our Australian friends who were visiting. My aim was to introduce them to locations I used to frequently visit as a young boy, including old synagogues, the Casbah, the medina market, the once-glorious Madame Porte Café from the city’s colonial period, as well as the famous Minzah Hotel.Being the culinary enthusiast that I am, I consistently keep my eyes and ears open for new recipes, and the recipes I will present to you today are based on this recent trip. The writer is a trained chef from the Savoy Hotel London and former owner of restaurants in Israel and New York. Today, he and his wife run Yaya Food & Travel Ltd. www.jewishheritagetourseurope.com; massiasisaac@yahoo.es Shoulder of lamb with Moroccan spices and dried figsServes 5■ 1 shoulder of lamb (around 2½ kg.)■ 8 garlic cloves■ ¼ cup mixed Moroccan spices (cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves)■ 1 cup dried figs■ ½ cup honey■ ½ cup Dijon mustard■ ½ cup peppercorns■ 1 cup mixed fresh herbs■ 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil■ Sea salt, to tastePut the lamb in a tray and cover it with the honey and mustard. Leave in fridge for 1 hour. Remove lamb from fridge and place in a Pyrex container. Crush half of the peppercorn and sprinkle on the lamb, together with half of the spices and half of the olive oil. Roast the lamb in a very hot oven (around 250°) for one hour. Remove from oven and sprinkle on the lamb the rest of the peppercorns, spices and olive oil. In the Pyrex container, put all the dried figs around the lamb shoulder and bake for an extra hour.Carve the lamb shoulder and serve on a bed of couscous.Baked bass in a tajine pot served with pickled baby eggplant, lemons and fresh rosemaryServes 6■ 6 whole bass (around 400 gr. each)■ 12 pickled baby eggplants■ 6 small limes or lemons■ ½ cup fresh chopped rosemary■ 12 cloves of garlic■ ½ cup olive oil■ Sea salt and pepper, to taste■ 6 small tajine clay dishesStart by cleaning the bass well and making on each one horizontal cuts. If you have tajine clay dishes, in each one place one bass, two pickled eggplants and one lime or lemon cut in four pieces. Sprinkle on the bass the olive oil, rosemary and sea salt, close the container and put in a very hot oven for 45 minutes.Serve the bass directly from the oven to the table. If you do not have tajine dishes, place all the bass on a tray, add the eggplants, lemons, rosemary and salt and bake for 30 minutes.Serve with a fresh seasonal salad. If you have time, prepare fresh garlic mayonnaise; it goes wonderfully with the fish.Moroccan half-moon biscuits with butter and almonds Makes 24 biscuitsVery easy to prepare■ 200 gr. butter■ 280 gr. plain flour■ 120 gr. ground almonds■ 75 gr. icing sugarPlace all the ingredients in a food processor. Once the biscuit dough is ready, remove from food processor and roll small balls of dough. Place baking paper on an oven tray, shape each dough ball like a half moon and place on the tray. Bake biscuits for 20 minutes in a medium-hot oven. When they are ready, dip them in icing sugar. They go well with Moroccan mint tea.
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