"Casablanca"

On September 18, 2010 we decided on a night of North African passion: Casablanca and a Moroccan feast. It was a resounding success as the food lived up to our expectations, but the movie proved to be, as of yet, the only film that no one disliked! A coup! To say the least. Enjoy the recipes and our post-film discussion!

RECIPES

Drinks

Moroccan Mint Tea Cocktail

Ingredients(one serving):

- 4 whole mint leaves

- 1/2 cup pre-made sweetened ice tea

- small splash lime juice

- ice

Directions:

1. Add ice and mint leaves into a cocktail shaker. Shake a few times to bruise mint leaves. Add remaining ingredients and shake to combine. Pour into ice tea glass.

Appetizers

Grilled Red Pepper and Hummus Spread

Ingredients (serves 6):

- 1 box of canned chickpeas

- 24 pieces of julienned grilled red peppers

- 1 tablespoon of lemon juice

- 1 tablespoon of finely minced parsley

- 1 teaspoon of cumin

- 1/4 teaspoon of paprika

- 1/4 teaspoon of salt

- 1 baguette of French bread

- 100g of feta cheese

- 1 clove of garlic, minced

- 2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

1. Combine the chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice, parsley, cumin, paprika, salt

and olive oil in a food prosessor, cover and mix until smooth consistency.

2. Cut the pieces of bread diagonally into 24 pieces. Grill the bread in the oven.

3. Spread the hummus onto the bread. Place some feta cheese and a piece of grilled pepper on top of the hummus. Serve.

Grilled pepper and hummus appetizer

Salads

Cucumber and Olive Salad

Ingredients (serves 4):

- 4 Lebanese (short) cucumbers

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 1 finely chopped red onion

- 3 teaspoons caster sugar

- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

- 60 ml olive oil

- 1 teaspoon finely chopped lemon thyme

- freshly ground pepper to taste

- 90g black olives

Directions:

1. Wash cucumbers and dry with paper towels. Do not peel cucumbers if the skin is tender.

2. Coarsely grate the cucumbers, mix with salt and leave to drain well.

3. Add the red onion and sugar to the cucumbers and toss together.

4. Beat the vinegar with the olive oil in a small bowl, then add the lemon thyme and freshly ground black pepper, to taste.

5. Whisk the ingredients together and pour over the cucumber.

6. Cover and chill for 15 minutes. Scatter with black olives and serve.

Note on the cucumber and olive salad: We left out the sugar and didn't have lemon thyme, so instead used a combination of thyme and lemongrass to replace the otherwise unavailable lemon thyme. Turned out just fine!

Warm Eggplant Salad

Ingredients (serves 6):

- 1lb eggplants

- 3 tomatoes

- olive oil for frying

- 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic

- 1 teaspoon of paprika

- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

- 2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander

- 2 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

- 1/2 preserved lemon

Directions:

1. Using a vegetable peeler, remove strips of skin along the length of each eggplant. Cut the eggplants into 1cm thick slices, sprinkle with salt and layer in a colander. Leave for 20-30 minutes then rinse under cold running water. Drain, squeeze the slices gently, then pat them dry with paper towels.

2. Peel the tomatoes by first scoring a cross in the base of each one using a knife. Put in a bowl of boiling water for 20 seconds, then plunge into a bowl of cold water to cool. Remove from the water and peel the skin away from the cross- it should slip off easily. Cut the tomatoes in half horizontally and squeeze out the seeds. Chop the tomatoes and set aside.

3. Add the olive oil to a frying pan to a depth of 5mm. Heat the oil and fry the eggplant slices, in batches, until they are browned on each side. Set aside on a plate. Add more oil to the pan as needed.

4. Using the oil left in the pan, cook the garlic over low heat for a few seconds. Add the tomato, paprika, cumin and cayenne pepper and increase the heat to medium. Add the eggplant slices and cook, mashing the eggplant and tomato gently with a fork. Continue to cook until most of the liquid has evaporated. When the oil separates, drain off some if it seems excessive; however, some oil should be left in as it adds to the flavor of the dish. Add the coriander and lemon juice and season with freshly ground black pepper and a little salt if necessary. Tip into a serving bowl.

5. If using preserved lemon, rinse under cold running water and remove the pulp and membrane. Chop the rind into small pieces and scatter over the eggplant or, alternatively, garnish with slices of fresh lemon. Serve warm or at room temperature with bread.

Note on the warm eggplant salad: we skipped a couple of steps in peeling the tomatoes (we didn't make crosses on the bottom, and we only let them sit in the hot water without alternating with the cold water). This may have been the reason why it was somewhat hard to peel them -- or it may have been the fact that the tomatoes weren't completely ripe. One final note: this salad is indeed quite rich in oil, so be ready for it!

Eggplant for the salad

Main Course

Lamb Tagine with Peas and Lemons

Ingredients (serves 4):

- 1kg lamb shoulder, or leg

- 2 tablespoons olive oil

- 1 finely chopped onion

- 2 finely chopped cloves of garlic

- 1 teaspoon ground cumin

- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

- 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

- 3 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley

- 3 tablespoons chopped coriander

- 2 teaspoons chopped lemon thyme

- 1 1/2 preserved lemons

- 1 1/2 cups peas

- 2 teaspoons chopped mint

- 1/2 teaspoon sugar

Directions:

1. Trim the lamb and cut into 3cm pieces. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over high heat and brown the lamb, in batches, removing to a dish when cooked. Add more oil if required.

2. Reduce the heat to low, add the onion and cook for 5 minutes, or until softened. Add the garlic, cumin, ginger and turmeric and cook for a few seconds. Add 375ml water and stir well to lift the browned juices off the base of the pan, then return the lamb to the pan with a little salt and a good grinding of black pepper. Add the coriander, parsley and thyme, cover and simmer over low heat for 1 1/2 hours, or until the lamb is tender.

3. Separate the preserved lemons into quarters and rinse well under cold running water, removing and discarding the pulp. Cut the rind into strips and add to the lamb, along with the peas, mint and sugar. Return to a simmer, cover and simmer for a further 10 minutes, or until the peas are cooked. Serve hot.

Note on the Tagine: We didn't buy lamb shoulder as we thought it would take too long and would be too messy to later separate. Instead, we found lamb in cubes, though they are sold in Montreal with the bones. If you don't find cubed pieces, have a butcher cut up the lamb chops into "cubes" and cook it that way. It's easier. The bones help to add some flavor to the dish. It's not a lot of trouble to pick the bones out when eating. We didn't use any sugar in the tagine because one of our members can't eat any, but it was not a problem! Also, as was stated earlier, we didn't have lemon thyme, so we used the comb of thyme and lemongrass that worked very well. We noticed that there was a lot of liquid so we took some out and thickened it with cornmeal. We then used some in the couscous and put the rest back into the tagine. In the end, we probably could have used all the liquid as couscous soaks up liquid like cattails soak up oil!

Lamb tagine cooking up

Couscous

Ingredients (serves 12):

- 1kg fine-grain couscous (ready-made)

- 8 tablespoons olive oil

- 4 cups boiling water, or 2 cups water and 2 cups of chicken stock

- a dash of salt

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, work the olive oil, with your hands,into the dry couscous to give it a little moisture.

2. Add the cups of water/chicken stock into the couscous and mix.

3. Cover for 5-10 to allow the couscous to absorb the liquid. Serve.

Note on the Couscous: We used the liquid from the tagine instead of chicken stock.

Final product

Dessert

Keneffa

Ingredients (serves 6):

- 750ml full cream milk

- 35g cornflour

- 60g sugar

- 50g ground almonds

- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract

- 1 1/2 tablespoons rosewater

- 100g blanched almonds, lightly roasted

- 2 tablespoons, sifted icing confectioners' sugar

- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

- 40 square won ton wrappers

- oil for frying

- organic rose petals to serve

Directions:

1. To make the almond cream, put 125ml of the milk in a large bowl, add the cornflour and mix to a thin paste. Bring the remaining milk to the boil until it froths up.

2. Mix the cornflour paste again,then add the boiling milk, mixing constantly with a balloon whisk. Pour this back into the saucepan and stir in the sugar and ground almonds.

3. Return to the heat and stir constantly with a wooden spoon until thickened and bubbling. Reduce the heat and boil gently for 1 minute.

4. Pour the liquid back into the bowl and stir in the almond extract and rosewater. Press a piece of plastic wrap on the surface and leave to cool.

5. Just before using the cream, stir briskly with a balloon wisk to smooth it; if it is too thick, stir in a little milk to give a pour consistency.

6. Coarsely chop the roasted almonds, mix with the icing sugar and cinnamon and set aside.

7. Bring the won ton wrappers to room temperature. Lightly brush a wrapper with water and press another firmly on top. Repeat utnil there are 18 pairs. Make two extra pairs in case some are burnt during frying.

8. In a large frying pan, add oil to a depth of 1cm and place over high heat. When the oil is hot, but not smoking, reduce the heat to medium and add two pairs of won ton wrappers. Fry quickly for about 20 seconds.

Keneffa

Movie Commentary on "Casablanca"

Individual Scores:

8.5

8
9
7
8.2

9

9

8.5

8

8

8.5

9

9

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8.44/10 overall rating