Moroccan Night

The summer my husband and I visited Southern Spain, we were so close to Morocco.  We could have easily done a day and overnight trip there.  I wish now that we had taken that opportunity.  Though I've never experienced the place, I have experienced the flavors and I know I like them!

A common way to prepare Moroccan food is in a dish called a Tagine.  This is a clay shallow bowl with a cylindrical lid.  The food steams and cooks inside while minimal moisture escapes through the small hole at the top of the lid.  You can do Chicken, Lamb, Beef or Veggie dishes...Seafood too!  Tagines are very versatile.

I prepared a tagine recipe I found on Pinterest.  Here it is: Moroccan Veggie Tagine

You can see the steam escaping through the hole in the lid as the veggies cook.  I felt so weird about just placing the thing on the eye of my stove like that.  I just knew it would explode and put my eye out or something!  I was nervous while it was cooking.  Haha!  I read that you should soak your tagine in water overnight before using it.  That is a good idea.

Another recipe I did was Moroccan Lemon Meatballs.  However, I didn't go right by the recipe.  Last minute, I decided to make it into meatloaf form instead of meatball form.  I just thought it would be quicker.  Also, I didn't make the sauce that accompanies it, though I'm sure it is divine!

My Moroccan Lemon Meatloaf.  

I have a favorite Giada Turkey Meatloaf recipe that I use a lot.  As I was putting the ingredients together for these meatballs, it reminded me of her recipe.  So I thought, why not just cook it the same way?  I went by her instructions for cook time and such: Giada's Turkey Meatloaf with Feta and Sun-dried Tomatoes.  I recommend that recipe as well!

Dessert was a disaster!  It was a total cooking flop!  I won't even disgrace this post by sharing the recipe.  But I will begrudgingly show you a picture of it...

Did you just throw up in your mouth a little bit?  I did!  It was supposed to be Moroccan Chocolate Cake, but something went horribly wrong!  However, I have made an excellent Moroccan dessert before and here is the recipe for it: Moroccan Orange Cake.

...and a redeeming dessert picture:

Moroccan Orange Cake 

My taste-testers for the night were some great community friends of ours'...That is, if they are still our friends after the sad dessert I served them.  Ha!

Meet Lauren, Collin and their son, Carter.  Isn't that a cute little guy?  

Lauren is a journalist, but is busy at home with the baby right now.  Something interesting about Collin is, he is the Editorial Director of The Gospel Coalition website.  http://www.thegospelcoalition.org  He works closely with Tim Keller, who is a prominent Christian author and is gifted with much Biblical wisdom to share with the world.  Collin has also written a couple books of his own.  Here's the link for one of them:

                                                                 


I hope I've inspired you to do a Moroccan night at home!  There are so many yummy recipes to be found on Pinterest...just search "Moroccan Recipes".  You don't necessarily need a tagine to cook this type of food.  But it does add an interesting spin on your dinner party!  I purchased my tagine at HomeGoods.  Amazon has them too.  It was definitely an adventure cooking with this interesting piece of pottery.