More on things Moroccan. The food at the Riad Enija was excellent. The owner, Björn (a former architect with UNESCO) reckoned that his chef, Aziz, might be one of the best chefs in all Marrakech. This could be true. The food, although simple, was delicious.
We signed up for the Riad's cookery "course" (in effect, more of a cookery demonstration) and watched as he prepared a smooth melon and ginger soup, followed by a tajine, cooked with baby okra which we had bought at the spice and vegetable market in the Mellah (the walled Jewish quarter) that morning.
One of the first dishes we sampled at the Riad was Aziz's courgette soup. I'm not sure if it was especially Moroccan, but who cares?- it was exceedingly good. Smooth, piping hot, creamy- with dollops of taste, and a nice, clear, fresh green colour to boot. I persuaded him to give me the precise recipe. Here it is, courtesy of Aziz of Marrakech:
You take a large pot, and into that you put: a kilo of chopped baby courgettes (zucchini), two crushed garlic cloves, a sliced white onion, parsley, 20g butter, and a dash of a decent salt. You pour in 1 ½ litres of water, and simmer for half an hour on the stove.
Afte
r the time is up, take it off the heat and pulse the liquid with a blender until it is smooth. Taste and if needed, add more seasoning, including
Aziz showed us a jar of those mixed coloured peppers in red, green and "white" and gave us the thumbs up sign- or Moroccan equivilent; he seemed, for some reason, to have an aversion to black pepper.
Strain it through a sieve and serve hot.
