I went for sardines. Came back with a whole bream because the man at the corner stall raised his eyebrows in a particular way. Charmoula on the bones, a bed of tomato and preserved lemon, into a low oven. Forty minutes, no hurry. The kitchen smells of garlic and coriander and the sea.
Kitchen · tagines
Tagines
The slow ones. The Friday ones. The ones that taught me patience.
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Questions
On tagines.
- What is a tagine?
- Both the cooking pot and the dish that lives in it. The conical clay lid traps and recycles steam, so meat braises in its own moisture for hours over a low flame.
- Tagine or tajine?
- Same dish, different transliteration of the Arabic. Tajine is closer to the French rendering; tagine is the more common English spelling. Both are correct.
- A good tagine to start with?
- Lamb with preserved lemon and olives. Or chicken with prunes and almonds. Both forgive a slow Friday and a not-quite-perfect pot.
Notes that touch tagines from elsewhere in the kitchen.