A trip to Morocco

The night was warm considering the time of year. A late Autumn breeze passed over the rooftops of Marrakech carrying with it a mix of Arabic and French conversation. The roof terrace was full, a sophisticated young crowd arranged tightly amongst the cushioned benches and small tables. Shisha smoke, rich with the sweet molasses of flavoured tobacco hung in the air and wicker lanterns flickered in the clear night sky casting a warm glow across the busy deck. The intimate arrangement of the space quite an achievement given that the restaurant was totally full.

It was early November 2018 and my first night in Marrakech. Hungry and tired after navigating the myriad of the medina quarter we eventually took sanctuary at Nomad, a modern Moroccan restaurant close to Djemma El-Fna square. That night on the open terrace amongst the Nomad regulars and off season tourists we dined well and memorably. Whole roasted cauliflower in ras-el-hanout, harissa and cardamom, calamari from Agadir and fragrant herb infused couscous. The food was spiced rather than spicy, scented and jewelled with notes of orange, star anise, pomegranate and saffron, the abundance of dried fruits, chewy apricots and sticky dates, the textural treats of yogurt bread and spicy sweet olives. Then the desserts, a wonderfully moist flourless orange, cardamom and ginger cake, hibiscus scented panna cotta and a chocolate dessert as dark as the November night!

Chocolate and Cardamom Ganache with Rasl-el-hanout ice cream and Orange

Chocolate and orange are great friends. The intensity of rich dark chocolate juxtaposed with fresh and zesty citrus is both life affirming and nostalgic. It reminds me of Christmas days gone by and tearing into chocolate oranges nestled like cricket balls beneath the branches of the Christmas tree. They are also two ingredients that lend themselves so well to spice and specifically the complexity and fragrant hear of the traditional Moroccan spice blend ras-el-hanout.

I have long been a fan of this heady mix of cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace...the list goes on, but its application is not limited to a savoury approach. Try a teaspoon in a carrot cake, cookie dough or a traditional sticky toffee pudding and you will see what I mean. Here on Paxos I am lucky to have the wonderfully knowledgeable Katerina to lean on from her spice shop on Corfu. Tucked away in a backstreet of the old town its like being deep in the old souk of Marrakech itself.

First I need to get on with the ice cream. Ice cream is just a churned custard, nothing more. A simple anglaise or is made with four large egg yolks, a hundred grams of sugar and a cup and a half each of rich heavy cream and whole milk. The dairy is first infused with the warmth of a generous teapsoon of ras el hanout before teh scalding milk and cream is added to the eggs to form custard....simple. Put the custard in the fridge for two hours and then churn in your ice cream maker.

To make the tart sift together one hundred and twenty five grams of all purpose flour with fifty grams of icing sugar and a teaspoon each of salt and orange zest. To this add fifty grams of cold cubed butter and rub together to form crumbs. Then in your mixer add one egg yolk and a teaspoon of cold milk. The mix should just come together and pull away from the side of the bowl. Form into a ball and then slightly flatten with the rolling pin before resting in the fridge for one hour.

Once rested, roll out the dough to a thickness of three to five millimetres and line the tart shells. I used small shells but you can easily make a one large tart, just remember to double the yield. You will then need to blind bake the pastry so line the inside of the shells with baking paper and baking beads and put in a one seventy degrees oven for around twenty to thirty minutes. Check the base it should be cooked but still blonde, if it feels too doughy return to the oven. When the tart shell is cooked, remove from oven and wash the whole thing with milk or egg wash before returning it to the oven for fifteen minutes. Remove from the shells and cool.

For the filling bring two hundred grams of heavy cream and the seeds from five to ten green cardamom pods to the boil, leave to infuse. After an hour, pass the cream to remove the cardamom and re heat to just before boiling before pouring over an equal weight of finely chopped dark chocolate. Stir to combine until you have a glossy pourable ganache. Add the ganache to the cooled tart shells and chill in the fridge for two hours.

The chocolate is wonderful, rich and dark, just set and with a distinct hum of cardamom and as the tart shells emerge from the oven the kitchen is alive with the smell of orange cookies. Wafer thin flaked almonds are thrown in a hot pan and toasted to release their oil and tangerines are sliced thinly and dehydrated. They come out the oven gummy and tart, like little sweets. To plate I grate some more orange zest and plate the tart on top. Toasted almonds and dried rose petals are cast on top before the ice cream joins the party and the dish is finished with semi-dried segments of tangerine.