This month, I found myself intrigued by a couple of Tunisian recipes in my latest issue of Food & Wine magazine."Tunisia...," I thought, "where the heck is Tunisia?" This is a fairly embarrassing admission, as I like to think I have a good general sense of world geography ... but I'm moving past the chagrin with a heartening feeling of having learned something new. Africa is a big continent, and until this month's cooking challenge, we had only explored Senegal, Morocco, Ethiopia and Tanzania. We found Tunisian cuisine to be a refreshing delight after May's somewhat disappointing Georgian fare. (Sorry again, Georgia!)
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| The grocery bag, with green, frilly, leafy-ness, made the cashier exclaim about its beauty.The recipe ingredients alone were exciting. Anise fronds! Chile peppers! A plethora of vegetables! And an ingredient called bharat, (dried rosebuds rubbed through a sieve and mixed with ground cinnamon) which I didn't know how to find, but luckily, happened to have a bottle of rose water handy and just mixed that with some cinnamon. |
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| Pretty vegetables and herbs! |
We found all the dishes had complex flavors and pleasing texture variations.
The Menu:
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| Couscous with Anise, Red Peppers and Garlic Those are red peppers on top. Patrick thought they were big slabs of sashimi! |
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| Tagine Delicious mixture of lamb, gruyere cheese and 3 cups fresh parsley, among other things! |
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| Turmeric Scented Potato Stew And dates...Our two favorite dishes, together. |
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| Marzipan Filled Dates So simple, and is a close second place for Most Enjoyed Dessert. (First prize, of course, goes to the unmatched Cambodian Ginger Bananas!) |
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| Mint Tea According to this Tunisia website, "This is poured, from a height, so as to create a froth." Our tea turned out decidedly UN-frothy, but was a nice complement to the meal, anyway.
Both Patrick and I enjoyed exploring the flavors of Tunisia, and I increased my geographical knowledge. Now to plan for July's meal...
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2 comments:
"until this month's cooking challenge, we had only explored Senegal, Morocco, Ethiopia and Tanzania." That's more adventurous than most people will EVER be with their cooking! I give you many props.
I think you should link to the recipes you like, or post them or something. I'm very intrigued, and since you are pioneering, I'd be interested in trying the recipes you've done and liked...
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