Cookery Class in Marrakech
Though my trip to Marrakech occurred over 2 months ago, I must share my food experience all the same since it was extraordinary. My dear friend Emily and I went to Marrakech for a nice, little Spring Break in late April. We were only there for an all-too-swift 5 days, so you can imagine how packed our schedule was to do and see all that we could (and manage to get a couple of hammam treatments in as well). And of course we decided to book in a cooking class per my adamant request (though it wasn’t even a question for Emily either).
Let me just say that this cooking class was fantastic! Thorough, authentic and educational - and what a treat it was to eat all of our food at the end! I must say however, the day we took our class, we emerged from the kitchen in the ground floor to dig into our culinary creations on the roof-top terrace to hear of the terrible bombings that occurred in the Jamaa al Fna square and frantic texts from loved ones. Though it was certainly a damper, and a very hard-hitting reality since we were in the very city, we still enjoyed our meal, giving thanks for what we have and for the people we love.
Amina, who was our dear chef de cuisine (chef de l’instruction), greeted us at the gorgeous Riad Kniza, where she led us through a back door out into the market to fetch our fresh ingredients. This market was magnificent in many ways but mostly because it was a ‘locals market’- no tourists to be seen (!). We watched Amina pick out the daily produce, eggs, spices and meat. We watched as chickens were chosen live, weighted (live), then slaughtered right in front of our eyes - I have never witnessed such fresh poultry buying in my life! I support this way of cultivating and consuming food for sure.
Back at the Riad, we suited up in our chef’s whites to start our tagines (Emily had chicken and I had fish), our flat bread and a selection of Moroccan salads. We made spice rubs, pounded & kneaded flat bread until our arms were sore, stirred, chopped and tasted. The sweetest reward of all was enjoying our meal lounging on one of the most gorgeous roof top terraces in Marrakech, dining al fresco with a glass of crisp rosé to accompany our steaming tagines. It’s hard to recount in words, so I hope the pictures can fill in the gaps what a truly gorgeous experience both Emily and I had together.
Asparagus, Goat’s cheese & Potato Flatbread Pizza
Again I take inspiration from the Spring farmer’s market goods, where at the moment, almost all of the stands table fresh UK asparagus in neat bundles. I have also taken a liking to our Potato Man who never has any less than 10 baskets of varying varieties of potatoes, for any sort of dish! I will also never end a market day without sampling and purchasing at least a couple goat cheeses from the Goat’s Dairy Man either. I’m luck to have a market filled with talented cultivators!
Flatbread pizza has been my easy ‘go to’ dinner for quite a while, as it is a McLean family favorite (well, the flatbread pizza is far inferior to my father’s true pizza!). But we McLean’s take a love in cooking up and gathering our toppings, from anything in the cheese family to veggies galore. This time I decided to go for leeks, asparagus, potato, pesto, goat’s cheese & parm. I will usually do a pizza sans sauce, but I went for a mixture of pesto & tomato paste this time.
It’s best to prepare all the toppings first, thus I chopped my asparagus & leeks, added garlic, and sautéed them with olive oil in a sauce pan until they were soft. Then I mandolined the potatoes very thinly. I fried them raw, but you can boil them first, wait for them to cool them mandolin them. I sautéed them in a sauce pan in vegetable oil so that they would get nice and crispy. Then set them aside.
In preparing the flatbread base, I used a gluten free mixture of flours by Bob’s Redmill, but good ‘ol wheat four is easiest. Add a good couple cups into a deep mixing bowl with a pinch of banking powder. Add warm water very slowly whilst kneading the flour into a ball. Add water little by little, as not to make the mixture too goopy right away. When the flour turns into a nice, stretchy dough, your finished. Rinse your hands too get the excess sticky dough off, then coat hands with olive oil and ma bit of flour. Knead the dough into 2 or 3 disks, about the size of the bottom of the pan in which you will cook it. Make sure to spin the dough around kneading it uniformly – though it’s ok if it looks rough around the edges, that’s the fun of it! You can make it as thin as you’d like (or as thin as it will stand) but try to stay away from keeping it thick, as it will take ages to cook through. Heat a pan on medium heat and a bit of olive oil just to cover the bottom of the pan lightly along with some corn flour/polenta (anti-stick trick), then set in one of the flattened dough sections. It might be best to slit the dough for uniform cooking if it’s a little thick, as the wheatless dough tends to be (see image above).
Allow the dough to crisp and bake through, however not burning, and flip with a spatula to cook on the other side. You can tell when it’s starting to cook through with how stiff the dough becomes. Use your own discretion to know when your dough is cooked all the way through the center. Turn the heat to medium-low and then add your toppings! You can keep your flatbread in the pan whilst you garnish, or you can take it out and set it on a baking sheet (you will pop it under the broiler right before you serve). I started with a base of pesto and/or tomato paste, then layered my asparagus, leek & garlic sauté, sprinkled a layer of goat’s cheese, then the crispy potatoes and finished off with a grating of parmesan and a dash of fresh thyme. Pop it in the oven under the broiler for however long it takes for the cheeses to get melty and delicious. Take out, cut into pieces and serve!
Flatbread pizza’s are great because you can honestly add anything you’ve got lying around the fridge! Any veggies, cheeses & meats…I even top it with a fresh green salad sometimes. Have fun with this one!
