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Is Moroccan Food Just Cous Cous and Tagine?

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Is Moroccan Food Just Cous Cous and Tagine?

Moroccan cuisine is a delightful tapestry of flavours, blending influences from Arab, Berber, and Mediterranean culinary traditions. Basically its cuisine is a tantalizing blend of vibrant flavours, aromatic spices, and diverse influences that reflect the country’s rich history and cultural heritage. Consequently at the core of Moroccan cooking is a medley of spices like cumin, coriander, paprika, and cinnamon, creating a sensory journey with each dish.

Here are some of the dishes you can taste in Morocco that celebrate more than the Moroccan Tagine and cous cous. 

1. Pastilla: A savory and sweet pastry filled with layers of flaky dough, pigeon or chicken, almonds, and dusted with powdered sugar and cinnamon.

2. Harira: A traditional Moroccan soup, especially enjoyed during Ramadan. It typically contains tomatoes, lentils, chickpeas, and a mix of herbs and spices.

3. Bastilla: A unique pie made with thin layers of dough, stuffed with a mixture of pigeon or chicken, almonds, eggs, and spices.

4. Mechoui: Roasted lamb or sheep, often slow-cooked until tender and infused with a rich blend of spices.

5. Zaalouk: A flavorful eggplant and tomato dip, showcases the mastery of spices like cumin and coriander. 

6. Mint Tea: A popular and refreshing beverage, Moroccan mint tea is a sweet and aromatic green tea infused with fresh mint leaves.

7. Msemen: A type of square-shaped, layered flatbread that’s pan-fried and commonly enjoyed for breakfast or with tea.

8. Khubz: Moroccan bread, usually round and flat, served with almost every meal.

9. Moroccan Sweets: End your meal with delightful desserts like Baklava, Chebakia (sesame-coated pastries), or Ghriba (nutty cookies).


 Herbs like mint and coriander add a refreshing touch, while preserved lemons and olives contribute a unique tanginess. Moroccan cuisine is a captivating symphony of flavors, inviting diners to savor the intricate harmony of tastes and textures.

Moroccan cuisine embraces a vibrant array of vegetable dishes that elevate plant-based fare to a level of culinary artistry. One standout is the iconic Moroccan salad, a refreshing medley of tomatoes, cucumbers, and bell peppers, often dressed with olive oil, lemon juice, and a sprinkle of fresh herbs.

Other vegetable celebrations of Moroccan cuisine include

Hlalem: A hearty vegetable soup that typically includes lentils, chickpeas, carrots, and a variety of spices. It’s a wholesome and comforting dish, perfect for colder days.

Taktouka: A simple yet tasty salad made with roasted and peeled green peppers and tomatoes. It’s seasoned with garlic, olive oil, and cumin, creating a refreshing side dish.

Carrot and Orange Salad: This vibrant salad combines the sweetness of carrots and oranges with the earthiness of cumin and the freshness of mint. It’s a colorful and flavorful addition to any meal.

Stuffed Bell Peppers (Mahshi Batata): Bell peppers are filled with a mixture of spiced rice, lentils, and sometimes ground meat. The stuffed peppers are then simmered in a tomato-based sauce until tender.

These vegetable dishes showcase the diversity and creativity of Moroccan cuisine, proving that meatless options can be just as delicious and satisfying.

Looking for your own Moroccan Adventure? 

Embark on a mesmerizing journey through Morocco, where ancient traditions dance with vibrant landscapes, inviting you to savor the magic of the Sahara, explore bustling souks, and lose yourself in the rich tapestry of a timeless culture. 

Join one of my Morocco Food Tours Travelling in 2024 and 2025. Click here for details

Minced Beef Safety: Tips for Handling and Storing Safely

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Introduction

When considering ground beef, prioritizing safety remains of utmost importance. It is crucial to adhere to appropriate protocols for handling and storing to prevent the risk of foodborne ailments. Within this piece, we shall furnish you with indispensable guidance on the secure management and storage of ground beef, guaranteeing the safety and peace of mind in your culinary endeavors. Whether you are making meat-based ground beef recipes or vegetarian alternatives, these tips will help you enjoy your dishes without any worries.

 

1. Safe Purchase and Transportation

Choosing Fresh Ground Beef

Master the art of choosing fresh ground beef at the supermarket by verifying packaging dates, ensuring adequate refrigeration, and steering clear of packages that display signs of damage or leakage.

Safe Transportation
Appreciate the significance of maintaining the refrigeration of ground beef during transit, particularly when dealing with warmer climates or extended travel distances.

2. Proper Storage

Refrigerator Storage

Uncover the suggested refrigeration temperature for ground beef and acquire insights into optimal meat packaging techniques to thwart cross-contamination.

Freezer Storage

Understand the proper methodology for storing ground beef in the freezer, encompassing accurate packaging methods and labeling for effortless recognition.

 

3. Safe Handling

Thawing Ground Beef

Gain knowledge about safer approaches to defrost ground beef, including utilizing the refrigerator, cold water baths, or the microwave, to prevent bacterial proliferation.

Preventing Cross-Contamination

Acquire an understanding of the significance of maintaining proper hygiene protocols, such as hand washing and cleaning utensils and cutting boards after coming into contact with raw ground beef, as a preventive measure against bacterial transmission.

4. Cooking Ground Beef

Safe Internal Temperatures

Understand the advised internal cooking temperatures for ground beef to guarantee its safe preparation, free from potentially harmful bacteria.

Ground Beef Storage After Cooking

Discover the correct procedures for storing cooked ground beef to preserve its safety and quality, encompassing refrigeration and freezing techniques.

Conclusion

 

By following these tips for safe handling and storage of ground beef, you can greatly reduce your risk of foodborne illness. Make sure to purchase fresh ground beef, keep it at the right temperature, handle it properly, and cook to the right internal temperature. These tips will keep you and your loved ones safe while enjoying delicious ground beef dishes.

Christmas Turkey Recipe with Dominique Rizzo

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This is a delicious Christmas Turkey Recipe I created with my friends at IGA and filmed by Wild Bunch Media!

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The beauty of bakes – 7 reasons why they are so great

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Pasta, rice or vegetable bakes are something that we all grew up on and the best thing about having them for dinner is that they taste even better the next day. The beauty of Bakes and 7 reasons why they are so great are:

  1. They are a fantastic way of throwing a pile of wonderful tasty ingredients together in the one pot.
  2. They makes an easy meal for anyone to put together a Bake.
  3. Also they don’t have to be heavy and full of fat.
  4. You can combine wonderful ingredients that are healthy and still full of flavour making them ideal for everyone.
  5. Bakes are perfect for school or work lunches, when they cool they are very easy to cut and place into takeaway containers.
  6. Use the combinations and suggestions given under the salad heading for grains and vegetables to make your bakes something a little special.
  7. Grains such as rice, pasta, quinoa, cous cous, barley are all perfect and when teamed with all sorts of vegetables including spinach, sweet potato, pumpkin, corn, tomatoes, zucchini, herbs, spices, cheese and eggs.

Well the list is endless and the possibilities are many. So get your bake on with this super tasty recipe:

Rice and Tuna bake
Serves 4
Prep time 15 minutes
Cooking time 25 minutes
3 cups of cooked basmati rice
425g tin of tuna in brine, drained
zest and juice of 1 lemon
4 green shallots, sliced
1 zucchini, trimmed, grated and squeezed of all its liquid
½ cup chopped parsley
3 fresh tomatoes, seeded and diced
160g ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1 egg white
20g parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 200c

  • Spray a ceramic dish or individual muffin trays with oil. Combine the tuna, lemon rind, juice, chopped shallots, grated zucchini, diced tomatoes and the parsley in a large bowl. Whisk together the eggs, ricotta and parmesan and season well with salt and pepper.
  • Pour the egg mix into the rice and mix well, spread this into the greased baking dish and bake for 20 – 25 minutes until golden.
  • Substitute the tuna for salmon, cooked fresh fish, cooked mince seasoned with Mexican spices and a tin of diced tomatoes or diced cooked chicken. If you are looking for dairy free alternative you can use soft tofu in this dish and dairy free
    parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!

Food Waste at Home

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Have you ever thought about food waste and what you might throw out each week?

Well Griffith University are asking us to to do just that with their pilot project Waste Not Want Not.  In a Nine News interview with Mia Glover yesterday, Professor Sharyn Rundle-Thiele discussed how much food each week we waste and what we can all do to avoid throwing food away.

As a Chef, I’m always looking at ways to avoid food waste. This campaign has allowed me to develop some simple and tasty recipes for Queenslanders to turn ingredients they may already have on hand or leftover from a previous meal into something great.

If you would like to find out more about the Waste Not Want Not program, how to save money while helping the environment check out my blog from last week here.

Waste not want not – food waste

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As a chef, it is part our job to order each week what the kitchen needs, maintain stock levels and make sure that no ingredient goes to waste. As our lives get busier and busier how do we at home make sure that we are not wasting the excess food from the shopping two days ago that wasn’t completely used in last night’s dinner? The answer, planning. Yes, a little bit of planning can go a long way and save you time and money!

Did you know Australian households dispose of $5.2 billion worth of food annually and this is estimated to grow. Food waste costs the city money and impacts the wider environment through food production, transport, waste-collection and landfills generating methane.

Most of household food waste is avoidable and one way to bring about change and reduce waste is to start with food wasted in the home. This week I am involved with The Waste Not Want Not Campaign, a pilot behaviour change project developed by Social Marketing @ Griffith, in collaboration with Redland City Council, Griffith University and supported by Stockland Shopping Centre, Cleveland.
I have developed a range of recipes to support the campaign to help give people at home tasty ideas on how their leftover food can be turned into something new. Yes, no spaghetti bolognese four nights in a row!

Top tips:

  • Create a menu plan – Know when you are going to be home during the week and plan the meals for those days. You can create the weekly menu plan around some of the pantry items you already have in stock. Are there a few items already in the fridge that can also be turned into creative meals?
  • Make a Shopping list– Don’t go to the supermarket without one and don’t buy if it is not on your list. Remember you have a plan!
  • Food Storage – find out  how to store your fresh food properly so that it keeps for longer. If you do make too much for one meal, take the rest to work for lunch the next day or freeze for another meal in the future.
    Use leftover food for another meal – If the stir-fry recipe you are making requires only 1/2 cup of broccoli but you bought a whole head, make sure you use the rest of the broccoli in a meal or in a salad later in the week.

These top tips can help you reduce food spoilage, save you money by not overspending as well as help your local environment by reducing food waste.
If you would like to find out more come and see me at Stocklands Shopping Centre, Cleveland this week!
Keep an eye out next week for a tasty leftover recipe!!!

Tag Archive for: recipe