Behind closed doors, North African home cooks are taking the region's
food to new heights. Traditional dishes such as tagines, stews, soups,
and salads are being adapted and refined, and new dishes are being
created using classic ingredients such as fiery spices, jewel-like dried
fruits, lemons, and armfuls of fresh herbs.
Behind closed doors, North African home cooks are taking the region's
food to new heights. Traditional dishes such as tagines, stews, soups,
and salads are being adapted and refined, and new dishes are being
created using classic ingredients such as fiery spices, jewel-like dried
fruits, lemons, and armfuls of fresh herbs.
The North African Kitchen is the result of Fiona Dunlop's long
fascination with the region. She visits eight of the best home cooks in
Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya, shopping and cooking with them, and
learning their favorite recipes and cooking tricks.
Simplicity is at the heart of the private medina kitchen. The exotic
fuses with the domestic to produce dishes that are highly flavored yet
quick and easy to prepare. Tunisian cuisine is perhaps the hottest of
the region- due in large part to the popularity of the fiery chili paste
harissa. As well as a strong French influence, pasta is a passion in
Tunisia. Morocco's great forte is its tagines and sauces- with meat and
fish being cooked in one of four popular sauces. And Libya, although
less gastronomically subtle than Tunisia and Morocco, excels in soups
and patisserie.
This culinary journey creates a vivid and sensual picture of how food is
really shopped for and cooked in the private kitchens of some of the
world's most extraordinary gastronomic cultures.
