I have tried for a few months to get a place on the local Whole Foods’ cookery class on Morrocan cuisine and finally got in there tonight. I think there were about 13 of us; a young, laid back crowd.  Well apart from the lady who turned up without booking – she was pretty uptight about being told the class was full, better luck next time, darling.

We had an introductory talk on kitchen do’s and don’t’s, and an overview of Morrocan food with tastings and much smelling of various spices and pickles – pickled lemon is surprisingly tasty. We were talked through the recipes before being split into three groups to attempt about 2 dishes each.  Disappointingly we were the only group with all vegetarian dishes whilst the other groups got to play around with raw chicken and lamb.  I basically cut onions, mint, and kept things neat and tidy but I did learn the technique for peeling tomatoes, not a difficult skill I know but just something I’ve never tried before.

Anyway, I took it upon myself to take some photographs so that I could loiter around the other groups to see if I could pick up what was going on with the more interesting recipes.  Lots of onion grating and tentative checking of steaming pans. Serving
up time came quickly and the dishes were quite good, but we agreed that at home we should cook the meat for longer.  I’m going to give it a go in few weeks when the hot weather is over and Menno’s parents are visiting.  If I take a picture and sent it to Whole Foods, I’ll get my next class for free!