Hands on Cooking Class, fescooking.com

We shopped around a little to try and find the most authentic, one-on-one cooking class that we could in Fes. We wanted to go to the markets, shop for ingredients, and then return to a working Riad to cook up some tasty treats. A few e-mails were exchanged and we had booked in to meet Lahcen at the Bab Boujloud, or blue gate which is a monumental entrance to the old Fes Medina.



It was originally supposed to be just Kim & myself, but a lovely couple from Portland Oregon had apparently showed up the day before and not managed to meet up with Lahcen, so they joined in on our class. The 5 of us then wandered around the Medina and decided what to cook ... We spot some plastic containers which are filled with chickpeas, that have conveniently been soaked overnight already, and are ready to use. We buy some of these for our Harira, which is a Moroccan tomato & chickpea soup.



The Lahcen selects a range of fresh vegetables and herbs which will be used throughout our menu.



We spot a stall full of dates, and think it would be fantastic to do a dessert with these. Our dessert will be a coconut and date roll, so we select a big plump date full of flavor.



We pick up a few other things, including a fresh chicken, fresh artichokes, oranges and cous cous before we head back to the Riad to start cooking. There are 3 Fatima's already starting on the days prep for the guests staying in the Riad. We join them for some bread making ....



Before we know it we are at home in this quaint little kitchen, chopping, peeling, slicing & dicing our way through the preparation. We have all the ingredients ready for our first dish, the Harira soup.



We press all of the pulp from the tomatoes and then simmer the skins with herbs to make a stock, which will be the base for the Harira.



Kim gets on peeling some artichokes with Fatima for our next dish.



We then prepare some pretty little date balls. Some rolled in coconut, the other in toasted sesame seeds. These are then baked on a buttered tray before being left to cool ...



I found out this day why cous-cous tastes so damn good in Morocco! The cous-cous has handfuls of salt and a very generous amount of olive oil in which it is marinated in before being steamed .... mmm, salt



We then get set to make the most challenging dish of the day, pastilla.



A spiced chicken mixture is layered with a slightly sweet almond mix and wrapped up in big sheets of pastry that have been brushed with melted butter. Once the piece is complete, it goes into the oven to be baked.



Everything is on the stove, bubbling away. We are lucky enough to be sent upstairs to sit at the table while the Fatima's plate our lunch for us.



First up, Harira soup. So hearty with a great richness. The chickpeas have broken down and thickened up the soap, which is rich & intense and so full of flavor. Some freshly chopped herbs really liven it up.



When we try this next dish I think we are all glad that Kim had chosen artichokes at the markets. They have been simmered in orange juice with a little garlic and have the wonderful aroma of orange blossom.



Pastilla = deliciously ugly! The pastry so flaky is shatters when you penetrate it - the fillings exploding from both sides ... a little messy, but oh so deliclious!



The Fatima's were having cous-cous for lunch, so were kind enough to show us the ropes ... We also enjoyed cous-cous with 7 vegetables along with our lunch spread. A broth simmering below with herbs & tomato and then the 7 vegetables are added at different times to ensure even cooking. The cous-cous sits above in an open topped device, all those lovely vegetable flavors steaming through each grain.




Dessert arrives, our little date balls. The coconut & sesame seeds are golden and add a nice crunch to the sticky sweet date mixture. Some orange segments and a dusting of cinnamon almost complete the meal ...



Ah, a cup of Moroccan mint tea and we are happy as can be.



We thoroughly recommend spending a day with fescooking.com if you are in Fes at any time ... I think cooks and foodies of all levels will get something out of spending a day with Lahcen & the team back at their working Riad ... and just think of all that delicious food you get to enjoy!

Fes et Gestes, the Medina

Our first day in Fes and we venture in to explore the Medina. Our traveling companions Io & H have done the same. We make plans to meet at their Riad late afternoon before heading out for dinner. Kim and I freshen up after our long, hot & dusty day and make our way over to Riad Ghita where Io & H are staying. We are immediately seated in the lobby area and receive a pot of tea. This one has the sugar on the side which you can add to taste and extra fresh mint in the glass. A couple of cookies to the side as well.



We then speak with the owner of the Riad who says Io & H have just wandered out to find Fes et Gestes and suss it out. We figure after our tea that we too would head out in search ... They give us vague directions at the Riad, but within 2 turns we are completely lost. We know kind of it's where-abouts so flag down the Moroccan equivalent of a tuk-tuk; a tiny little truck with an open back space where you sit on the floor. We do our best to describe to the driver where we are headed. He seems to understand, so off we go.



We drive around some bendy roads, chug along up some steep hills and then all of a sudden seem to be heading back towards the fountain & the blue gate, which is where we are staying and not at all near where we are meant to be. We bang on the window to signal him to stop, and hop out while we still know where we are. We head off again on foot, stopping at several shops along the way for directions. We finally make it to where we think we should be and find nothing that is resembling a little quaint tea garden with restaurant. The sun is coming down, and the streets are getting dark ... the Fes Medina is scary at the best of time. Not a horror-movie scary but a overwhelming lack of orientation & unfamiliarity scary. We are about to head back and spot a tiny little sign with a very cursive script that looks like it must say Fes Et Gestes. Yay! We push through the gate and it is indeed a gorgeous little garden.



No sign of the others .... The owner is French, so we head off to ask her if she has seen Io & H. I figure if a tall blonde Canadian girl with a Japanese husband had at all swung by today she might recognize them. Nope, no sign of them. We figure we should wait anyway ... We have a fresh orange juice with a cookie and pick up someones WiFi (in the middle of the Fes Media none-the-less, tres cool!) and send them a quick note that we have made it, and will wait for them there.



We sink into the big armchairs in the library and read through some interesting literature. It must have been a good hour or so later they arrive ... and oh, the stories. They of course got lost, had to pay some young kids to get them back to the hotel, before setting out again on foot (?!) and eventually paying some other kids to take them here. They look exhausted, and hungry, so we head straight to the dining room. 2 large bottles of sparkling mineral water and the meal begins ... An array of Moroccan salads; cucumber with a honey dressing, carrots with orange blossom, shredded cabbage with a mustard dressing, smoked eggplant, roasted zucchini & tomato zalouk, red beets, lentils & more.



The salads are accompanied by a big bowl of bread, with the delicious crunch of the corn meal coating the whole thing. The 2 tagines on offer tonight are both made with turkey, which was quite interesting. The first one with zucchini & onion, the vegetables breaking down into an almost-sauce and keeping the bird so succulent & juicy. The second was turkey with almonds and prunes, the crunch of the nuts and the intense sweetness of the prunes are a great match! Both tagines look a little ugly, but taste great! A bowl of plain cous-cous accompanies the main.





We each get out own little silver tray with a tea pot, sugar jar, cookie & tea cup to finish.



It's been a long day full of adventures in the Fes Medina, but the memories will last a lifetime.



Fes et Gestes
Open every day of the week except Wednesday, from 12pm to 9:30pm
39 Arsat El Hamoumi
Ziat, 30200 FES MEDINA
T: 212 (0) 535 63 85 32

And so it goes ...

Moroccan salads, tagine, cous-cous. Now don't get me wrong, I love all of these things !! But the one thing we found in Morocco, well Fes & Marakech anyway - was that these are indeed staples. Sure, some are better then others, some more inventive and others just using pristine ingredients. Our first day in Morocco we are wandering around the Medina with our guide who is a bit of a character ... he even stopped randomly at some temple and started chanting & singing.



We then just ended up at some little dining room in the middle of nowhere, after winding down & through all sorts of lanes & alleyways. As we were seated at the table, ahhh, a selection of Moroccan salads. Big green olives in a spice & lemon mixture, braised lentils, carrot & orange salad, roast pumpkin, zucchini, salted black olives & a green & red cabbage salad.



Then the tagine. Today's variety a rich and scrumptious mix of lamb, prunes, apricots & almonds.



And finally, the cous-cous with seven vegetables. The cous cous is light and fluffy, with the vibrant flavor of salt & olive oils. THe vegetables are perched on top, rustically cut and so full of flavor. A few chickpeas are scattered around and there are sweet raisins on top.



I bet you can't guess what we ended up having for dinner?! ;)

Snapshots from the Medina

The largest car free urban space in the world, over two hundred thousand people living in in a nine thousand street labyrinth. From the moment you step beyond one of the guardian gates of the Fez Medina you're senses are under constant assault it's an instant love or hate affair.

This a few foodies eye snapshots from within the walls.

A camel butchery. Easily identified by the head hanging on a butchers hook in the front of the shop. We never actually tried any camel while we were there ... Well none that we are aware of ;)



Fresh goats cheese wrapped in palm fonds. As good as any goats cheese we have tried anywhere.



Unbaked bread loaves being carried to a communal oven. With most houses not having a oven, families sent their daily bread to the community oven each morning to be baked.



Freshest meat you can get. You just pick out the bird of your choice, go do a little other shopping for ten minutes, when you return a cleaned carcass is wrapped waiting and still warm.....



Politest cat in the world sat like this patiently for the whole time. We watched, and every so often it was rewarded with a small morsel of off cut.



One of the sense assaults. Around every corner spice shops with barrels of raw spices some ground to order others already ground and ready to go.

Ras el hanout waiting to be ground.



An assortment of spices



All spices weighed on old brass scales, and wrapped into little paper packets. My luggage was hand checked every time going through customs for the rest of our trip, with dozens of small packets full of powder showing up on the x rays.



Baskets of live snails sat on many corners some ominously close to large steaming pots for a quick street snack.



Huge bundles of fresh mint and chamomile just waiting to be made into tea.



This is just a tiny glimpse of what there is to see within the Medina. There is more than you can ever hope to remember, photograph or see.

p.s. for us it was instant love.

Checking in & checking out our first taste of Morocco

Ah, there really is nothing like a long, warm shower after your travels. The day had been long, and we had journeyed on everything from train, petit taxi and ocean liner inter-country ferry. Down in the lobby of Riad Fes Yamanda we are offered some mint tea and little cookies on arrival, this I could really get used to. Then we were asked if we would like to eat in the Riad tonight - it sounded perfect, not having to venture far on our first night. We came down just after 7pm, and were ushered into a little room, with a table set just for the 2 of us.



We start the meal as you do in Morocco, with a selection of little salads. There were a few little crisp pastries that were filled with a spiced vegetable mix, a Zucchini Zalouk which is cooked with onions, tomato & spice, carrots with orange & orange blossom water and a smokey eggplant. All delicious!



A basket of Moroccan bread is placed on the table which acts as a perfect eating implement to just scoop the salads up. The bread is still warm, has a nice touch of salt and light as air with a very generous coating of yellow corn meal which gives a great crunch.



We share 2 mains, the first a classic Chicken Tagine with olives and preserved lemon. As the lid is lifted, a subtle aroma fills the air - spice, the smell of roasted chicken but most prominent the salt and citrus smell of the preserved lemon.



The pastilla is a flaky pastry that is said to have originated around Fes, so it was no surprise we also chose that. This was a great introduction ... although traditionally made with pigeon, this version is made with chicken, almonds, egg & spice all filled in a light flaky pastry. A dusting of icing sugar and cinnamon give this a perfect savory and sweet combination.



Dessert is a plate of sliced apples in a rich orange reduction that seems to have a smidgen of saffron. Toasted almonds add a nice bit of crunch.



Ah, the mint tea. This stuff is amazing. Gunpowder tea with so much fresh mint it's almost busting the side of the teapot, and a few cubes of sugar. It's poured from great height to aerate and mix the tea. Some little cookies on the side as well.



What a lovely first dinner in Morocco. We are heading to bed early as we are meeting with a guide at 8:30am to venture into the craziness that is the Fes Medina.