Moroccan Lunch

Lunch is the main culinary event in a Moroccan household. It is served sometime between noon and 3:00-ish. The lunch featured in this post was prepared by my Moroccan sister Khadija.

This is the table. The conical dish in the center is a tajine. It is used for cooking traditional dishes.

This is a pasta salad. There is usually some type of salad to start with at lunch. Sometimes it's a beet salad. Sometimes it's a tomato and cucumber salad. Sometimes it's some other assortment of vegetables (I've noticed a lot of onions).

Today we had two salads. Yes!! My Moroccan family has been eating the salads with forks. That may be for my benefit. I think many Moroccans eat salads with their fingers.

Sardines make pretty regular appearances at lunch time. These sardines have been fried and are coated in some kind of breading. They are actually fairly mild in flavor.

This is the main dish. It is a tajine. It was prepared in that conical dish from the picture at the beginning of the post. Tajines are a combination of vegetables, broth, meat, and possibly some other things. They can be made with beef, fish, chicken, or anything. My favorite tajines are the ones made with fish. I also love the ones made with preserved lemons. Mmmmmmmm...

Dessert is generally a plate of fruit. I mostly eat oranges because I heart oranges.

I also eat a lot of pomegranate. They seem to be in plentiful supply around Marrakech.