The Caterist Files ~ An Evening in Morocco!

Morocco...the name itself carries you away to lands unknown! And nothing about it is bland, from the magical bright colors of fabric, with the purples, fuschias, apricots and turquoise, all the way to the heady, warm and inviting spices of their cuisine!

Moroccan cuisine is heavily inspired by the rich and diverse history in its part of North Africa. The prevalence of spice trading is so very evident in the flavor profiles we find in Morocco; the importance of preservation of the whole fruits is found in many stews or tagines. It's glorious!

Let's take a trip!

This is just a really neat idea for decorating your Meet & Greet Bar, and, as you can see, the color may vary. This is nothing more complicated than a backlit frame with changeable fabric. So dramatic! Since we use our banquet table to create your bar setup, you could just attach this to the front, then use a black table runner for the top. So, anyway, while we're at the bar, let's talk beverages! We can't do your bar for you, but I collect theme cocktails on my Pinterest page, and I love to share those ideas!

Of course, bring the usual bar suspects, the wine and the beer; but if you're planning on doing a full bar, The Moroccan Mojito makes a most appropriate signature drink for the evening! Here's a recipe to pass to your bartender! We'll start with the Cardamon Tea Concentrate, which you can do well ahead, as this will need to chill before you use it. Place 10 cardamom pods, crushed, with 2 tablespoons of black tea (like an English breakfast tea) in1 cup of water that has been brought to a boil. Steep 10 -20 minutes. Strain into a jar, add 3 tablespoons of sugar, dissolve and chill. (Note: this makes 4 drinks...you're going to need to expand on this for the party!) You can do this part a day ahead. For the bartender: Muddle a good handful of fresh spearmint leaves to bruise them. Add in 2-3 tablespoons of fresh lemon and fresh lime juice, each. (Start with the lower quantity, save the extra in case you need more tartness in the finished drink. ) Strain the juice into the tea, squeeze to extract all of the goodness. To this, add 5 ounces of white rum and 1 ounce of dark rum along with 1 and a half teaspoons of rosewater. Mix and taste to see if it needs more tartness...limes and lemons do vary. I like to test this out well ahead of time, everyone's got different tastes for tea strength. That way, you can tweak the recipe to your liking. Serve the drink over ice, leaving enough room to top it off with sparkling water. Give it a final stir, a garnish of fresh mint leaves and serve! I'd suggest making it by the pitcher! or pitchers!

For the non-alcoholic beverage, instead of just plain iced tea, go for the exotic Hibiscus Tea as a mix in to your classic iced tea. Serve sweetened to taste. It's really refreshing as an iced tea! Now that we're good on the drinks, let's talk Bar Nibbles and Passed Hors d'oeuvres.

For a simple appetizer on the bar, I like the Hummus & Pita Platter. (pictured, right) The original would be good, or maybe some red pepper hummus...there are many varieties to choose from these days! The Sabra brand is a good quality...and, if you've ever tried, I'm sure you know that we can't find tahini paste in Corsicana! Well, I couldn't find it last year, anyway...let me know if you've located it locally! I've got a recipe for Butternut Squash Hummus that would be stellar here!

Moroccan Cigars are another fun appetizer.

These could be passed, if you're wanting passed appettizers; or, they would be fine on the bar.

Moroccan Cigars can be made sweet or savory. These, on the bar, are savory, filled with a richly spiced ground beef or chicken filling. These little fried cigars of yumminess come with herbed yogurt sauce for dipping.

Moroccan Meatballs are a flavorful appetizer bite, with the rich spices of Morocco. I'd suggest serving these passed, on picks. Beef meatballs are shown, but this may be done with ground turkey or ground lamb. A small dab of herbed yogurt sauce and a garnish of fresh mint would be pretty.

Just set up a bowl of mixed nuts with some added pistachios and you've got a bar !!

After the Meet & Greet Hour, we'll turn our attention to the Appetizer Course, where you may enjoy a salad or soup. Or, we can do both, for a full five course meal.

Moroccan Orange Salad, shown here (above, left) with a bed of spinach, features beautiful cinnamon spiced orange slices, date slivers and a sprinkling of feta crumbles. If pomegranates happen to be in season, we can add the jewels of pomegranate for an extra pop of color and flavor. A Citrus Vinaigrette will be served, on the side.

Moroccan Beef Lentil Soup is a savory bowl of flavor! Rich beef stock with lentils and veggies, so very tasty! We'd serve this with pita wedges, for dipping. It's a great way to wake up the taste buds. If you did elect to do both the salad and the soup course, I'd suggest the Soup Course first, with the Salad course second to cleanse the palate before the Entrée Course.

And, moving along...the Entrée selections...

The heart of Moroccan cooking is the spice! And, I'm not talking just hot spices, specifically, although, there is some heat in some of the spice mixtures! Warm spices, like nutmeg or cinnamon are savory, until you add sweetness to make dessert...Cardamom, cloves, allspice...all are represented from their history with the influence of the spice trade! Citrus, like preserved lemons with salt. Olives make a significant appearance in Moroccan cuisine. It's magnificent in its uniqueness!

To your left is the Moroccan Beef Tagine with Apricot & Onions. For top quality tenderness, we use ribeye steak for the beef tips. It's shown over Moroccan Herbed Couscous, but would be equally delicious with Moroccan Rice Pilaf, below, which has dates, raisins and almonds.

The Moroccan Lemon Olive Cornish Hen is quite delicious, with preserved lemons, a wonderfully savory spice blend and rich olives. I like this with the Moroccan Rice Pilaf. For the Veggie Side to this grand meal, we'd do the Moroccan Spiced Roast Carrots with Green Beans.

The Apricot Lamb Tagine, at left, is a slow cooked medley of Moroccan flavors and a little bit of heat from the harissa, a blend of peppers and spices, that's used to season the lamb. Will dial back the heat factor, if you need me to. The dish , shown here over a bed of couscous, is garnished with fresh mint and chopped pistachios. I do like this one over the couscous because of the immense flavors going on with the lamb, and the Moroccan Roasted Carrots and Green Beans do compliment it wonderfully. The Moroccan Herbed Couscous is pictured, below.

Couscous...teeny tiny pearls of pasta...they readily absorb any flavor presented. To go with our rich Moroccan dishes, we do our Herbed Couscous in chicken stock, adding in fresh chopped mint, parsley and chives.

At left, you'll see our Moroccan Roasted Vegetables, with zucchini, yellow squash, red bell pepper, red onion and edamame , coated with our Moroccan Seasoning Blend. It's a pretty and flavorful dish!

Our final offering for the entrée is Moroccan Fish Tagine. This may be done with any white fish, cod, tilapia, swai, or haddock. With its harissa rich broth, lemons and olives, it's so very Moroccan!

To keep it real as we can, we'll serve pita, as it's most similar to Moroccan Flatbread.

With that, we'll go on to dessert. We'll be setting out the Moroccan Orange Cake, and if you like, we could make your dessert coffee a little more magical with Moroccan Spiced Coffee. How neat would it be to have the silver coffee service set out near the couch area, now your Moroccan conversation pit!

The Moroccan Orange Cake is simple enough on its own, it's stunning, all dolled up with a drizzle of honey orange sauce with orange segments and powdered sugar almonds...pomegranate jewels in season only..with a dollup of citrus yogurt on the plate.

Here's that Coffee Service I was mentioning...yes, we most often use it for our teas, but it's for coffee, too! Set up a conversation pit on the north end of the room, with the couches and chairs...bring in oversized pillows and flowing fabric to create an intimate setting. Music, quietly playing in the background, the sounds of the sitar and finger cymbals...it'll be a night of magic you and your guests won't forget!