This Week’s Tiffin

Chicken Tagine with Preserved Lemon & Olives

Slow-simmered citrus, saffron, and spice — a dish that warms the bones and brightens these winter moments. (Mushroom/chickpea tagine available for vegetarian tables.)

Quinoa with Spiced Crumbs

Light, toasted grains lifted with warm spices.

Fatoush with Sumac & Winter Greens

A crisp, refreshing counterpoint — toasted pita (GF alt – no bread), bright sumac, and herbs that taste like sunlight.

Homemade Onion Pita

Soft, warm, gently sweet — perfect for catching sauce and memory alike(GF sumac crackers).

Date–Cardamom–Ginger Balls

A sweet, rooted in desert nights — rich dates, fragrant spice, one small bite.

The Story

When I was young, we didn’t have chicken or meat very often. But there was a fishmonger who used to walk through the village with a basket on his head, calling out the names of his catch like a song — butterfish, banga mary, hourie…

Whenever my dad got a bonus at work, my mother would call him over and buy a little of whatever he had. Those were the evenings she made fish stew, slow, fragrant, rich enough to make the whole house feel full. I still remember that smell drifting through the kitchen, and fish stew, well it has remained one of my favorite dishes still.

And on those rare days, my dad would bring home ice cream in those tiny paper cups with the wooden spoons. By the time he got to us, it was half-melted, but we didn’t care. We licked every drop.

Looking back, I realize it wasn’t the stew or the ice cream I loved most. It was the way my father tried, in every way he could, to make life sweeter for us.

Memory

Clay-pot cooking is one of humanity’s oldest culinary inventions, stretching back over 20,000 years.

The tagine grew from that lineage and was already well established by the 9th century. The Dutch oven, the Römertopf, the karahi — they all carry the same ancient idea of slow heat, sealed flavor, and patience.

Spice Lore

Ras el hanout is never just a blend — it’s a collection of stories. Some grounded in history, others drifting between rumor and romance.

Old recipes once included ground Spanish fly, a toxic beetle believed to stir desire. It disappeared from Moroccan markets after 1990, but the lore remains.

Notes from the Kitchen

Tagine is patient food. Don’t rush the onions — once they soften completely, everything else will follow.

“Warm food has a way of softening even the longest winter.”