I ♥ Breakfast: October 2012

Monday 22 October 2012

DIY Moroccan Breakfast (and raise money to Kick Cancer's Ass while you're at it) )

Cancer Research UK is a charity very close to my heart and this year they joined up with Stand Up To Cancer UK to raise money.

As I am rubbish at running and have tapped my friends once too often with fundraising pages, I wanted to do something this year that would bring the people I care about together and do something nice for them (while cheerfully fleecing them for money for the charity of course).

Well, I love breakfast and they love breakfast so I figured I would host a 'Kick Cancer's Ass Brekkers'. The idea is simple:
Long suffering friends show up
I make breakfast
They decide how much they would have been willing to pay for the meal in a restaurant
They give me that amount for charity
For every pound they donate I donate 1 too

Simple isn't really my middle name and so I decided to spice things up with a theme. As we have recently returned from Morocco (see Morocco...one part Marmite and 10 parts Magic) and having lost my heart to Morrocan breakfasts, it seemed perfectly logical to me that we should try to recreate one of those glorious breakfasts for our friends.

You might have noticed that a 'we' has snuck in at this point. The other half of 'we' is the long suffering Mr Beedub. An erstwhile frequent flyer on my breakfast missions for this blog, he is also a far, far better breakfast cook than I am. He might also possibly (and this is just a possibility) be more practical than I am and his reaction to my cunning plan was sceptical to say the least.

Was it really sensible to invite 8 people to our apartment when we only have 5 chairs? How likely were Moroccan pancakes to work when we have never made them before AND we don't own a scale? Why was I insisting on serving so many different things at once?

I on the other hand was completely relaxed (and focused more on the table setting truth be told than the actual food). I also had a genius idea to invite our friend Yankee Abroad who is a wizz in the kitchen and male solidarity all in one, so I knew he would jump in to help and keep things calm.

In case you feel like hosting your own Moroccan breakfast (and I highly recommend it), it's simpler than you think. Here's what we did and served...

Me:
Setting the Table
This is the fun bit and not only adds to the opulent Moroccan theme but also keeps you out the kitchen.
It's really easy - take a beautiful table cloth (white linen is common in Marakech Riads) and add colour with roses and colourful glasses and plates (blues and reds are very Moroccan)

I have a lebanese hookah pipe and I used the blue glass base as a vase for the roses and then scattered additional rose petals all over the table

Freshly squeezed orange juice :
An essential part of the experience as freshly squeezed uber sweet orange juice is a signature of the Marrakech markets.
After 10 years of owing the damn thing I finally used my electric squeezer and it rocked - I don't recommend doing it by hand for that many people unless you are a rock climber with wrists of steel
I used about 16 oranges for 8 people

Morrocan Mint Tea:
This is a must and if people haven't tried it before they will love it
1 bag/ large bunch of mint (take the leaves off the stalks)
1 Chinese Gunpowder Green Tea bag (if you are in the UK Sainsburies have actual Moroccan Green tea Bags - easy peasy)
If your guests like sweet tea add some brown sugar to taste
Brew it altogether in a large pot with approximately 700ml of boiling water
Serve in small glass mugs if you can find any or use small tumbler style glasses

Mixed berries:
1 punnet each of blueberries, rasberries, strawberries and blackberries
Top with sprigs of fresh mint
Serve with thick greek (in the absence of Moroccan) yoghurt drizzled with honey on the side

Pastries
I chose almond croissants which were the closest I could find to the ones in Marrakech, but maybe cheat a little and try and find a Moroccan bakery in your area

Mr Beedub
Obviously he did all the technical tricky stove juggling things while I fannied about with berries and roses...

Moroccan Pancakes:
There is no point beating about the bush, ours didn't work, but I firmly believe it was because we don't have a scale and we had poor yeast. I have included 2 recipes to choose from...may the Moroccan pancake fairies be with you...

Beghrir (semolina pancakes)Taken from the 'Moroccan Bible' (at this point I resist making the obvious politically incorrect joke)
Makes 30
3.5 cups (875ml/ 29.5 fl oz) lukewarm water
2.5 teaspoons (10g/ 3/8 oz) dry yeast
600g (1 lb 5 oz) fine semolina
3/4 of a cup (110g/ 4 oz) plain flour
1 tablespoon (15g/ 0.5 oz) baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon orange-blossom water (20ml/ 3/4 fl oz)
Combine 0.5 cup (80ml/ 3fl oz) water and the yeast in a small bowl.
Sift the semolina, flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the yeast mixture, remaining water and orange-blossom water and stir to continue.
Pour the semolina mixture into a food processor and blend for 2 - 3 minutes to create a smooth, cream-like consistency. Transfer to a large bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and set aside in a warm place for 20 - 30 minutes, until bubbly
Preheat a small non-stick frying pan over a medium high heat. Pour a small ladle full of batter into the pan and slightly rotate the pan to create an even disc. Turn to the heat down to medium and cook on one side for 1-2 minutes, until the bubbles have popped and the pancake is cooked through. Remove from the pan using an egg flip and set aside under a clean towel to keep warm. Repeat with the remaining mixture.

Msemen (square pan fried pancakes)
Cheekily taken from this website which has great demo pics
Msemen Recipe from About.com Moroccan Food

Eggs:
see Grazia's Brunch In Bed Recipe
These are soooo delicious and although not strictly Moroccan they use Labneh which is a lebanese yougurt which compliments the other flavours perfectly.

You could do any kind of scrambled egg concoctions as we had several different varieties while we were in Morocco.

The result...

So even though the pancakes ended up being emergency american style rescue ones from our friend Yankee Abroad, the breakfast went down singing hymms AND I raised some lovely money for charity.

A Sunday well spent if you ask me...

PS it would only have been more perfect if we owned a dishwasher and 3 more chairs

In case you's like to donate some money to this fantastic cause too: Donate to Stand Up To Cancer

Sunday 21 October 2012

Morocco...one part Marmite and 10 parts Magic

Since I was old and stupid enough to invest every spare cent I have on travelling, I have held a mental list of top 10 of places I have to make it to come hell or high water. Morocco has managed to hold steady in the top 5 for years and so it seemed entirely the most appropriate place to escape to after 5 months of living, sleeping and breathing the London Olympics.

I'm not sure that it's the same for everyone, but as much as I had dreamed of Morocco for years, I was completely unprepared for the complete assault on your senses that is Marrakech. I found myself caught in the middle of a mad Marmite travel experience - swinging wildly between feeling an ecstatic 'Iloveithereandamgoingtobuyabookstoreandneverleave' and a traumatic 'howmanymorerightandleftturnshaveItakenanddeargodwillIevergetbacktotheRiadsafely'.

As this is Blog is about breakfast and I am a woefully crap travel writer, I'll cut a few corners and cut to the chase - one of the main reasons that my love for Morocco was ultimately requitted after an 8 day rollercoaster of ups and downs, was because of the breakfasts.

We were lucky enough to move between three wonderful Riads and in each one of them, breakfast was so much, much more than a 'rate includes' afterthought. Carefully chosen location, simple, fresh ingedients and a refusal to rush are things you come to expect and love from a Riad Breakfast. It's about as far from a Holiday Inn 'Breakfast Pig Trough' as you can get.

Marakech

Riad Enija

The Gods of Breakfast and Travel must have been watching over my Googling when I found Riad Enija. It sits in the middle of the Marrakech Medina (old city) like a glorious peacock of an oasis amongst the sweaty mayhem that is the souks and the Djemaa El Fna Square.

If you're very smart (or just lucky like I was), you'll accept the offer from the Riad to arrange an airport pickup. The trip in a 30 old year Mercedes is a fantastic treat and a good place to dust off your rubbish French. You also get escorted through the souks which is worth every dirham - getting lost with a wheely bag on your first day definitely doesn't rate as a 5 star Tripadvisor activity.

So first you need to suvive your entree to the souks. And then you arrive. At a tiny wooden door in a very shady looking alley. And just when you think shit shitety shit, the door opens and you meet Ahmed. Ahmed is the most marvellous host who along with Latifa, take care of you like royalty.

Breakfast is no exception. The first amazing thing about breakfast in Riads in general, is that you are not a slave to anyone else's clock. You simply wake up and head to the kitchen, stick your head in and say 'feed me'. Even if the skinny old cockerel on the Riad wall crowed hours ago, you will still get a smile and freshly made deliciousness.

The second remarkable thing particular to Riad Enija is that even though there are 15 rooms, if you don't actively seek out the other guests, you would never have to see anyone except Ahmed and Latifa. Riad Enija comprises 3 different beautiful buildings each with their own spectacular courtyards. And a roof terrace with a breathtaking view over Marrakech.

For breakfast and dinners, beautifully laid tables strewn with rose petals are set in private corners of the main courtyard, hidden from each other by a jungle of greenery. A cheerful fountain and some obligatory Marrakech purr-ey cats provide a breakfast soundtrack. Oh and it turns out, some shagging tortoises.

The food is simple. But wonderfully tasty. Everything is brought to the table and you can sit as long as you like. You get a choice of mint tea (really refreshing) or freshly brewed coffee. My daily highlight was the sweetest most delicious orange juice I have ever tasted. As luck would have it, next to spices and Evil Eye jewellery, freshly squeezed orange juice is one of the most popular things sold in the souks, so you can drink as much as you like every day.

Each day the line up is similar, but with its own unique twist. A basket of various warm breads, a different pastry and one of three different types of Moroccan pancakes, perfectly gooey brie and youghurt. As an add on you could order a so called Moroccan omlette - essentially a very tasty egg dish with fresh tomatos, onions, herbs and chili.

Moroccan pancakes deserve a special mention as they are really unique. There are three different types all semolina based. Beghrir - lovely soft semolina based pancakes best eaten with a buttery honey mixture; Msemen - delicious square almost savoury pan fried pancakes and a hard salty crunchy one that I couldn't find a name for. Mmmmm.

We quickly realised that feasting like a King at breakfast means you can skip straight past the Queen and lunch and comfortably survive until a Princely dinner on a Riad Breakfast.

Essaouira

Villa Maroc

After three glorious days in Marrakech, we headed East to the coast to Essaouira, the proudly weatherworn ancient port city formerly know as Mogador. On first arrival, Essaouira appears a bit shabby, but don't be deterred, it is a charming place with an interesting art culture and moreish seafood. It's also a thousand times more relaxed than Marrakech and you get hassled far less.

I wasn't as bold with my Riad choice for Essaouira and went with the most commonly and well reviewed - Villa Maroc. Villa Maroc is the Jen Aniston to Riad Enija's Angelina - not as darkly beautiful, but still lovely.

They are well known for their good food and are one of the Riad's which offer cooking courses with their chef. Being the lazyass that I am, I wasn't energetic enough to participate, but would definitely do so if I manage to squeeze in another trip to Morocco amongst the rest of the top ten destinations.

Villa Maroc breakfasts include many of the Moroccan favourites served at Enija with three differences...

#1 a yummy fresh fruit and nutty, honey yoghurt dish

#2 the coffee is served out of bowls a Les Francaise (which for some unknown reason makes coffee taste delicious to the power of 10)

#3 it's served on the roof terrace and happily, the seagulls unlike the souk traders leave you alone

As well as fantabulous breakfasts at Villa Maroc, I can highly recommend a mission to Sidi Kaoki - a wild surf spot 30 minutes South of Essaouira. I reckon if you got up early enough for an early morning surf, the surf club shack at the beach would serve a pretty damn awesome dawn patrol brekker.

While staying at Villa Maroc, we discovered that the owners had recently bought another Riad, in the countryside about 20 kilometres inland from Essaouira. It sounded interesting and we wanted to experience some different scenery so we jumped in our almostsureitwasAhmed'sfriendsactualpersonalcarandnotarental Renalt and hit the road.

Ounara

Les Jardins de Villa Maroc

After nursing the clapped out Renault up 2km of rocky road to the house, we had no idea what to expect. It turns out that not only had we hit upon a paradise, but even better, we were the only people staying there.

Les Jardins de Villa Maroc is a converted farm house with nothing around but acres of olive trees, one donkey, three cats and a wonderful manager.

We loved it so much there we decided to stay in and eat dinner . Most Riads serve dinner as well as breakfast and in fact, most guide books tell you that the best place to experience authentic Moroccan food is in the Riads.

This was completely the case for both dinner and breakfast which were both prepared by the manager using his mother's recipes. As we arrived, probably the only thunder storm of the year rolled in and we had the unique expereince of being in the middle of nowhere, in complete darkness in a storm. As rain and temperatures below 15 degrees are such a rarity, it seemed cause for celebration and a fire was lit and both our breakfast and dinner were served in the cosy lounge.

I can highly recommend a game of Backgammon before breakfast. Whipping someone's ass definitely works up a hunger.

Morocco well and truelly earned its place in my top 5 favourite places to visit and as a place for lovers of breakfast, it might even have snuck into Number 2