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Moroccan Meanderings

by Victoria Allman

The narrow streets of the medina tangled like veins flowing to the heart of the city. The souq (market) was where we were headed. Saffron yellow, burnt-red and tan spices mounded in barrels along the way.  Mule carts laden with bundles of fresh mint, coriander and parsley were parked along the side of the street.

Shopping in the Moroccan Medina - Photo by Victoria Allman

“Just look.  Just look.” Arabian men sat in front of endless stalls like auctioneers bidding us to enter their shops. “Ali Baba, come look.”  Patrick’s blond beard evoked the nickname we heard called to us everywhere.  It stood out as much as the red hair I tucked behind a scarf.  No amount of discretion in this Muslim country would hide the fact we were two pale-skinned people among a darker race.

Our foray into the labyrinth had meaning.  We had a destination.  The problem was we were hopelessly lost.

“Ali Baba, where are you going?”  A man asked.  After an hour of trying to find the correct alley we resigned ourselves to ask for help.

“Mechoui?” Patrick hesitated not sure he was pronouncing it right.

“Yes, come,” he said.  We shrugged off the anxiety of being lost like a shawl from our shoulders and gave ourselves over to the guide. 

Hazzid had the soft features of a Berber man.  His dark tight curls were trimmed close to the scalp, his skin a latte color.  His dress of black jeans and a Western jacket told the all too familiar tale of a man who left the mountain village to work in the larger city.  He wove us down serpentine alleyways and around corners.  He walked fast, glancing back to make sure we followed close. 

“Watch, Victoria.  Watch here.”  He pointed out every misplaced stone that maimed the street, caring for me like he would his own child. 

The hot smoky smell of roasted meat alerted us that he’d found the place. A row of tables heaving with cuts of lamb spread out in front of us.  Eyes stared at us from roasted sockets as we passed the first stall.  The second table was identical to the first, a mountain of legs, ribs and rumps.  The scent of cumin followed us from stall to stall. 

Finally we stopped.  “My family,” Hazzid introduced us to two men in white chef’s jackets, their bellies stained with grease.

“La bes,” I ventured a Berber greeting.  They laughed in unison.

“Hello.  Big welcome.”  Smiles erupted on their faces. 

Hazzid stepped behind his brothers and lifted a round stone from the floor. “Victoria, look.”  This time he wasn’t cautioning me.  This time he showed me how the lamb was cooked.  Through the manhole was a pit dug deep under the street.  In the center of the chamber embers of a long-burning fire glowed, lighting the space.  A dozen lamb carcasses hung from hooks above the coals.  Heavily scented smoke clouded the space, permeating the meat with its flavor.  The earth-oven had cooked the lamb slowly, for hours, melting away fat and leaving moist, tender meat.

“Mechoui,” Hazzid stated in way of an explanation.

“You try?” One of the men asked.

“Yes, please.”  This is what we came for.  He raised a large cleaver.  With one stroke he split the lamb in front of him through the backbone.  Another blow sectioned off a hunk for us.  Tendrils of steam rose from the chopping process.  Using the knife and his free hand, he scraped and scooped the meat onto one side of a scale, on the other he stacked weights.

The spices of the Moroccan Market Place - Photo by Victoria Allman

“One kilo.  Good for you.”  He heaped more meat than I could imagine eating onto a paper plate and loaded the top with two rounds of Moroccan pita bread.  I reached for the plate, but Hazzid quickly grabbed it from me.  It was clear he was now our host.  He carried the meat up the stairs to the open-air terrace above the stall.

We wasted no time.  Soft pieces of meat fell from the bones.  Custom dictated we eat only with our right hand; something that proved harder than mastering chopsticks.  We dipped the meat into dishes of cumin salt.  Succulent flavor filled my mouth and coated the inside with silk.  Hot juice glistened my fingers.  Patrick groaned.  This was good.  We devoured the whole plate and I wondered if Muslim customs would frown on a woman sucking the bones in public.  It took a great deal of inner strength to resist the urge.

Hazzid returned with a tray of tea.  He held the ornate silver teapot at a great height, pouring clear brown liquid in an elaborate show of service into the tiny glasses below.  The high pour brought new aromas to the air.  Fresh mint replaced the smell of roasted lamb making my mouth water again.

Hazzid held his cup high.  “Big welcome.” And with that we were left on our own to meander the streets home, our bellies pregnant with the flavor of Morocco.

Moroccan Mechoui

By Victoria Allman
Author of: Sea Fare: A Chef’s Journey Across the Ocean
www.victoriaallman.com
Victoria on Twitter

• 1 whole leg of lamb (or shoulder) on the bone, 6-8 pounds
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 11/2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper, or to taste
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon paprika 
• 2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon cumin

Trim excess fat from the leg of lamb, and make a dozen or more cuts deep into the meat with the tip of a sharp knife.

Combine the olive oil with the garlic, and spices through to paprika. Spread the mixture over the entire leg of lamb, working some into the incisions made with the knife.

Place the leg of lamb in a roasting pan.

Preheat an oven to 250°F (120/130°C).

Cover the lamb with foil, sealing the edges tightly. Roast the lamb, basting hourly and resealing the foil each time, for 7 hours, or until the juices run clear and the meat is tender enough to pinch off the bone.

Transfer the lamb to a platter and allow it to rest for 15 minutes before serving. If desired, the juices can be poured over and around the lamb.

Mix cumin with sea salt and serve in dishes on the side for dipping.

Recipe and narrative Copyright © 2010 by Victoria Allman.

Copyright © 2010 by OceanLines LLC.  All rights reserved.

BoaterMouth -- 12 Journalists, 1 Website

As our readers know, the publishing world is in the midst of an upheaval as publications and readers turn to online outlets to deliver content. Naturally, we at OceanLines feel we’ve been helping to lead our audience of cruisers and passagemakers to that new online world of resources. Well, the publishing powerhouses continue to evolve and adapt (at least some are). And some of the current leaders of the online publishing world are taking big new steps.

The First Big News

OceanLines has recently become part of a unique cooperative venture among 12 of the leading journalists in our industry, through a new website called Boatermouth.com. You’ve probably seen the ad-link I’ve posted on the right sidebar for BoaterMouth, which is the brainchild of Kim Kavin, one of the most respected marine journalists in the world. Last fall, Kim gathered us on (naturally) an online conference call to propose the Boatermouth.com cooperation and by November we were online. (warning — shameless self-promoting quote from Kim ahead)

“OceanLines brings outstanding coverage of the passagemaker and trawler markets to the BoaterMouth team. Tom’s writing covers everything from new boat models to the equipment and electronics that people need if they are truly going to live the cruising lifestyle. I am thrilled to have Tom as part of our team, as his work is not something you can find so regularly updated elsewhere online, let alone written with such authority and expertise.

At BoaterMouth you can read about every segment of boating, from PWCs to fishing to speedboats and sailing, and yes, about passagemaking and cruising boats through the OceanLines participation.

The Next Big News

Boats.com and Yachtworld.com, the massive sites for boating classifieds, announced this morning a big new partnership with BoaterMouth to put our editorial content on their websites.  If you will forgive this brief self-promotion, here’s an excerpt from the press relief:

“This partnership recognizes and leads a paradigm shift,” said Ian Atkins, vice president and general manager of Boats.com and YachtWorld.com. “People who love the water are online now, looking for boats and high-quality editorial content to go with them. Teaming up with a crew of 12 writers who have the credentials of the BoaterMouth group is an outstanding enhancement for visitors to our sites—and a privilege for us.”

Articles by BoaterMouth’s marine journalists will cover a range topics, from power and sailboats to fishing, megayachts, marine electronics, chartering, cruising, racing, and advice on maintenance and equipment. Boats.com and YachtWorld.com will utilize their established online technology to pair this expanded editorial content with related new-boat and brokerage listings, offering the BoaterMouth team’s writing to an average monthly audience of 3.5 million boating enthusiasts—more than the combined circulation of every U.S. marine magazine.

BoaterMouth.com was launched in November 2009 by Imagine Media LLC and is owned by longtime marine journalist Kim Kavin. She is among the 12 BoaterMouth writers, who also include Lenny Rudow, Ben Ellison, Diane Byrne, Pete McDonald, Tom Tripp, Zuzana Prochazka, Jeff Hemmel, Charles Doane, Kimball Livingston, Matt Trulio, and Ed Sherman. (Click here for detailed biographies.)

“My hope when I conceived BoaterMouth was not only to work with the colleagues I respect most as marine journalists, but to do so in a way that helps move marine publishing forward in the digital age,” Kavin said. “The team at Boats.com and YachtWorld.com shares our vision of connecting with boaters using rich editorial content innew online formats, and we’ll be working with them to apply our industry expertise across digital platforms as they continue to evolve.”

By integrating BoaterMouth-branded sections, Boats.com and YachtWorld.com will provide the ultimate boater experience online, such as offering boat-spec information and expert insights, connected and cross-referenced. The partnership will also utilize an existing and growing array of social-networking sites, including Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and YouTube.

These two new partnerships are going to help us bring the content here on OceanLines to millions of new readers and our hope is that will lead to more comments and participation by our readers, many of whom are out there on the water living the life we would all choose.

Copyright & copy 2010 by OceanLines LLC. All rights reserved.

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A Culinary Theatre

 by Victoria Allman
www.victoriaallman.com

It was already a late hour by the time we secured the lines and straightened the fenders, but Spain does not even consider eating until long after the sun has retired for the evening.  Famished from a long crossing, we wandered through the old Roman streets of Barcelona dizzy with hunger.  We passed stone buildings with more history than we could remember, to a tiny square where tapas bars crowded every corner.
 
In the one we chose, dark-haired men stood behind a long counter, backs to us, hunkered over a stove.  They were busy submerging squid in oil and tossing peppers in a smoking hot cast-iron pan.  We pulled bar stools up to the high counter and watched the action of the cooks like we were following a soccer match. Our necks craned to see a plate of sausage and beans being delivered to couple across the room. Razor clams sizzled on hot skillets.  A tortilla passed so close that we could have reached out and taken a bite. We followed it with our eyes.
 
A round of steaming clams were set just to the right of us; their smell filled the small space. We immediately ordered a bowl and watched as one of the cooks, with a heavy pan, flicked his wrist sending a dozen muscles and their juices flying through the air.  He caught the wave of shellfish and broth without spilling a drop.
 
Without a word, he placed the bowl in front of us and cut thick slices of chewy bread, rubbing the surface with a half tomato to spread its sweet flavor like butter.  He picked up a slender bottle of olive oil and drizzled a golden sheen on top.  The bread glistened. He leaned in close, pinching sea salt between his thick fingers and sprinkled it over the bread like an artist applying the finishing touch to his masterpiece.
  
By my first bite, I had already fallen in love with Spain.

Spanish Clams with Sherry and Iberico Ham by Victoria Allman

Spanish Clams with Sherry and Iberico Ham
by Victoria Allman
1 1/2 pounds fresh clams
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
4 cups cold water

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1 shallot, finely chopped
¼ cup Iberico ham, finely chopped (or Serrano ham)
¼ cup dry sherry
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped

Scrub clams and soak them in water and coarse salt for 45 minutes.
 
Heat a heavy-bottomed sauté pan over high heat.  Add olive oil, Iberico ham, onions, and garlic.  Saute 3 minutes until the onions are soft.  Drain the clams and add to the pot with sherry.  Cover and cook for 3 minutes until the shells have opened.  Discard any that remain closed.

Toss with parsley and ladle into bowls.

Serve with crusty bread, rubbed with tomato and drizzled in olive oil, and a glass of wine.

Serves 4

recipe and article Copyright © 2010 by Victoria Allman

Copyright © 2010 by OceanLines LLC