Nargisse Benkabbou is the chef of L’Miida in Marrakech and Casablanca was her first cookbook.  It was one of the books of the month for the Great British Chef's cookbook club and one I might never have bought were it not for the bookclub.  This cookbook is a Moroccan cookbook and when I first bought this book I was immediately struck by how beautiful the outside was with the gorgeous bright red cover and the jewelled look. I really love how it stands out on my bookshelf.

Inside there are some beautiful photos of food that just screams make me and eat me.  Reading through this book I was transported immediately to Morocco and it made me want to jump on a plane and go there.

There are some really gorgeous recipes, yes lots of tagines but also lots of other more traditional things that I had not heard of.  It was a really great read and I learnt a lot.  I was interested to learn that in Morocco couscous is not the grain or side dish as we all refer to it as, but a dish where the meat and vegetables are cooked together in a broth and served over the grain, I had no idea.  Our couscous grain is known as smida.

After reading this book and trying recipes my love of ras el hanout and harissa really took off.  My first recipe from here was the sticky ras el hanout peach short beef ribs (which incidentally I also made into a vegan version) which was absolutely everything I wanted it to be, super tasty, fragrant with the ras, sticky from the glaze, caramelised and just divine.  Our ribs were finished off outside on the braai because the sun was shining so why not and that imparted the smoky charred taste that elevated this to a whole new level.  Even my fussy brother that would never eat a peach tucked in with gusto.  This for me is the standout dish of the book.

I absolutely love cooking with spices, the smells are so seductive and so nothing in this book disappoints.  If you would like to enjoy Moroccan food at home this is the book for you, it is traditional with a modern twist and for many of the recipes you don't need to be very experienced/skilful to make and enjoy this book.  The recipes work well the food is divine and the recipes easy to follow.

- Sticky Ras el hanout and peach beef short ribs

Recipes 7/10
Readability 8/10
Knowledge learnt 8/10
Total 23/30