Guess who took her gateaus du Maroc cooking class yesterday? Now added to my repertoire are coconut cookies (always happy to have a new variation), peanut cookies, almond paste filled filo bundles and gazelle horns. Orders may be taken but I cannot promise to fill them as they may get eaten before delivery. Sorry. Jonah J. Though I was still a bit under the weather, I couldn't bear to cancel on Fatima-Zohra again and so made my way up to her house yesterday afternoon. She first prepared the pastry dough for the wrapping of the gazelle horns so that it might be set aside to rest. The peanut cookies followed and I was most impressed by the sheer size of the cookie tray that she pulled out to use. Two and half feet to three feet long by over a foot wide. Substantially weighty and instantly covetous of. Now where to get an oven that large?... And a suitcase that the pan would fit in. I am certain it is larger than carry-on regulations would allow. Although the flight crew might be too busy laughing to take it away (much like the laughter that security in Frankfurt indulged in when Mom and I went through with three ceramic bundt pans-they actually were calling other security guards over to see).
Once the coconut cookies and peanut cookies were formed and rolled in powdered sugar, out the door we went to the nearest communal oven. The taciturn baker took our trays and slid them into the deep oven next to the baking loaves of bread with a long-handled paddle. Oh the pizzas we could make. And foccacia. And roasted tomatoes in olive oil. (Note to self:research the building of outdoor brick oven for Mom's house-think of the summertime parties we could have:) You are all invited. Please bring firewood. (Some of you are laughing while reading that . Some of you know that I'll probably build one and are planning on visiting accordingly!) (Cindy and Simon, could you imagine a salmon baking in the brick oven while we sit on the deck in the late afternoon sun? What day is best for you two?) (My dearest brother, yes, once I build one at Mom's, I will make my way over to your house on an island in the Salish Sea and build one at your place. Start clearing some shrubbery).
Back to the house we went while the cookies baked and moved into the salon to the low table which Fatima-Zohra and her husband cleared. I watched as she lightly oiled the glass surface and began to roll out the gazelle horn pastry. Equally impressive was the fact that the almond paste she had mixed with fleur d'orange water was paste that she had made herself. Doesn't everyone buy it at the supermarket? Such a Western response! Make it? Buy it! Okay, now I have to make it from scratch. Although my notes were copious, I was clever enough to know that the complexity of forming this thin crescent cookie was not going to be understood a month or so from now while I am puzzling over my notes in Canada. Out came the camera and I videoed away. Likewise the forming of the filo pastry cookie that followed, also filled with almond paste. The filo cookies were then fried in the smallest amount of oil and once golden, were soaked in warm, liquid honey. (Jonah, I told you not to read this. Don't you dare email any admonishments about this food blog:) Another video that I must take is of the filo pastry. Also not purchased in the frozen food aisle of your local Marjane, but rather purchased freshly cooked over a cast-iron, large oval (rather like a hat form) cooker. The thin, indeed sheer, sheets are formed by women who must have fingers of teflon as they place and remove the pastry from these scalding surfaces with bare hands.
The gazelle horns (sadly) had to sit overnight before being pricked three times with a toothpick and brushed with beaten egg yolk. We set them aside and left the honey-drenched filo bundles to drain while we went back to the ovens for our other cookies. A few dirhams in payment and back towards the house we began. Quickly running feet were heard behind us and I began to smile, knowing as I started to turn that it was going to be Fatima-Zohra's beautiful little daughter trying to surprise us on her way home from school. Kisses on each cheek later, she took a small tray from her Mom and we continued on in the late afternoon sunshine to the house.
Thankfully, Fatima-Zohra asked if I wanted sugar in my mint tea so I could at least lessen slightly the amount of sugar rush I was about to experience. It was a marginal reduction. My reasoning was that I had to keep trying each type of cookie because I could not quite narrow down which one was my favourite. The jury is still out. I may have to make them all repeatedly and just keeping testing them. One would hate to rush to a snap decision. We should form a panel of professional tasters. This is far too important a decision to make alone. Anyone interested?
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