Fishtagine Recipes

MOROCCAN FISH TAGINE

Steps:

• Heat the tagine. Set the tagine on a low heat until warm; once the tagine is warm, increase the heat to a medium-high. If you're not using a tagine pot, skip the warm-up on low and heat your pot at medium-high.
• Sauté onions & peppers. Coat the tagine with a generous amount of olive oil (about 2 tbsp or more). Add in the onions, sauté until translucence, then add the bell peppers. Cover the tagine and cook for 3 minutes.
• Add spices, tomatoes, garlic & harissa. Once the bell peppers have begun to soften, add in the spices and stir to coat the peppers and bloom the flavours. Add the tomatoes and garlic. Cover the tagine and simmer for 3-4 minutes ⏤ if the tomatoes are really dry, add 2 tbsp of water from your water cup.
• Toss in the chickpeas, bouillon powder, & water. Open the lid, add the chickpeas and bouillon powder and give everything a good stir. Pour the water over the mixture and cover the tagine for 10 minutes.
• Time for cilantro & fish. Remove the lid and taste the sauce; you may wish to adjust the salt at this point. I don't usually add any salt to the dish since the bouillon powder is pretty salty already, but it's a good time to check. Stir in the cilantro, then place the fish on top of the sauce. Cover the tagine, and simmer for 7 minutes.
• Braise, Simmer & Cover. Now the fish has been cooking for 7 minutes and is becoming soft. Scoop some of the sauce on top of the fish and move the chickpeas to the side so the fish can be submerged into the sauce. Cover and continue cooking for 4 minutes
• Serve and enjoy.

MOROCCAN FISH TAGINE

Steps:

• Mix 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup cilantro, parsley, lemon juice, garlic, paprika, ginger, cumin, salt, and saffron in a large glass or ceramic bowl. Add cod and mix well. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
• Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large pot or tagine. Layer onion rings, carrot matchsticks, and potato slices in the pot in that order. Remove cod from marinade and spread evenly over potatoes. Cover cod with green bell pepper rings and tomato strips. Sprinkle 1/4 cup cilantro on top. Pour marinade over cilantro.
• Cover pot tightly and cook over low heat until potatoes are tender and cod flakes easily with a fork, about 1 hour.

MOROCCAN FISH TAGINE (MQUALLI)

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Make chermoula marinade . Reserve and refrigerate half of the chermoula, and mix remaining half with fish.
• Cover fish and refrigerate, allowing it to marinate for two hours or overnight.
• Roast peppers , peel and seed them, and cut them into strips. Or, alternatively, slice raw pepper into rings. Set aside.
• Pour olive oil into a tagine , and distribute onion slices across bottom. Criss-cross celery or carrot sticks in center to form a bed for the fish.
• Mix potato slices with ginger, salt, pepper, turmeric, and saffron, and arrange potatoes around perimeter of tagine. Top potato with tomato slices, then distribute reserved chermoula over vegetables.
• Add fish and its marinade to center of tagine, and arrange strips of pepper on top of fish in a decorative manner. Garnish tagine with lemon and olives, and sprinkle salt and pepper over all.
• Cover tagine and cook over low to medium-low heat for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the fish and potatoes are finished. Reduce sauce if necessary until it is quite thick.
• Serve tagine directly from dish in which it was cooked, with Moroccan bread for scooping up the fish and sauce.

FISH TAGINE

Steps:

• First you need to make a flavor base for the tagine: Cut a cross over the bottom nodule of the tomatoes and blanch in boiling water. Then peel skin away, cut into quarters, and seed.
• Burn the outside of the pepper over a naked gas flame. When the skin is black, place pepper into plastic bag and seal. When cool enough to handle, rub from the outside to remove all the pepper skin, split, and seed.
• Pour 1 tablespoon of olive oil into a casserole dish, or tagine. Chop the pepper and tomatoes and place in the dish, add the chopped onion and some garlic. Heat over a flame to cook slowly.
• Then start making the marinade for the fish: Crush the fresh cilantro and flat leaf parsley with a pinch of salt in a pestle and mortar. Place into a flat mixing bowl with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add turmeric, ground ginger, and black pepper.
• Prepare the fish by chopping the heads and tails off, slice diagonally across its body to allow the flavors to penetrate the fish. Add sea bass, red mullet, and squid to marinade. Leave for 10 to 15 minutes.
• Add the fish to the flavor base, big pieces first. Leave the squid for last minutes, as this does not take long to cook. Cook over the heat for 10 minutes. Then add the squid and shrimps and any leftover juices. Cook for a further 5 minutes.
• Serve with couscous and salad.

FISH BAKED WITH OLIVES, PARSLEY AND GARLIC: TAGINE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Use a small amount of olive oil to grease a shallow baking dish that is just large enough to hold the stuffed fillets in 1 layer, and set aside.
• Heat 1 tablespoon of the remaining olive oil in a medium-size skillet over medium heat. When it is hot, add the onion and garlic, and cook, stirring, just until the onion is softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the parsley and pepper, and set aside.
• Rinse the fillets and pat dry with paper towels. Lay the fillets out flat on a work surface, inside up. Spread the onion mixture down the center of each fillet, dividing evenly. Fold fillet over the onion mixture, and secure with a couple of toothpicks. Arrange the stuffed fillets in the prepared baking dish. Spoon the chopped olives evenly over the fillets. Arrange the lemon slices over the olives. Drizzle evenly with the remaining olive oil, then sprinkle lightly with paprika.
• Cover the baking dish very tightly with aluminum foil, and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil, and test the fish for doneness. It should flake when lightly touched with a fork. Serve immediately, accompanied by hot couscous.

FISH TAGINE WITH SAFFRON & ALMONDS

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the onion and cook for a few mins until soft. Meanwhile, put the saffron in the hot stock and leave to steep. Add the garlic, ginger and chilli to the pan and cook for a few mins more. Tip in the spices and tomato purée, stir for a few mins until fragrant, then add the tomatoes, ground almonds, orange zest and juice, honey and saffron-scented stock, making sure that you use all of the saffron strands. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 mins, until the tomatoes have broken down and the sauce has thickened a little.
• Add the fish to the pan, making sure the pieces are all nestled under the sauce. Cover with a lid and simmer on a low heat for 2-3 mins until just cooked. Check seasoning, add the coriander and scatter with the toasted almonds. Serve scattered with the chilli, along with some couscous and a blob of natural yogurt, if you like.

MOROCCAN FISH TAGINE WITH TOMATOES, OLIVES, AND PRESERVED LEMONS

Steps:

• Heat a small skillet over medium heat. Add cumin seeds and cook until toasted and fragrant; grind to a fine powder. Transfer cumin to a mortar or jar of a blender and add garlic, salt, paprika, parsley, cilantro, pulp of preserved lemon, and olive oil. Puree to make a charmoula, using a pestle or by blending.
• Rinse fish and pat dry. If using monkfish, cut away grey membrane and divide the fish into 4 equal pieces. Rub half of the charmoula all over fish; let stand for 1 hour at room temperature or up to 24 hours, refrigerated. Add 1/2 cup water to remaining charmoula, cover, and keep refrigerated.
• Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Spread 2 tablespoons reserved charmoula over the bottom of a tagine; sprinkle with carrots and celery. Add half of the tomatoes and bell peppers; top with fish and drizzle with some of the charmoula. Add remaining tomatoes and bell peppers and spread remaining charmoula over top.
• Chop preserved lemon peel and sprinkle around fish along with olives and bay leaves. Cover tagine with parchment paper-lined aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour.
• Remove tagine from oven and pour liquid from dish into a small nonreactive saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat until thickened and reduced to 1/2 cup; pour back over fish.
• Increase oven temperature to 500 degrees. Baste fish with pan juices and bake, uncovered, in top third of oven until a crust has formed over the vegetables, about 10 minutes. Transfer tagine to a wooden surface or a folded kitchen towel to prevent cracking. Garnish with cilantro sprigs; serve warm or hot.

MOROCCAN FISH TAGINE WITH PEPPERS AND OLIVES

Steps:

• Mix first 7 ingredients in medium bowl. Add fish and turn to coat. Refrigerate 2 hours, turning fish occasionally.
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Arrange carrot slices over bottom of 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Layer half of tomatoes, half of onion and half of lemon over. Season with half of salt and pepper.
• Drain marinade from fish; reserve marinade. Arrange fish atop lemon slices. Top fish with remaining tomato, onion and lemon slices. Season with remaining salt and pepper. Top decoratively with red pepper strips and olives. Pour reserved marinade over. Cover dish with foil. Bake 40 minutes.
• Increase oven temperature to 400°F. and bake until fish flakes easily and vegetables are tender, about 25 minutes. Garnish with additionally parsley.

FISH TAGINE WITH OLIVES (MOROCCAN STEW)

Steps:

• Peel the potatoes & cut them into strips, about the size of a large french fry. Put them into a bowl & rinse. Then sprinkle paprika over the potatoes, turning them several times to make sure they are all covered.
• Place the tomato sauce, olive oil, water, tomato, onions, & spices in a medium or large tagine. Stir to mix all the ingredients, then lay the potatoes on top of the sauce. Cover & cook on low heat for 30 minutes.
• While the potatoes are cooking, mix the ingredients of the charmoula in a small bowl. Place the fillets into a shallow bowl or dish, pour half the mixture over top of the fish & let it marinate for 30 minutes.
• Boil the olives in a small sauce pan of water for 5 minutes to remove their bitterness. Once done, drain the water & stir the rest of the charmoula in with the olives, set aside to be used later.
• Stir the sauce in the tagine then place the fish fillets on top of the potatoes. Scatter the lemon & olives on the fish & pour all the remaining charmoula over the fish.
• Cover the tagine & continue to cook on low heat for another hour. The tagine is done once the potatoes are tender.
• Serve in the tagine with thick bread to scoop up the sauce & fish. Make sure you protect your table because the tagine will stay hot for a time.

FRAGRANT FISH TAGINE

Steps:

• To make the chermoula, put the oil, garlic, cumin, paprika, three-quarters of the coriander and the salt in a small bowl. Add the lemon juice, then blitz with a hand blender until smooth. Spoon half over the fish fillets and turn them over to coat both sides. Set aside to marinate.
• Heat the oil and fry the onions and garlic until softened and starting to colour, about 4-5 mins. Add the cumin and paprika and cook for 2 mins more. Add the tomatoes, stock, olives and lemon zest, stir in remaining chermoula and simmer, uncovered for 10 mins.
• Stir in the peppers and potatoes, cover and simmer for 15 mins until the potatoes are tender. If freezing, reserve half the sauce and chill before freezing.
• Stir the remaining coriander into the tagine, then arrange the fish fillets on top (if freezing a batch, reserve 4 portions of fish), and cook for 4-6 mins until the fish is just cooked. Serve with basmati rice, boiled with a little saffron if you like.