Spiced Olives
Berber Pizza
Haria Soup
Orange Salad with Dates
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One of the things I’m really enjoying about the Jules & David Project is that it’s inspiring me to try different meal formats. Case in point this Moroccan supper of essentially pizza and soup.
Normally when I’m entertaining I build the meal around a (usually large) piece of meat. But we all enjoyed this different sort of meal just as much as a leg of lamb, if not more. And my wallet was noticably happier!
Spiced Olives
I had the best intentions with making these olives but alas time got away on me and I ended up serving my olives plain. No complaints from my guests but no words of praise either.
Berber Pizza
Speaking of words of praise, there were plenty of them handed out when we dug into this little beauty. A simple flat bread stuffed with spiced onions and fresh parsley, it reminded me of Turkish pizza with that comforting bready vibe given a fresh lease on life with the herbs.
Haria Soup
I had made and loved haria, the soup traditionally served at the end of fasting for Ramadan, years ago. So I was excited to try David’s version. While it was rich and satisfying with the lentils, I felt slightly disappointed by the lack of lamb flavour. This says more about my poor decision to buy supermarket lamb than anything to do with Davids recipe. Will definitely be trying this again with better quality ingredients.
I was surprised that David used flour to thicken his soup… a technique I avoid because I find the results are often unpleasantly ‘gluey’. In the spirit of my project, I did consider sticking to the recipe but I chickened out and just added a little less liquid at the beginning. I mean who wants to risk serving their guests a gluey soup?
Orange Salad with Dates
I love oranges. I love dates. And I know that Moroccans love serving them together. But I’ve always felt the intense sweetness of the dates completely overpowers the orange. I was hoping that David’s addition of pomegranate was going to change all that. But for me, I would have been happier to keep it simple with either dates, orange or pomegranate on their own.
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For more see: The Jules & David Project