Christmas in Morocco

“Can you imagine what it might taste like?” My partner and I both stared at the ceiling trying our best to imagine what the recipe might taste like.

Christmas was a few weeks away and we hadn’t yet decided on our Holiday meal together. A few years before this, we’d decided to make a brand new tradition! We both wanted to travel the globe and learn about other cultures, we both loved cooking meals together, and we wanted to do something special for our holidays outside of the usual; turkey, ham, macaroni and cheese, peach pies and yeast rolls.

“So, why don’t we choose a new country every year as a theme, and cook foods from that country for our Christmas dinner?!”

And thus, our new tradition was born.

This year we’d chosen Morocco at random. And more specifically, we’d chosen to try our hand at what is called Moroccan Chicken Bastilla. It was a flavor blend that seemed completely new to anything we’d ever had before. Incorporating chicken with an aromatic and herb-laden omelet with phyllo dough, a thin flaky pastry crust. And then seasoned with Saffron, Cinnamon, Ginger, Cilantro, Powdered Sugar, and Orange Flower Water. We couldn’t even imagine what those flavors might be like together! We took turns trying to guess.

“Maybe it’ll be like a chicken sandwich with French toast as the bread.”

“Or maybe like eating a breakfast hot pocket and a toaster strudel at the same time.”

Half the fun was our curiosity and anticipation. We drove around town collecting each of the ingredients.

“Where do we buy orange flower water!?”

Some were much more difficult to find than others. We ended up ordering orange flower and making it ourselves which was a fun activity all on it’s own.

“So Saffron is different from Safflower?” I questioned the clerk at our local herb shop as my partner searched online for explanations of the difference between the two.

Finally, after we’d found and purchased (or made) everything we needed, we got started. The recipe stated 2 hours and 20 minutes for preparation and 40 minutes for cooking.

To be completely honest, it wasn’t an easy recipe to make for the first time. We had a couple of hiccups. But we had a blast spending this time together, laughing at all of our mistakes. We even laughed at the possibility of ending our night in a Waffle House for dinner, in case this recipe wasn’t something either of us could stomach.

In the end, it was such a brilliantly pleasant surprise! The flavors melded together beautifully. We were both very satisfied with the end result and even more so that we’d expanded our palates to include something so new to us. In the weeks after, we both craved more of the exact flavor blend!

The sweet and savory pie, traditionally made with pigeon, is a special meal made in Morocco. What I learned from our research is that this isn't a recipe that’s made for just any occasion. It’s usually included in a celebration or at a grandeur function. And that’s exactly how it felt for us, despite it being just the two of us sharing another Christmas at home together.

I would love to one day travel to Morocco and taste an authentic chicken bastilla from a great local restaurant. But for now I am extremely grateful to have someone who will travel the world with me in mind, heart, soul and imagination, without stepping one foot outside of our own kitchen.

The whole world is accessible to us.

So, where to next? Bali? Greece? Uganda? Trinidad?