The recipes are presented by Chef Larbi Rachidi at the InterContinental Hotel in Riyadh. The hotel is holding a Moroccan Food Festival at the Verandah Restaurant from Dec. 18-30.
Stuffed Baby Pigeons on 7 Vegetable Couscouses
Ingredients:
4 Baby Pigeons
Stuffing:
Minced veal 800 gm
Chopped Onion 100 gm
Cumin 5 gm
Black pepper 5 gm
Ginger powder 5 gm
Garlic 10 gm
Bay leaf 3 gm
Coriander 15 gm
Spanish saffron 5 gm
Egg 12
Salt
Vegetable Couscous:
Couscous 1 kg
Pumpkin 300 gm
Cauliflower 300 gm
Carrot 300 gm
Potatoes 300 gm
Tomatoes 200 gm
Baby eggplant 200 gm
Turnips 200 gm
Onion 700 gm
Chickpeas (soaked for 12 hrs) 500 gm
Zucchini 200 gm
Coriander 100 gm
Butter 150 gm
Ghee 2 tablespoon
Spanish paprika 2 tablespoon
Green chili 1 pcs
Black pepper 5 gm
Spanish saffron 1/2 table spoon
Turmeric 1/2 table spoon
Salt
Stuffed Pigeons:
Cut the pigeons open from the neck. Scald and clean. Remove the gizzard, liver and heart and cut in very thin cubes and mix with veal.
Melt butter in a medium frying pan add minced veal, chopped onion, coriander, bay leaf, ginger, garlic, Spanish saffron, cumin, black pepper and salt. Stir occasionally until cooked.
Bind the veal mixture with 12 egg yolks.
Fill from the neck cavity with the mixture in between the skin and the flesh, use a piping bag, (the skin must be raised carefully with the fingers) then sewn or tied securely with a thread.
Melt ghee – brush over stuffed birds, season with salt and pepper and place in a preheated oven, bake slowly for one hour at 140 C or until tender and lightly browned
Seven Vegetables Couscous:
Prepare couscous according to package and fluff with a fork, mix with 2 tablespoons of melted ghee.
Cut all vegetables in strips. In a saucepan sauté onion until soft, add the remaining vegetables, coriander and chili except pumpkin and tomatoes.
Season and stir occasionally, add chicken stock and cook until vegetables are done or for 20 minutes. Add pumpkin and tomatoes and cook for another 5 minutes.
Cook the chickpeas separately in vegetable broth until tender and mix with vegetable stew.
On a large plate serve couscous topped with vegetables and stuffed pigeons.
Milk, Almond and Cherry Pastilla
Serve: 6
Ingredients:
pastilla sheets 20 pcs
Peeled whole almond 400 gm
Whole milk 1 ltr
Butter 50 gm
Rice powder 04 tbsp
Sugar grain 150 gm
Orange blossom water 7 cl
Cinnamon sticks 20 gm
Fresh cherries 200 gm
Red Grape Juice 100 ml
Frying oil
Mint leaves
Powder sugar 25 gm
Preparation:
In a medium pot bring milk, 75 gm sugar grain and rice powder to a simmer over medium heat. Add butter, orange blossom water and cook until the mixture has the consistency of a thick white sauce. Remove from heat and reserve.
Pit cherries. In a small pot combine 25 gm of sugar, cinnamon sticks, red grape juice and cherries; bring to a simmer until cherries are soft, reserve.
Fry almonds, chop crudely, and mix with 25 gm of sugar.
Heat oil in frying pan, deep fry the pastilla sheets two at a time until golden brown. Drain and keep in a warm oven.
On a large plate arrange alternating layers of fried pastilla sheets, milk mixture, chopped almond and cherries, repeat until last sheet, sprinkle powder sugar and almond on top.
Decorate with mint leaves and cinnamon powder and serve immediately.