CASABLANCA, Sept 23 — Each week, Relaxnews invites a master chef to share insights into the gourmet kitchen by presenting a favourite ingredient. A graduate of the prestigious Institut Paul Bocuse, Meryem Cherkaoui is one of Morocco’s most emininent chefs, and her restaurant, La Maison du Gourmet has earned the reputation as one of Casablanca’s finest. She chose to highlight one of the signature ingredients of her native country’s traditional cuisine: lemon confit.
Relaxnews: What led you to choose this ingredient?
Meryem Cherkaoui: I love its combination of sour and bitter flavours, the balance it brings to dishes, the punch it delivers.
R: What is your top memory associated with this ingredient?
MC: My parents have a farm with 25 hectares of citrus groves, and each season, the Beldi lemons are harvested to be preserved. A slight incision is made at the top, then the lemons are packed into jars with coarse salt, where they are left for three months, the time it takes to preserve them as lemon confit.
R: When is this ingredient in season?
MC: From December to January.
R: What is the best way to prepare it?
MC: Quarter the lemon, remove the flesh, rinse it and then slice it into matchsticks or dice it, and use it as a condiment. It’s excellent! For example, one can make a tomato chutney with lemon confit and herbs to serve with squid, or a tfaya (Moroccan sauce based on caramelized onions and dried fruit) with lemon confit, cumin, mild red pepper and coriander. This sauce can be mixed with barley for an accompaniment to seared jumbo shrimp.
R: What other ingredients can be combined with lemon confit to delight and surprise the taste buds? What are the most common mistakes made when preparing this ingredient?
MC: Lemon confit can be used in desserts, like a lemon confit ice cream or sorbet, or in a tart with tomato and lemon confit and red berries. It is always important to rinse lemon confit to remove the salt, whether using them in a sweet or a savoury dish.
R: How do you offer this ingredient on your current menu?
MC: Currently, I offer it in the following course: octopus and sausage, cracked barley and preserved lemon tfaya, summer vegetables and a sour saffron-infused bouillon of shellfish.
R: What wine (or other alcohol) is best married with this ingredient?
MC: A red wine from the Val d’Argan region in Essaouira (Morocco). — AFP-Relaxnews
