An evening of Moroccan cooking with Ms Butterfish

Nothing gets better than a Saturday night of slow cooking, dancing and listening to Souad Massi with Ms. Butterfish. We picked the menu, we shopped and all that was needed was a never-ending evening of pleasure-filled cooking. The menu was Moroccan, cooking with Alia - she cooks with her grandmother, and Ms. Butterfish can clearly see the love in Alia's eyes for her fragile grandmother - who does all the cooking on their video blog. Nigella Lawson's sensuality, Rachel Ray's efficiency and Giada di Lorentis' big bosoms don't stand a chance against this grandma-granddaughter pairing. And neither do they stand a chance against me, Ms. Butterfish and our love of cooking.

The meal was a single dish Moroccan wonder that has a medley of vegetables, couscous, chickpeas and chicken cooked with a flavorful combination of spicy parsley, citrusy cilantro and powdered ginger. What Moroccan cooking can be complete without a little mound of saffron, sinking...blending and enveloping every grain of couscous, chickpea and vegetable. Musty and mellow turmeric does the same trick. The medley of vegetables impressed us to pick this platter of happiness. Buttery soft butternut and cabbage, sweet carrots, juicy squash, starchy potatoes, and crisp, sharp turnips, all go to make this dish irresistible.

The chicken, couscous, chickpeas, spices, herbs, and vegetables are all cooked together. The chicken juices sink into the plump couscous, with saffron and turmeric melting in , like the setting golden sun on a Mediterranean beach. The buttery pieces of butternut and cabbage, and juicy chicken, feel like I am sinking my body into a white, sandy, warm Mediterranean beach.
With melodious Souad Massi playing and some fruity South African wine the evening blends into midnight like a sweet song in a Bedouin tent.

The platter of vegetables, carrots, zucchini, potatoes,tomatoes, butternut squash, cabbage,turnips and onions.

Citrusy cilantro and spicy parsley

Salt, pepper, dried ginger, turmeric, chillies just two, and saffron

Couscous and canned chickpeas

Chicken

The large pot

In goes the chicken first

then the spices and potatoes and turnips

The cabbage and onion

The carrots and tomatoes

Then the parsley and cilantro

All bubbling away with 2 cups of water

Take a break and pose for pictures

Have a glass of fruity South African wine or maybe 2 or 3 

Pose for a picture with Holly Golightly....

Take the cooked chicken out of the bubbling pot

Add the butternut squash, zucchini and some raisins

Then the chick peas and cook some more

Cook the couscous for just 1 min

Fluff and spread on a pan.

On the couscous layer the cooked vegetables, couscous, raisins and finally the chicken