Moroccan Fish Tagine
This dish, with its layers of fish, potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers, cooked in a rich and zesty sauce was always a staple on our family table during our summer adventures. This Fish Tagine is also known as Fish Tagra because it is traditionally cooked in a 'Tagra' pot, a round or oval clay casserole dish similar to a tagine, but usually unglazed & without a top or cover. The fish and vegetables are all layered over each other and then cooked over an open fire or on the stove. This is also why it would be particularly popular to cook at the beach.
Equipment
- 1 tagine, tagra or oven dish
- 1 Food Processor to blend the charmoula (marinade)
Ingredients
- 900 g cod or firm white fish
- 1 batch of chermoula marinade
- 2 bell peppers ( I prefer 1 green and 1 yellow for the colour contrast)
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1 large onion cut into rings (optional)
- 2 large potatoes sliced into thin rounds
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1 teaspoon sea salt to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 4-5 fresh tomatoes peeled and sliced into rounds
- 1 lemon cut into thin slices, or 1 preserved lemon, quartered
Instructions
- Prepare the chermoula marinade and wash & marinate the fish for at least 2 hours or even better overnight.
- Peel and slice the tomato, then slice the onion and bell pepper into rings.
- Peel, wash and slice the potatoes then combine the ginger, salt, pepper, turmeric and some olive oil, coat the potato slices in it and set aside.
- In a tagra pot, oven or casserole dish, brush the base with some olive oil and smother with some chermoula marinade.
- Layer the marinated base with sliced tomato and onion rings, followed by a layer of sliced potato.
- Top the potato layer with all the fish pieces and all its juice and marinade, then cover the fish with the peppers and any remaining vegetables.
- Add 1 tbsp of chermoula marinade to a cup, dilute it with 4 tbsp of water and pour over the vegetables. Decorate the top with some fresh or preserved lemons, and olives for additional flavour.
- Cook the tagine on low heat over a fire or on the stove until the fish is cooked through and the vegetables are tender.
- When the fish tagine is ready sprinkle over with some fresh-cut parsley and serve it hot with some Moroccan bread for a truly authentic experience.
Notes
Sometimes, with some types of potato, the potato can remain hard while all the other ingredients are tender and cooked. This can happen if it is cut too thick or not placed in the bottom layer over the tomatoes which will help give enough juice to cook. If this happens to you, just add a little bit more boiling water to the bottom of the pot to allow the potatoes more time to cook without burning the bottom.
Other ways you can avoid this problem is by choosing the softer and easier to cook type of potatoes or part boiling the potatoes whole before peeling and slicing them into rounds or you can choose not to include the potatoes at all.