One of Morocco’s delights is tagine clay pot cooking. This heavy clay platter with conical top is perfect for one-dish meal preparation. I packed my tagine securely with bubble-wrap in Marrakech, seasoned it in North Carolina, repacked it, and have been cooking with it since arriving in Oaxaca this week. 
Oaxaca-Morocco Fusion Food: Now, instead of Moroccan spices, I have adapted the traditional seasonings and substituted mole. Sacreligious for purists, perhaps. But innovative for me and making the most of where you live! Take your pick: mole negro, mole coloradito, mole manchemanteles, mole amarillo, mole verde, etc. Whichever you choose — Ummm, good. 
There Plus, there are huge health benefits from cooking with a tagine. You use very little oil and water. Meats and vegetables are pressure cooked on low heat, simmering in their own juices, and the flavors are intense. The ratio of vegetables to meat is high. This recipe is also gluten-free! Eliminate the meat and it’s a perfect vegetarian meal. 
Ingredients:
- 1/4 – 1/3 c. olive oil
- 1 large onion, julienned
- 6-8 cloves of garlic, peeled
- 1/2 cup fresh peas or dried garbanzo beans
- 2-3 medium potatoes cut into 2″ pieces
- 2 large carrots, cut into 1 ” slices
- 2 zucchini squash or 1 medium choyote squash
- 3 T. mole paste
- 1/3 c. water
- salt to taste
- Optional: 1 chicken thigh and 1 chicken drumstick
- Optional: 1 T. diced candied kumquats or ginger
- Optional: 2 T. chopped cilantro
Directions:
- Coat clay platter with olive oil.
- Spread onion and garlic evenly on bottom.
- Add vegetables in a pyramid, densest ones first: peas (or garbanzo), potatoes, carrots, squash. I’m in Mexico, so I added nopal cactus. You can try green beans or yellow squash.
- Arrange chicken so that the pyramid is secure.
- Top with the candied fruit and/or cilantro if you wish.
- Mix the mole paste with water.
- Drizzle the mole liquid evenly over the pyramid of meat and vegetables.
- Add cover.
Now, this is important! Use a heat diffuser on the stove top gas burner. (Use oven or a specially designed diffuser if you have electric burners.) Put tagine on the diffuser and turn burner to low. I’m using an 8-1/2″ cast iron Nordicware diffuser that I brought from the U.S. If you are cooking meat, cook for at least 2 hours. If you are cooking vegetables, this should be done cooking in about 1 hour. Check periodically to see that there is enough liquid. If too much liquid, then spoon it out. Turn burner off. Let tagine cool at room temperature for about 30 minutes before serving. If you are cooking in an oven, put the tagine in a cold oven, turn heat to 325 degrees, and cook as if you are making a stew.
Turn oven off. Leave tagine in oven until it cools somewhat. 
Sudden temperature changes will cause a tagine to crack. Keep it oiled with olive oil when not in use.
Hint: it’s apple season now in Oaxaca, and apples and raisins and pears and prunes would also be great additions. What about almonds, dates and dried apricots? Whatever you love and whatever is in season will work as long as you use the density and pyramid formula!
And, then there is El Morocco Restaurant in Oaxaca, highly rated by Trip Advisor. In Colonial Reforma, Reforma 905, tel: 01 951 513 6804 I haven’t been there yet, but want to try it! Thanks to Mary for directing me there!
Post-Thanksgiving Gratitude, Wishes, Stuffing and Stuff
To all my friends and readers near and far, to my family whom I adore, Gracias, Gracias por todos, thank you for everything. Your love, caring, generosity, support, guidance and just being you means everything to me. You are numerous — my world is big and inclusive. Consider yourself part of life’s blessings in Thanksgiving, today and always. Gracias.
I don’t know why I woke up hungry today, Black Friday. Maybe because I’m thinking about how to best avoid the crush, rush of Internet and store message bombardment to my inbox. Food is so soothing when faced with the anxiety of impulse shopping because there might be a bargain out there.
Thanksgiving Day in Santa Cruz, California was a marathon food fest with two giant meals. The first was at our mother’s retirement community where residents, children, grandchildren and friends attended a lavish buffet. My sister thinks this was the first time my mother (being germ-cautious at age 97-1/2) kissed her on the mouth. My sister forgot to put on lipstick. It was a moment of sharing. Thank goodness this meal began at noon!
Next up: My brother-in-law brought Ernestina’s mole negro back with him from Oaxaca with the intention of making Thanksgiving turkey mole. Ernestina is my friend and neighbor who lives down the lane in Teotitlan del Valle.
Her spicy black chocolate sauce, which she served us on All Souls Day before going to the village cemetery, is among the best we’ve ever tasted. Someday, I will watch her prepare it and share the recipe. I know she takes her chocolate beans (which she roasts herself) to the molina and adds the secret proportions of sugar, cinnamon, almonds and vanilla to yield a thick, rich paste. I know this because I bumped into her there.
At 4 p.m. when Barbara and George’s guests arrived, I was at the stove making Chanukah potato latkes (see recipe below), enough for 30 people, although there were eight of us. B&G have been sharing Thanksgiving with the wine making Ahlgren family for over 25 years. They arrived with vintage bottles of early 1990’s bottles of Chardonnay and Merlot. We started with champagne, moved on to the wine, and topped off the dinner with a mezcal tasting. Thank goodness it took me an hour to make the latkes and we didn’t sit down to eat until six o’clock.
Our menu included homemade applesauce, turkey mole (George grilled the turkey breast, sliced it, and then added it to Ernestina’s mole to simmer for a couple of hours before serving), potato latkes, Shrimp Louie salad, homemade poppyseed cake with lemon curd and vanilla ice cream.
Oops, can’t forget the Tucson Tamale Company tamales — turkey and cranberry, and sweet potato. Sister had them shipped frozen, overnight delivery, only waiting to be steamed and served.
So, for me, Thanksgiving is about making sure we have more than sustenance in our lives. It says, it is important to live in abundance. It is valuable to express gratitude to those who love us, care for us, come into our lives if only for a moment. It is our opportunity to reach out to friends and family to share our harvest. It is a time to appreciate all that we do have and being satisfied.
Which is why it is so strange that Black Friday follows the day after — promoting a yearning for more, the frenzy of acquisition, the quest for stuffing our homes, closets and lives with more stuff. Certainly the Thanksgiving stuffing should be enough!
Best wishes to you all for a season of peace, abundance and connection.
Norma’s Original Thanksgivvukah Potato Latkes
Add potatoes to a food processor bowl with the chopping blade inserted. Pulse 6-8 times until the mixture is a coarse chop, with 1/4″ pieces. Remove to bowl of water. Let sit for 5 minutes. Drain to remove the potato starch. Return to food processor bowl. Add onion and garlic. Pulse 2-3 times. Add salt and pepper. Pulse 2-3 times to stir. Add matzo meal. Pulse to stir. Add eggs. Pulse to stir.
Pour 1-2 c. oil into fry pan and heat on medium high burner until oil sizzles. Test with flick of water. If water jumps, oil is ready. Using a large tablespoon, put 1/4 c. of potato mixture into hot oil for each latke (pancake). Flip when one side is golden brown. Continue cooking until both sides well-browned. Remove. Drain on paper towels. Serve hot.
Serve with applesauce and sour cream. We had a jar of homemade hibiscus flower jam from El Diablo y La Sandia B&B in Oaxaca, which was an extra treat to go with the latkes.
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Posted in Cultural Commentary, Food & Recipes, Oaxaca Mexico art and culture
Tagged Black Friday, gratitude, philosophy, potato latkes, recipe, Thanksgiving, Thanksgivvukah