Results tagged “argan oil”

Amlou is served in Morocco with good fresh bread to dip in.  It’s eaten as a snack or appetizer, for example to welcome a guest into your house.  It is delicious, especially with a glass of mint tea.  The three key ingredients are all Moroccan specialities:  almonds, honey and argan oil.  Real argan oil, extracted from the kernels of the nuts of the argan tree, is expensive and hard to find outside Morocco, but is worth the effort.  Try to find one with a delicate nutty flavour, and check it has not gone rancid.   

Argan oil is only produced in Morocco, the only country in which the ancient argan tree grows. 

The region from Essaouira to Agadir and inland, particularly the Souss Valley, is full of scrawny, wild, drought resistant argan trees. 

Families have collected, cracked and ground argan nuts for their own homemade oil for centuries.

I’d say this soup was Moroccan, although I’ve never had it in Morocco.  In fact I’ve only ever had it in my own kitchen, after experimenting with several flavours which are often combined in Moroccan cuisine.  Travelling in Morocco we often found carrot combined with oranges and orange flower water for desserts.  Carrot is also mixed with cumin, garlic and parsley in the common cooked carrot salad you will get as a starter.  Almonds are found in many Moroccan dishes, sweet and savoury.  I think this soup works brilliantly, but I’m biased, so you’ll have to let me know…

For an easier version, simply omit some or all garnishes, or make carrot soup with ginger as described below.  This simple carrot soup was one of the dishes I made while helping out chef Mona Talbott at the Rome Sustainable Food Project at the American Academy in Rome last June. 

The trick with any puréed carrot soup is the amount of time you cook the carrots; too short and the soup will not purée silky smooth; too long and you will lose the bright carrot colour and flavour.  So keep checking the carrots as they cook.