Sea food: Fish, the star of Moroccan dishes!

As you may know, Morocco’s economy is based mainly on the fishing, agriculture and tourism sectors. The richness of the Moroccan coast is such that many countries (including Spain and Japan) try to take advantage of it. The country has over 3500 km of coastline in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea with a maritime area of approximately 1.2 million km2 and a fishery potential estimated by the FAO at nearly 1.5 million tones. “Renewable every year”.

As for the fish appreciated by Moroccans, I quote the sacrosanct sardine whose reputation goes beyond the borders of the country, mackerel, hake, whiting, sole, pandora, sea bream to name only the most consumed. The Moroccan fish recipes are not lacking in creativity. Whether fried or tajine, grilled or pastilla, fish is the king of the Moroccan gastronomic table.

For any Moroccan, fresh fish is the deal. We don’t buy frozen, we like to see the head of most of the fish we buy to define its freshness and we usually discard anything not caught the same day. We have plenty of calamari, whiting, sardines, sea bass, eel, sole, skate while tuna gets snatched by the Japanese in high sea. Some of the very common fish you find at the fishmongers stalls and which are heavily used for different recipes:

• Bar or loup bar (Moroccans call it “le loup” or “Darii”) and can measure anywhere from 20 to 70 cm, is also a favorite for fish tagines or stuffing. 
• La lotte (Eng: monkfish) is another perfect fish for tagine.
• Congre (farkh or sennour in Moroccan) perfect for tagines again
• Ombrine (Eng: umbrine) is used for stuffing as well as pageot (Eng: Pandora)
• Merlan (Mirna, mirla in Moroccan) or whiting in English, a -Moroccan favorite for fish balls or for frying.
• Shark and swordfish are commonly used from grilled fish kebabs.
• Soles are just as good for cooking foil or frying.

While the small fried or grilled fish is usually served as starter, a cooked tagine and baked tray of fish can have whole big fish with the head, filleted fish or fish balls. During family gatherings, we like to buy a big fish, stuff it and bake it or we cut it into big pieces and make a tagine. 

Most of the fish tagines or baked tray have one of the ‘chermoulas’ as main seasoning, but in some areas, a sweet element is introduced while chermoula is not used. Safi is a city which is famous with its fish stuffed with interesting praline paste while Rabat and Fes use a specific type of fish which they cook with sultanas. Now some sultanas are acidic and others are sweet. So you want to find the right one for the job. Basic fish recipes especially for grilling or cooking foil might just need cumin or salt and that’s about it. The fish is so fresh that you just want to keep the taste of the sea intact.

Even though the fishing harbor is quite small in Essaouira, there are many sardines, conger eels to catch due to the generation of powerful Canaries Current. Right outside the medina there are fish market stalls where you can cook fresh seafood for a small price. The seafood are relatively cheap compare to other countries standards, however they are still quite pricy from local point of view. It is the best place to have diner in Essaouira. The price of each type of seafood are clearly marked on a large pricing board, usually by weight.

All the stalls pretty much sells the same thing, some have fresher seafood than others. It is important to choose which stall has the freshest seafood and the type of seafood you want. For example, the prices are “set”, supposedly controlled by the government, however there are still ways to negotiate the prices. The best way to negotiate the price is to pick something expensive, such as a crab (which can cost around US$15) and ask them to give you some “extra” sardines and shrimps or anything small. 

If you ask me about Essaouira, the one thing I would recommend to you is the seafood! The seaport is only 100 meters away from the medina. Plus, many small ports in Morocco have small joints who are only there to serve you a tomato and onion salad and offer to grill the fish you would have bought from the fishermen who just got out of the sea with loads of freshly caught fish. That’s how fresh it can get!

But for now, I leave you with a list of some previously posted recipes of fish and seafood with different cooking options:

• Healthy grilled sardines
• Fried sardines with chermoula
• Fried whiting with chermoula
• Dad’s grilled fish kofta
• Small baked whiting with cumin
• Stuffed and baked whiting fillets
• Stuffing and baking a big fish the Moroccan way
• Moroccan spiced prawns
• Crevettes pil-pil
• Moroccan stuffed squids in tomato sauce