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Fatima Mouzoun, creative and generous |
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 Fatima Mouzoun took on Moroccan cuisine at a very tender age. Since then, her culinary path has been strewn with discoveries that only add to her cooking that she never stops perfecting by applying all of her genius and creativity.
At the age of 12, when most little girls would play with their dolls after school, Fatima went to work for a lady caterer. She admits her fascination for the sheer abundance and diversity of the buffets created by this cook: a variety of tajines, pigeons qadra, joints of roasted mutton brushed with pure saffron and other spices. Called to Meknes by a family who needed help to celebrate a naming ceremony, the little girl of just 12, couldn't wait to try her hand. She made a dish of r'fissa which was not as successful as it could have been since she put tomato into the sauce. “My r'fissa was not as successful as I had hoped”, Fatima recalls,” but one thing is certain. It was then that I realised that I wanted to make cooking my profession”. After her apprenticship with this caterer, Fatima went to Nador where her father worked in the public service. After a short apprenticeship, she felt capable of working for herself and began to cook meals for small parties as well as cakes for festive occasions.
Buoyed by her conviction and self taught experience and motivated by her growing passion for cooking, at 24 years of age, she joined the Safir Hotel in Casablanca where, of course, she cooked Moroccan dishes. The young woman later moved to the Sheraton in Casablanca. All this experience enabled her to learn and practise her trade so that she felt comfortable pushing the envelope of traditional Moroccan cuisine. Finally, Fatima joined Movenpick in Tangier where she continued her creative quest. She refined her recipes, improving certain dishes that showcased her ingenuity. She began to use certain vegetables that were hardly known in Moroccan cuisine such as chard and concocted exotic recipes, presenting them in an original and refined way.
“In the kitchen” Fatima admits, “I forget all my problems. I only think of the pleasure I take in cooking, improving a recipe and giving it my personal touch. As soon as I see a dish, I know if there is something missing without even tasting it.” Her creativity is expressed in many recipes. Fillets of fish cooked and served with a couscous enriched with chard and preserved lemon. Capons are simmered with small onions and grains of corn. She also has plenty of tricks to make chicken all the more tender. She pokes holes in the chicken breast and stuffs them with a mixture of garlic, parsley and spices making the white meat more tender and fragrant. To flavour and give chicken its aroma, she seasons it with preserved lemon blended with garlic and stuffs its cavity with rosemary.
Fatima Mouzoun's credo is the following: In Moroccan cuisine, even if the products used are of prime importance and must be of sparkling freshness, spices also play an essential role and must be of the highest quality. “Moroccan cuisine, above all others”, she proclaims, “does not admit mediocrity”. Now a kind of ambassador of Moroccan cuisine and good taste, she happily participates in festivals and tourist events, “In Egypt, we served 500 guests each day. I went for a week and stayed a month!”
Fatima Mouzoun's suggestions for the FESTIVAL OF AID EL KEBIR
-Mazmar Raii (shepherd's flute) intestines, cleaned, blanched and stuffed with a mixture of semolina, offal and minced meat.
A rack of lamb is cooked in a m'qalli sauce and served with quail egg and fried, blanched almonds.
Slowly simmered m'rouzia with selected spices (ras el hanout) and raisins, garnished with fried blanched almonds.
M'jabna – (lamb stomach) stuffed with pieces of spiced liver, heart and meat. (spice mixture includes dried coriander)
Saharan Kourdass seasoned with Saharan vinegar – little paupiettes of stomach containing pieces of offal. These are dried in the sun and kept to be enjoyed during the feast of Achoura (a religious festival).
Amina Boudraa
Copyright saveursetcuisinedumaroc.com N° 20
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