After a wildly successful dinner party hosted by our friends, the Versens, the group they gathered decided to start a supper club. We had all kinds of ideas for themes but settled on spinning a globe and each couple choosing a country as inspiration for their next dinner party. We got Morocco and hosted Saturday night. Here’s what happened… (all recipes on my Pinterest)
We were lucky to be able to borrow these great tagines from Hutch, our friend’s mom, who brought them back from a trip to Morocco. Definite lifesaver since most of our china/serving dishes/wedding presents are buried in our attic.
The terracotta tagines are from Sur La Table. My favorite part about this tablescape is my friend Susan’s old college tapestry being used as a tablecloth! Somehow I acquired it years ago and have been using it as a blanket for the park .
We picked up that Turkish bedspread on our honeymoon in Istanbul and threw it over the sofa to give things a Moroccan feel. Sorta worked.
The serving tagines were too big to all fit in our oven so Scott cooked the delicious chicken marbella in a roasting pan and transferred it.
First course was a fennel salad with cilantro, garlic and preserved lemon, a common ingredient in Moroccan food. I found the fennel salad recipe in a great cookbook I have called From Tapas to Mezze: Small Plates from the Mediterranean.
The tagines made for a dramatic presentation. Thanks, Hutch! On the left is a great swiss chard with ras el hanout and preserved lemon. I got the swiss chard recipe out of the recent Williams-Sonoma catalogue.
The full spread: Swiss chard with ras al hanout; cous cous with toasted pine nuts and mint; and chicken marbella (with green olives, prunes, wine, brown sugar and more — so good!).
Everyone dressed Moroccan for the party. I’m at left wearing a blue Moroccan outfit my friend Katie brought back from a visit to where her parents used to live. (Perfect that it fit over the 7-month baby bump!)
We retired back to the living room for mint tea and a chocolate-pear claflouti with toasted almonds and creme fraiche. I found the recipe in The Wall Street Journal but since it wasn’t all that sweet, next time I’ll top with whip cream.
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That chicken marbella looks stunning! Yum.
Thanks! It is delicious, you should make it. Also it’s great because no prep required during the party (just making the cous cous). Marbella can be prepped the day before, which is key at a party.