I grew up in a mixed home. My mother was born in Casablanca, Morocco and my father in Brooklyn, New York. Anyone that has parents with that type of combination knows it make for very lively and exciting family gatherings. Aside from all the fun, it also meant that we grew up eating the most delicious food!

In my own home, I naturally cook alot of Moroccan food because for me, it means home. I guess because Moroccan culture seeps its way into our lives so naturally, we never even thought to actually learn about it. When I realized that after all this time of doing kitchen destinations with my kids, that we haven’t  had a week dedicated to learning about Morocco I knew I had to rectify that immediately.

Deciding what to make to represent a country that has food as universally loved was extremely difficult. I thought about choosing recipes that are more “popular” when people think of Morocco, like, Moroccan fish, chicken tagine or couscous. Those are of course all good foods, and I definitely intend on giving you the authentic recipes for those dishes, the way my grandmother and all the women before her used to make them.

For this week though, I decided to choose to foods that were versatile, yummy, and although can look intimidating, are actually super easy to make.

The bread, Frena, is a traditional Moroccan dough. It has very few ingredients and can be used in so many ways. It’s super simple to make. You put the ingredients in the bowl and with a spoon, knead for a few minutes. The key to this bread is in the rising. Let it rise for an hour after kneading, and once you done what you want with the dough, let it rise for another thirty minutes before putting it into the oven.

I do so many things with this dough. I leave it simple, and just put season salt for challah. I make focaccia, pizza dough, rolls, stuffed bread. be creative. Sauté different vegetables, add proteins and send me your great ideas so I can try them also!