Tagines are a wonderful thing

For those of you who've not come across them, a tagine is essentially a Moroccan/North African casserole dish. They're amazing, not just for the fact that the conical shape is so beautiful, but also for the way in which they allow you to slow-cook food in the oven to perfection. Mine's ceramic (I had to do the thing of filling it with water and baking it gently before I first cooked with it), not ridiculously heavy like some cast-iron ones (Le Creuset take note), and makes enough for about four people with a small appetite, or two very greedy ones.

We were very greedy yesterday - I made a tagine of Moroccan lemon chicken with olives (and chilli, saffron and turmeric) for dinner, which disappeared with absolutely no left-overs to put in the freezer for another time. No siree. We didn't waste any of it - even the soupy broth was mopped up with the Moroccan anise bread (which was surprisingly easy to make). Both recipes came from one of the best books on baking bread I've come across Flatbreads and Flavors: A Culinary Atlas which is part travelogue, part recipe book of flatbreads (and associated recipes) from around the world. If you ever have a yearning to make the traditional bread from say Kurdistan, this is the book for you - it'll probably have the recipe. The only problem I have with it, is that (a) all the ingredients are measured in American cups, which means a bit of mathematics, and (b) I suspect the flour you guys use in America is different to ours - certainly the ratios of water to flour I was using were completely different to what was specified. So it makes for interesting baking!