♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ - You know, North Africa is well known for many of its ingredients, including preserved lemons, harissa, and of course, the dish shakshuka.

But what about a Moroccan meatball tagine?

Or maybe a spiced pasta with chicken and green beans from Libya?

So please stay tuned as we explore the unique flavors of North Africa.

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♪ ♪ - You know, many years ago, actually, I had my honeymoon in Marrakesh, oddly enough.

And I got a lesson-- we got a lesson-- from a local chef, and he made a chicken tagine.

And what really struck me was, there was no sautéing.

He put some onions in and some oil and some olives and some ginger, et cetera, spices, and just let it cook for an hour and a half or two hours.

And the flavors were really bright and separate.

And I thought, what a great way of cooking.

But there are lots of other types of tagine dishes, as we found out in later years.

One of them is a meatball in tomato sauce tagine, which is not something you'd really think of, right?

I mean, it's, it was new to me.

- Well, let's take a step back for a second.

So tagines are, of course, named after the pot in which they're cooked, a tagine.

This pot is really uniquely shaped.

It's got this very broad, flat bottom, this conical lid that fits really tightly.

So what this pot does is, it's really about cooking with very low heat.

It's about cooking things very slowly and concentrating the flavors.

And it also relies on spices.

We're going to use spices instead of browning to develop that deep flavor.

This dish, we're going to be using a skillet instead of a tagine.

We're going to start with tomatoes.

So we're going to use whole canned tomatoes, because they have a little more texture, meatier flavor.

- This is a technique we actually do here, and it just means that when you squish the tomatoes, they don't end up all over you.

So many people are afraid of using their hands in cooking.

- I agree.

- And they usually are the best tool for a lot of things.

- Squishing tomatoes, you do end up with bits left.

You're not breaking out a blender you have to clean.

You're not breaking out a food processor.

And these aromatics.

What we're gonna do is, we're gonna sauté a base, and then we're going to split that base.

Half of it remains in the pan for the sauce.

Then half of it gets pulled to the side and used to flavor the meatballs.

We're going to start off with one large onion.

We're going to cut that stem end off, put it down flat, cut it through the root end.

And, of course, whenever you're cutting onions, you want to leave that root end intact.

That's holding all those layers together.

And, you know, we don't have to be too precise here.

So we're just going to cut up and down, and then just cut crosswise.

Keeping my fingers back, using that claw grip.

So I've chopped up our one large onion.

Butter is traditionally used, it's called smen, S-M-E-N, and it's a fermented butter, often cooked with spices and stuff.

But it does add sort of a real funk.

- Well, tomatoes go with butter.

- Oh, beautifully.

- It's a good combination.

- They magnify each other's flavor.

So, four tablespoons.

If you have ghee, you could use ghee in this dish, which would be great.

Which is a clarified, slightly fermented butter.

And, you know, you don't have to wait until the butter is melted.

We can add those onions right in.

- Now, if you're cooking onions, you can put them in a cold pan with cold oil.

There's no reason you have to wait.

In fact, it's better not to wait, because you may end up with too much heat.

- I'm going to add a little salt at this point, a quarter-teaspoon.

Adding salt at the start of cooking your aromatics helps break them down.

It breaks the cell walls, releases moisture.

They're going to cook faster.

And we're going to cook this down till it's softened.

It takes about five minutes-- you don't want to brown them.

We're not looking for those brown, sort of heavy, Maillard flavors here.

We just want to soften it.

And at this point, I'm gonna go ahead and prep my garlic.

So it's ten cloves of garlic, but that flavor really cooks down.

Mincing garlic can be a real pain in the neck.

I just take the side of my knife and smash it flat.

So use the heel of my hands and just keep it away from the blade.

And then all you have to do is rock your knife back and forth.

Now we have our ten cloves of garlic-- we're gonna hold off, and we're going to add the garlic with our spices.

- Okay.

- Those are looking pretty good, Chris.

So it's been about five minutes.

At this point, we're going to add our garlic, which I will scoop up and transfer there.

So stir that in, please, so it sees some heat.

And in come the spices.

So I really recommend grinding your spices fresh, especially really, really volatile spices, like cumin.

The flavor of cumin is so fleeting.

The dried stuff tastes a fraction of what fresh-ground does.

It doesn't have to be perfectly fine for a dish like this.

You can have sort of chunky spice in there.

Coriander seeds-- really, really volatile.

So that is certainly one of those spices I recommend grinding fresh.

Then a teaspoon of cinnamon, then a little heat.

We're just adding a quarter-teaspoon of red pepper flakes-- you can always add more if you like, but it's best to start off with a little.

So at this point, what we're going to do is, we're going to scoop off about a half-cup.

You know, you don't have to be super-precise there, but about a half-cup.

Then we're going to build our sauce here.

So we're going to add a cup of beef broth.

If you don't have beef broth, chicken broth will be fine.

Water will be fine.

Bouillon cubes work great.

You know, they're in the pantry, they're just going to work fine.

You do need to adjust for the salt content.

Scale the total salt down if you are using a bouillon cube.

But now let's take those tomatoes you so nicely crushed and add it to the pan.

Now we're gonna bring it up to a simmer, and we're going to let it simmer for 15 minutes.

One of the reasons I really, really love this dish is, we're not browning the meatballs.

So we're not spreading that sort of volatized beef fat all over our kitchen.

We're not making a mess.

That sauce has come up to a sputtering simmer there.

So throw a cover on.

We're going to let it simmer for about 15 minutes on low, and we'll go make our meatballs.

We've got half our onion mixture, and that's got all those spices and the garlic in it.

And to this, we're going to add breadcrumbs.

So we're using panko, which is a Japanese-style breadcrumb.

It's very crisp, it's very friable, and they're just convenient.

You really don't have to use panko for this dish.

If you have any breadcrumbs in the house, if you have that stale lump of bread in the back of your breadbox, just grind it down to breadcrumbs.

It's going to work fine.

So we're going to make this panade with water.

- A panade, which is bread and some liquid, means that a hamburger or meatloaf or meatballs, even if you cook it to a higher temperature, remains soft.

It doesn't get tough.

- In this case, it just really helps moisturize the meatballs, helps glue them together a bit.

Okay, it's been about five minutes, Chris.

You can see how quickly that panko absorbs all the moisture.

We're going to add a half-cup of chopped cilantro.

We're going to add half-teaspoon of salt, a whole teaspoon of black pepper, and we're going to mix that up.

Make sure it's really combined well.

So we're going to add one pound of lean ground beef.

You want about 90%.

Otherwise, it's going to turn the dish really fatty.

We can add that to the bowl, and now we're going to just chop that up and mix it in.

So we're going to take this mixture and divide it into 16 portions.

It's about two tablespoons a portion.

We can use a handy-dandy scoop.

How about I portion them out and you roll them?

Can you use your hands there?

- See?

- Nicely done, you're not squeezing them too hard.

You don't want to compact them too much.

We're going to finish scooping these and rolling them.

We're going to hopefully end up with around 16.

Then we're going to put them in the fridge for about 15 minutes so they firm up.

If we put them right in the sauce right now, they're just going to fall apart.

♪ ♪ Ah, smells great.

- Does smell good.

- So our pretty meatballs have rest in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.

And you can see there's a textural change to that meat after it's been shaped and chilled for a bit.

Again, we're not browning them.

We're just going to plop them in the sauce and let them cook through, right in the sauce.

Kind of space them out evenly around the pan.

- Actually, the whole idea of browning meat, it's a very Northern European thing.

- Yeah, it's true, I mean, you look at cultures around the world, and a lot of it is about limited resources-- and that, again, we go back to the heart of how a tagine cooks.

It really is about maximizing heat and minimizing the need for water.

- Top back on?

- Top back on-- 15 minutes.

You want to make sure the meatballs are covered.

Then we're going to flip them, cook them another 15 minutes, then we're just about done.

This dish gets finished with eggs.

We're going to crack a couple eggs in there.

So think of it as like a really, really hearty shakshuka.

So let's make a little room for those eggs.

If we put them down without any sauce underneath, they're just gonna burn to the bottom.

Make a little divot in the center and just crack them.

- So wait a minute, is this dish for two?

There are two eggs.

Are we going to fight over the eggs?

- We might-- feel free to add a couple of extra eggs.

- Okay, just wondering.

- Can you put the lid back on?

We're going to cook these just until the eggs set.

So while those eggs are setting, takes about four minutes, we're going to make the garnish; now, the garnish is a mixture of olives and lemon.

So we have a third of a cup of chopped olives.

Now, these are the pimento-stuffed olives.

We're looking for a mild green olive.

We're going to add about two tablespoons of grated lemon zest.

You can just grate it right over the bowl so those olives catch that zest flavor.

Those eggs are looking perfect.

So we can just mix that up.

So let's go ahead and sprinkle our garnish.

Another half-cup of cilantro.

Then we can add our olives.

Okay, Chris, dinner's here.

Tagines are not something you eat with couscous.

We may think you may want to put some couscous underneath, but really it's about eating this with a soft, flat bread.

- Mm.

- That's really good.

- Well, the meatballs are tender.

There's a lot of different flavors going on, but none of them are overpowering-- even the garlic.

And the tomato with the cinnamon, it's interesting.

Great dishes are dishes where, the first bite, you go, "Oh, what's that?

", and then on the eighth bite, you're learning something new.

So a dish that many of us are not familiar with, which is a tagine from Morocco, but it's a meatball tagine.

Lots of spices, lots of flavors.

It is absolutely fabulous.

- Oh, thank you.

♪ ♪ - Preserved lemons are my favorite ingredient in the kitchen, and I'm a very curious cook.

I will try anything.

I have very few favorite things, but preserved lemons are it.

They're traditionally Moroccan and a staple of the Moroccan pantry, used in tagines, like you saw earlier.

However, I also use them in salad dressings, to dress root vegetables.

I use them in cocktails-- I even use them in my desserts.

Lemons in Morocco have a thin skin.

They're doqq or boussera lemons, very close to the Meyer lemon here in the United States.

However, after making hundreds of batches of preserved lemon, I've actually found that I like them best with the common Eureka lemon that we can find in grocery stores.

First, you start with a jar-- you take your lemon, and you want to see if it fits into the mouth of your jar without cutting it.

If that's the case, which mine do, thankfully, you cut them into little tulips.

So here's the stem end.

From the blossom end, you cut them all the way down to the stem, but not through it.

So that they open up into little flowers.

If your lemons are too large to fit in the mouth of your jar, don't worry.

You can cut them into quarters.

This is fine-- don't worry about it.

Salt, our only other ingredient.

You want to put two tablespoons... ...of salt in the bottom of your jar.

Then into your little tulip, you put around two teaspoons.

So less than a tablespoon of salt.

You sort of pinch it together, so now you have a salty tulip.

And you put it right into your jar.

So you can put other things into preserved lemons.

Often, they have dried chilies or cinnamon sticks.

If you know that you always use your preserved lemons in the same way, I highly recommend seasoning the brine, because then they're ready to cook.

You don't have to get those ingredients out later.

However, if you're like I am, and you might use them one day for a cocktail, the next day for a tagine, and the next day for vinaigrette, I like keeping them more neutral so that I can adapt them to what I'm using them for.

So second tulip.

In it goes.

Should be using a tool-- I use my hands.

Then you can get them into one layer.

And as you push down on them, you see they're starting to release their own juice.

Then a little sprinkle of salt.

And we do the whole process over again.

So preserved lemons-- what do they taste like?

Preserved lemons are much more savory because they're fermented, and have less acidity and more sort of funk.

They have so much going on, you hardly actually need to add other ingredients to, for example, salad dressings.

So I'm going to continue layering lemon tulips and salt and squishing them down.

And then when I'm done, I'm going to show you what to do if your lemons don't release quite enough juice.

♪ ♪ Like anything you're going to ferment, you want to make sure that the top of the final layer of lemons is covered with juice.

So I always have a little fresh-squeezed juice ready to go in case I need a little more.

Leave a little headroom, because your lemons will continue to exude juice as they ferment, and you don't want it to bubble over.

Once you have enough lemon juice in there, we add one final tablespoon of salt, sometimes a little extra for good measure.

And you put the top on.

And these stay in a cool, dark place, but at room temperature for about a week.

And periodically you do this.

It helps get the salt evenly distributed.

It just helps move things around.

And then you put them in the fridge and you let them sit.

They're ready in about three weeks.

They'll have enough savoriness to be great.

But if you let them go longer, they get more complexly flavored, and they get better and better.

They're fine up to a year.

And actually, a year is my preferred length of time to let them ferment.

Okay, here are some beautiful preserved lemons.

Look at this color.

These have been fermenting for about a month.

And you can see it's much softer.

The rind, you can even see, is starting to get a little translucent.

The insides you save and you cook.

They often want a little heat, but the rind you can dice, it can be the garnish for a drink.

It can be diced up and put into a cake.

Or you add them at the end of a dish for a little texture, but also that same savory lemon pop.

And then this pulp you would finely mince and let it have some cook time.

So you might add it to the onions after you've sweated them for the base of a stew or a tagine.

And then they would cook and get even mellower.

And then you would finish the dish with your beautiful preserved lemon rind.

And again, don't be afraid to let them ferment for quite a long time.

After a couple months, six months, nine months, everything just gets more delicious.

♪ ♪ - Shakshuka was developed in Northern Africa, but it has taken off all over the world.

There are lots of variations of it, anything from green shakshuka, red shakshuka.

I developed a version here at Milk Street that's completely pantry-friendly, but it's the kind of dish that you can use fresh vegetables from your garden, herbs-- anything that you like.

So to start, I'm going to thinly slice a bell pepper and a red onion.

But if you don't have a fresh pepper, it's okay.

You can use roasted red peppers.

These jars are great to keep in your pantry.

So now it's time for the tomatoes.

I have a 28-ounce can of whole tomatoes.

I'm just going to crush these by hand.

So I think I have these all crushed and they're ready to go.

All right, now I'm gonna add the vegetables to the skillet-- I heated a few tablespoons of oil.

I'm going to add a little bit of salt, and I'm going to let these go for about five minutes until the onions are golden-brown.

(sizzling) And now I'm going to add my tomatoes, along with a little bit of water to thin out the sauce and two tablespoons of harissa paste.

I'm going to bring this up to a simmer and let it cook until the vegetables are soft, about six minutes.

This sauce is looking great, so I'm going to add my eggs.

Creating a well makes it easy to nestle the eggs in.

I'm going to season each egg with some salt and pepper.

I'm going to put on the lid, and I'm going to cook these anywhere from five to eight minutes.

I'm going to rotate the skillet so everything cooks evenly.

The eggs look great.

The whites are set and the yolks are still runny.

There's a lot of ways you can garnish this.

I'm using parsley and feta, but I think olives would be great on this.

Capers, any kind of cheese that you like, Different herbs-- I think dill would be great on this.

Also love to serve this with yogurt.

And a nice drizzle of good olive oil.

So this is our recipe for shakshuka.

All of these ingredients you probably already have in your pantry, so I hope you'll give it a try.

♪ ♪ - Macroona mbakbka is a one-pot pasta dinner that is also arguably the national dish of Libya.

Now, Italian pasta made its way into Libyan cuisine when Italy colonized the country just in the 20th century, so recently.

And in this dinner, we combine that new addition to the Libyan pantry with some much older staples, like harissa and spices and tomato paste.

You just saw Rose use harissa when she made shakshuka.

This mixture of peppers and tomatoes and spices means that we can put together a one-pot meal with a short ingredient list that still has a ton of flavor.

To get started, we're going to heat about three tablespoons of olive oil until it's just smoking.

While that heats up, we're going to add the harissa to one-and-a-half pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thighs that we've trimmed a little bit, but not too much.

The fat's good, it's part of the dish.

Now, about the harissa.

There are a lot of different varieties, and the heat varies quite a bit, so have a taste.

If it seems a little mild, add the full tablespoons or a little more.

If it seems kind of spicy, maybe err on the side of one tablespoon.

So I like a dish with a little kick.

I added a full two tablespoons of harissa.

And we're going to add one quarter-teaspoon of salt and mix this up.

We're not looking to create a lot of browning on our chicken, but if you want to test to make sure the oil's hot enough, you can put in just one piece.

And you want to hear a little sizzle.

(pan sizzling softly) Perfect.

(pan sizzling) Keep the bowl.

We're not going to cook the chicken all the way through.

We want to get the pink color off the surface and some gentle browning.

We're actually going to develop the most flavor later with our aromatics.

So we've gotten the pink color off the outside and we're going to use a slotted spoon to transfer it back into the same bowl.

We'll continue cooking the chicken later when we are cooking the pasta.

So it's not cooked all the way through yet, but it will be, don't worry.

We also want to leave the fat from the chicken in our pot, which is why you want to use a slotted spoon.

That's going to become our flavored cooking oil for the next steps.

All right, so into this now delicious mix of olive oil and chicken fat and fond, we're going to add a third a cup of tomato paste.

We're going to brown our tomato paste to create a nice, rich base to this pasta while still keeping the overall effect lighter than if we browned all the chicken.

(sizzling) Tomato paste is another essential ingredient to have around-- you can brown it, like we are here, to develop more robust flavors.

You can keep it lighter, but still have that nice savory base.

All right, so you know it's browned when it leaves a little vegetable fond on the bottom of the pan, but also the tomato paste sort of starts to separate.

And we are there now-- we're going to add one diced yellow onion.

We're going to stir this all up, get the onions nice and coated with the tomato paste, and add one quarter-teaspoon more salt.

The salt's going to help draw out water, so that these onions will get soft and sweet, but not too rich or caramelized.

♪ ♪ Our onions are nice and translucent and sweet, so I'm just going to create a little hole in the middle.

And into that little hole, I'm going to put four cloves of garlic that are finely chopped.

And the only other spice we need to add, because the harissa had so much in it already.

We're adding three-quarters of a teaspoon of allspice.

We're going to stir that around in its little hole until it's aromatic.

And you want those aromas to come up to you.

You don't have to lean over to smell them.

It's done when they reach you when you're standing up straight.

We're ready for our chicken to go back in the pan, with all the juices that accumulate in here-- that's flavor.

Don't want to waste it.

And then we like to add green beans as a vegetable.

I like to stir this up so everything is coated.

Add in one pound of shells.

All right, and now the one-pot magic.

As long as your water is boiling, you can make a really quick sauce and cook the pasta at the same time.

So we're going to add three cups of just-boiled water.

What the hot water does is, it helps the pasta release its starches right away, and you get a nice, velvety, thick sauce.

Stir that up and add in one more teaspoon of salt.

We're going to bring this up to a boil, increase the heat to medium-high, and then cover it and let it cook until the sauce thickens and the pasta is cooked al dente.

Our pasta is cooked, and there's just this velvety sauce enrobing every little shell.

I'll let those combine while I finish picking and chopping some fresh mint.

You could also use parsley, but you want a fresh final pop with this pasta dish.

This is my most elegant way of rough-chopping herbs, but it really works, is, you just make a little ball in your fist, and then run a knife through it.

That not-so-pretty ball of herbs means that you make tidy work on your countertop.

I'm going to stir this in.

I can already smell the fresh pop that that mint's going to bring to this pasta dish.

Let's give it a try.

It's the harissa that makes this dish.

There's so much flavor in that one condiment.

And then the technique of cooking it all in one pot with that boiling water means that the sauce really brings together all the different elements, and you have a quick, weeknight dinner that delivers a big punch of flavor.

You can get the recipe for this harissa-spiced pasta and all the other recipes from this season of Milk Street Television at MilkStreetTV.com.

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Access our content anytime to change the way you cook.

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- Funding for this series was provided by the following: - Introducing Hestan ProBond, crafted from the resilience of cold-forged stainless steel.

We collaborate with top chefs to redefine cookware and the kitchen experience.

Italian craftsmanship meets innovation with Hestan ProBond.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪