MC is my oldest friend. Not old old (she's actually younger than me!) but I've known her since grade 2. She came for a visit from Montréal for a few days. I don't see her as often as I should but we have gone on vacation together a couple of times, the last one being in Morroco in 2007. Inspired by our trip, I thought of making a Morrocan tajine. I saw a quick chicken tajine recipe on Ricardo (Ricardo Larrivée's French cooking show on Radio-Canada) a while ago and saved it for a special occasion. This was the perfect occasion and also perfect on a cold and rainy day.
MC and I had a great trip in Morroco. It was just as I imagined, and a bit more. As women, we got more attention than we wanted. Otherwise, the food was great, simple and delicious. Everything is so colourful over there. I loved going into a souk, even though it's quite intense. We spent a few days in the city of Marrakesh then spent most of our days in a 4x4 driving through the Atlas mountain range. We spent our final days at the beach in Agadir.
Pictures from MC's and my 2007 trip to Morroco.
Tajine au Poulet et aux Olives (Chicken and Olive Tajine) - Serves 3-4 Adapted from Isabelle Brossard (Ricardo).
I really liked this recipe because it was very simple to make. The longest step is the cooking time to make sure you get maximum flavour. I sliced the lemon and browned them beause I thought that's what I saw on TV. However, the recipe does not call for it and I'm not sure if it's necessary. If you can find preserved lemon, I'm sure that's even better! I added potatoes per the recipe, but for a non-carb option, adding zucchini near the end would be a great addition (there always seemed to be zucchini in the dishes in Morroco!)
* olive oil * butter
* 4 chicken thighs, skinless
* salt, to taste
* freshly ground pepper, to taste
* 1 small onion, diced small
* 1 garlic clove, minced
* ½ lemon, quartered
* ½ can of green olives, chopped
* 2 potatoes, sliced into thick matchsticks or cubed
* ½ L of chicken broth
* ½ L of water
* ½ tsp cumin
* ½ tsp nutmeg
* ¼ tsp cardamom
* ½ tsp dried chili flakes
* ½ bunch of fresh coriander, sliced thinly
* ½ bunch of fresh parsley, sliced thinly
In a large pot, on medium/high heat, brown your chicken thighs in some olive oil and butter.
Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
Remove the chicken thighs and set aside.
In the remaining fat, add the onion, garlic and spices and cook for 3-4 minutes.
Add the chicken broth and the chicken thighs back.
Also add the olives, potatoes, lemon and water into the pot.
Bring to a boil.
Lower the heat and cook for 1.5 hours, with the lid on.
Trapezista and I arrived near Chicago close to 2 pm, faced with gridlock and very aggressive drivers. Why do drivers (yes, YOU, older lady in the Lexus SUV) honk at you when clearly there is nowhere for anyone to go?
Entering Illinois.
I HATE traffic!!
Cemitas Puebla 3619 W. North Avenue Chicago, Illinois 773.772.8435 website
Our plan was to first stop by for some authentic Mexican food that was featured on Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. My sister sent me a link to Cemitas Puebla because she was intrigued by their cemita sandwiches, that can only be found in the city of Puebla. Trapezista enthusiastically agreed, really missing good Mexican food after having spent a year and a half in Mexico.
Cemitas Puebla is situated in the Humboldt Park neighbourhood that could probably second as Little Mexico. When we did not have change for parking, we bought a bottle of water at a convenience store and had to pay a man behind a bulletproof glass pane. This doesn't exist in Canada!! Trapezista was a little worried about leaving her car on the street. If only we had known that there is parking close to the restaurant!
Cemitas Puebla.
We guessed that Cemitas Puebla would fall under the dive category. However, don't be deterred! The food and the warm welcoming by the owners totally make up for it! We were greeted by the owner, who explained to us what a cemita is. We then sat down and once we decided what we wanted to eat, we went to the counter to order.
Cemitas Puebla's counter and interesting posters on the ceiling.
We decided to first share chalupas($3.00), which consisted of five corn tortillas doused in salsa verde and salsa roja topped with onions and aged cheese. I started with the salsa roja and thought it was very hot (and I think I have a good tolerance for heat). Trapezista preferred the salsa verde, which was strong in coriander flavour and not as spicy. We were very happy with our appetizer!
Spicy Chalupas.
We also decided to share a cemita al pastor ($6.00). As is well explained on the restaurant's online video, cemitas originated in Puebla. A cemita is a sandwich made up of meat, avocado and a generous amount of cheese with an adobo chipotle peppers, in a sesame bread. The restaurant offers various cemitas, including a pata (cow foot) one. Too bad I'm not more adventurous! The al pastor we ordered consisted of marinated pork and onions. According to the video, the owner regulary goes to Mexico to buy Mexican ingredients, including the cheese and chipotle peppers. I really enjoyed the creamy avocado against the cheese and meat.
Cemita Al Pastor.
We also shared a taco arabes ($2.60). This unique taco stems from the influcence of the Lebanese in Mexico, hence its name arabes. While Trapezista enjoyed the cemita, she much preferred the taco. It reminded her of the tacos she ate in Mexico. She also really enjoyed the homemade sauces that came in bottles on the table. Eating this taco made me realize that real Mexican tacos have nothing to do with the tacos we know, which, I guess, is more Tex-Mex.
Taco arabes.
We were both quite full after eating all of our food. It was very enjoyable. Trapezista declared that it was one of the highlights of the trip. As we were leaving, the owner asked if we were going to come again. No, we're from Canada! Then he happily agreed to pose for a picture with me and his son.
The owners of Cemitas Puebla and myself.
After checking in at our hostel, we were finally ready to check out the Windy City. I got to admire Chicago's great architecture. We walked to the Millenium Park and had fun with the mirrored Cloud Gate. I was really wowed by the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, designed by Frank Gehry, surrounded by people on their lawn chairs, watching a free classical music concert, which was part of the Grant Park Music Festival.
I liked the elevated trains.
Chicago's skyscrapers.
The Crown Fountain in Millenium Park is quite... interesting?!
The Cloud Gate, also known as "The Bean".
Frank Gehry's beautiful Jay Pritzker Pavilion.
We then headed ou to the Navy Pier to check out the Chicago skyline by the water. There we got tempted by a chocolate churro. It was good, but definitely not freshly fried.
After quickly taking a look at the Magnificent Mile (that I personally thought was not that magnificent...), we headed back to our last meal of the day. We were going to complete our food 3 D's! We already ate at a drive-in in Montana and a dive earlier in the day. We only needed a diner. Luckily, one of Chicago's best diner, the White Palace Grill, was close to our hostel.
The White Palace Grill.
The White Palace Grill is open 24 hours, every day. When we arrived at 10 pm, it was full. Once we sat down and looked at the menu, I wished I had researched this diner better. We had no idea what to order. Many people ordered breakfast food but I didn't really feel like it. We narrowed it down to a chicken or steak fried sandwich. When we asked the waitress, she said to go for the chicken, but it seemed she just randomly picked one of the two. Trapezista also ordered a vanilla milkshake, that was quite large and looked like a typical diner milkshake I imagine.
Milkshake and chicken fried sandwich.
The food was good, nothing special. The waitresses were prompt but not overly friendly. They were too busy serving customers. When we went to pay at the counter, I really liked the look of their old fashioned cash register.
Old-fashioned cash register.
The next day, we headed home to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. I had a great time on the road trip, full of great scenery and some great food. I couldn't have asked for a better driver than Trapezista! Everyone should go on a road trip, even if it does not compare to Jack Kerouac's!
Trapezista and I arrived in Albert Lea, Minnesota and checked in at AmericInn. It was nice to stay at a hotel with wi-fi in our room as opposed to having to sit in our car in the parking lot to get a signal, like the previous night. When we checked in, the hotel attendant mentioned they had waffles for breakfast. After not having eaten very much the day before (we only stopped for a sub at Subway), it was nice to wake up at the thought of fresh waffles.
I couldn't imagine someone making fresh waffles for a complimentary breakfast, but I never thought of making your own waffles! I had never seen a machine that dispenses waffle batter. Once you get batter in a cup, you pour in the perfect portion into the waffle maker. It took a bit for two engineers to figure out how to turn the waffle maker but we ended up with nice fresh waffles. Great start to our day!
Make-your-own waffle machine for a nice treat!
Our destination for the day was Chicago. We decided to spend an afternoon there and check out the Windy City. During our drive, we saw more wind turbines. We then entered the state of Wisconsin and Trapezista got distracted by the thought of cheese. When we stopped for lunch, we inquired where we could get good Wisconsin cheese and were pointed to the cheese chalet.
Wind Turbines.
Cheese-y displays in Wisconsin!
Ehlenbach's Cheese Chalet 4879 County Road V
Junction V & I-90-94 (Exit 126)
DeForest, Wisconsin
608.846.4791 or 1.800.949.4791
After browsing the cheese stores, we picked the Artisan selection cheese board sampler ($5.95), consisting of Wisconsin-made blue cheese, gruyère and gouda. We each also bought some cheese to smuggle back into Canada. Shhhh! Our custom agent did not suspect a thing!
Many cheeses to choose from.
One thing we did learn from our sampler is that if you don't have many crackers, don't waste them with the gruyère and gouda, but save it for the blue cheese. We thorougly enjoyed our cheesy morning snack and were ready to finish our drive to Chicago!
