Tajine de poisson m'charmel — Essaouira, Morocco

M'charmel means, roughly, with chermoula. This tagine takes a whole fish or fish steaks, coats them in the cilantro, garlic, cumin, paprika and lemon marinade used across Moroccan fish cookery, and cooks them slowly over a bed of vegetables with green olives and preserved lemon. It is reported from Essaouira, a fishing port on Morocco's Atlantic coast where fish is bought directly from the blue boats at the harbor and cooked the same day. Sea bream, sea bass or John Dory all suit the dish, though in practice the choice often comes down to whatever the day's catch has brought in rather than a fixed pairing. To prepare it, the fish is coated in a blended chermoula of cilantro, garlic, cumin, paprika, ginger, lemon juice, oil and salt, and left to marinate for about an hour. Carrots are blanched and laid in the base of the tagine, the fish is set on top, and it is covered with tomato, pepper, olives and preserved lemon before the remaining marinade and a little water are added; the dish then cooks slowly, covered, until the fish is done and the vegetables are tender. It is served straight from the tagine dish, with bread for the sauce, in the informal manner of a harbor-side meal rather than a formally plated one. The choice of fish and the exact vegetables can shift with the market and the season, but the marinade and the slow, covered cooking over vegetables stay constant.