[.ca] Cooking at the Kasbah: Recipes from My Morroccan Kitchen (ISBN 081181503X)

Impressive resource for Moroccan Cuisine:
Don't let the slimness of this volume fool you, it is loaded with info and recipes and charm. From its beautiful color photos to its warm and personal intro and associated history and culture to go along with more than 100 recipes, this is a fine resource for those of us who want to continue our delving into Moroccan cuisine. Fascinating the history of her family in Morocca and their long-term commitment to remain there and contribute to the preservation of the architecture and culture. Passed on was Kitty's love for the people and their food. What attracts me and just might you also is the seductive use of fragrant spices, herbs and dried fruit in wonderful, delectable dishes such as: Stuffed Meatballs with Dried Sweet Onion Sauce, Tangine of Chicken with Preserved Lemons and Artichoke Hearts, Briouats of Shrimp and Chinese Rice Vermicelli, Chicken B'stilla (the best! cinammon laced chicken filling in razor thin pastry, here made of phyllo), or the Spiced Tomato and Honey Coulis, or the Sweet Cinnamon Couscous with Dried Fruit. Worth the inclusion into the venturesome gourmet's repoirtoire. A delight to thumb through and to cook from.

Rockin' the Kasbah:
Cooking at the Kasbah by Kitty Morse is one of my favorite Morroccan/North African cook books. This book has deliciously wonderful recipes such as K'seksoo Beïdaoui (Couscous Casablanca style) and Briouats, not to mention several tangine recipes. The photography in this book is excellent and Morse gives good information about the cuisine and to some extent culture of Morocco. I loved the section on the Moroccan Kitchen which details a list of certain ingredients that make the cuisine so unique. Morse breaks down the recipes into the following sections: Basic recipes; Soups and salads; Savory pastries and breads: meat, poultry, fish and vegetable dishes; Couscous; and Beverages and Desserts. Out of all of these, the first section on basic recipes I found to be important. This section includes some recipes of ingredients to other recipes throughout the book, i.e. preserved lemons. Overall I definitely recommend thus cook book to all cooks that what to try they hands at cooking Moroccan food.

Great recipes, beautiful photos & interesting Morrocan info.:
I used this book to help create a very successful Moroccan dinner party. I used 9 recipes from this book. The Lamb Marrekesh Stew, Tomato and Eggplant Salad, Dates with Almond paste and especially the Chicken B'stila were EXELLENT! The instructions were clear and I liked that Kitty Morse indicates how far in advance the dishes can be made and which ones are freezable. There was plenty of information about Moroccan dining to help me make the dinner more authentic. We washed our hands at the table with orange blossom scented water and ate with our fingers. Our guests LOVED it. Kitty has included a list of suppliers which I found very useful. I was even able to order Moroccan wine and beer from an importer on her list. I hoghly recommend this book. It is the first book I have ever felt motivated to rate. It is that good!

excellent cookbook for an advanced cook:
For cooks who really know their stuff, and love making spectacular and complex meals, this is a great resource. This book enables me to lay out a phenomenal spread that amazes and delights my friends. There are a few very simple recipes as well, which make creating a full meal quite feasible in a normal kitchen.

A quick and fun trip to a Moroccan kitchen:
Even before I opened it, I liked "Cooking at the Kasbah." This is a crash course in Moroccan cooking--a subject that I wouldn't have said interested me particularly, but which is made very inviting by author Kitty Morse. Listen and learn from just one of the fascinating tidbits within: "Smen, an aged butter similar to Asian ghee, is a prized flavoring ingredient in Moroccan dishes. Berber farmers in southern Morocco bury a tightly-sealed pot of smen on the day of a daughter's birth, unearthing it years later to flavor the couscous served on her wedding day." The recipes are surprisingly easy and well-thought-out, although the use of a bigger typeface would have been a good idea. Laurie Smith's sumptuous photographs are especially to be commended. Using a lens which seems to have perhaps been coated in honey, she manages to impart a golden, glowing, richly colored look to every dish she shot for this book. "Cooking at the Kasbah" would not have been nearly as wonderful without Smith's photographic contributions.