Chouwara Traditional Tannery
Landing in Fez for the first time is like landing in another era. One in which the merchants dragged the carts through the labyrinthine streets of the Medina, leaving in their wake an anesthetic aroma of fruit; the same one in which the tanners dyed the skins by hand, drawing a hypnotic palette of colors in its creamy landscape; and the one where donkeys were still able to stop traffic.
In the contrast, therein lies the charm of this Moroccan city capable of dazzling us with our eyes closed. Giving the nose its best aromas, pampering the palate with its spicy flavors.
**Madrid chef Catalina Brennan, trained at the Basque Culinary Center and with various courses on world cuisines, founded the Traveling Foodies Club last summer **, an initiative thanks to which she brings together those globetrotters who share a passion for good food to, together, embark on a unique experience.
Lamb tagine with dried apricots
Morocco was the first destination chosen by Catalina, followed by Valencia, where the foodies learned to cook wood-fired rice with chef David Montero from Ricepaella, and San Sebastián, a city where they visited the La Bretxa market in the company of chef Xavier Gutierrez.
Here, in Fez, the person in charge of discovering the secrets of authentic Moroccan cuisine was Najat Kaanache . Her restaurant ** Nur, ** opened in 2016 in the Medina of Fez and baptized with the name of her daughter, was the setting where we tried a spectacular tasting menu that made us succumb to the spell of local cuisine.
With Moroccan roots and born in San Sebastián, the one who was our hostess has a trajectory marked by learning from her in five restaurants with three Michelin stars: Noma (Copenhagen), The French Laundry (California), Per Se (New York), Alinea (Chicago), and elBulli (Girona).
The chefs Najat Kaanache and Catalina Brennan at the nur restaurant, in the heart of the medina of Fez
After years of insistence, she managed to be part of the last phase of the iconic gastronomic temple of Ferran Adrià, but she is not the only master of the kitchen who has been Najat's mentor.
François Geursd from the Ivy restaurant (Rotterdam), Grant Achatz from Alinea or Thomas Keller from The French Laundry were some of his references.
“I wrote my 49 famous letters to what I considered to be the best restaurants in the world. In three days they answered 27. I was able to choose, and that is how my training began”, explains the famous cook, who already has four of her own restaurants: one in Texas, another in Mexico City and two in Fez.
Souk El Had, a traditional market in the Taza region
Except Nacho Mama , a Mexican restaurant -which with its pink facade attracts the eyes of the entire Medina-, and a Sicilian future, all the others are dedicated to the cuisine of the country of their parents, reinventing traditional flavors with dishes such as chicken accompanied by grated almonds and mole, as well as offering avant-garde recipes that would be worthy of several awards, see the succulent morels stuffed with octopus and served with watermelon gazpacho and mint leaves.
Australia, Brazil, Beirut, Nicaragua, Colombia... her interest in reaching the place of origin of the raw material of each dish has made her travel all over the world, she came to live for a year on a cocoa plantation in the Mexican state of Tabasco.
For this reason, Najat did not conceive of our getaway without dedicating a magical stay in the mountains of Taza, located between the Rif and the Atlas, where, after a stop at a lively local market, we had the privilege of cooking over firewood and spending the night with a hospitable Berber family.
Typical Berber house in the mountains of Taza
Our long journey, drawn by tortuous curves and film landscapes, was not in vain.
Lamb tagine with dried apricots and rfissa , a dish present in all Moroccan celebrations that is made with chicken, lentils and a base of thin layers of puff pastry (seasoned with ras el hanout, a mixture of spices), were some of the delicacies with which we couldn't help but lick our fingers , literally, since rfissa is traditionally eaten with the hands.
After a copious breakfast scented with Moorish tea, we headed back to the medina of Fez to explore every nook and cranny of its souk and enjoy an exclusive cooking workshop at the Najat restaurant.
Not even the series of eccentric paintings by the Mexican artist Louis Burgos Not even the beautiful skylight of Nur managed to divert our attention from the exquisite dishes that put the final touch to the evening and this extraordinary adventure: couscous and chicken and almond cake. And so, with the cinnamon still on the lips, the farewell was less bitter
Octopus served on the Nur tasting menu