Ras al Hanout ~ Posh Spice!

This might say Ras al Hanout!

~  Menu  ~

Trout and Avocado Salad with Ras al Hanout Mayonnaise

Vicky’s Bread

White Wine Spritzer

A week or so ago I was in Truro where, lo and behold, Ally from Nature Kitchen was there with a stall selling her spices.  She had some tasters one of which was a dip made from ras al hanout – it was so good I felt like testing the whole lot!  I didn’t get any spices at the time because I was distracted by a handmade jumper on the next stall so yesterday I popped into St. A and got myself a small modicum of the stuff.

Ras al hanout is a Moroccan spice blend whose name translates as head or top of the shop or as we would similarly say “top shelf”, so pretty special (posh spice!), made up of a large and variable range of spices including in some cases hashish and Spanish fly!  I asked Ally if her mix contained such delights and she said …

“No those herbs, although much sort after, are too expensive to add to the ras. 26 spices altogether (she told me on or two then but I’m not telling you!) in this deeply secret blend. ….. No two ras al hanouts should be the same as they are the individual spicer’s personal recipe.” 

Whatever Ally puts in her ras is fine with me, it’s delicious; a kind of floral garam marsala, a bit like curry but not if you see what I mean.

Having tasted Ally’s delicious dip I tried mixing the ras with mayonnaise (delish), with Greek yogurt (delish) and with both (delish) – so there you have it!

I then had three bowls of ras al hanoutish dips so mixed some leftover cooked trout and half a perfectly ripe avocado in with the mayo one – and hey presto; Lunch.

My friend Debs lived in Morocco for a year or so and she tells me that Ras al Hanout is good in rice dishes, as a rub on chicken, in lamb tagine, with cous cous, chickpeas and that sort of thing.  I think I shall try it soon as a rub on fish before pan frying because it certainly went well with the trout.  I also imagine it would be good in lentil or split pea soup.  In fact I have so many ideas I want to try I think I'll get a great big modicum next time!

When I was at the little market in Truro I also saw a stand selling some pretty impressive looking pork products.  I didn’t buy any as I wasn’t going home for ages and I didn’t get any info but I think the company was called Cornish Pig or something similar.  Anyhoo, here’s a photo of their stuff.

Hasn’t the weather been fab, here in Cornwall at least, considering how late in the year it is?  We went for a drive, fish ‘n’ chips and a pint yesterday lunchtime and saw people with no shirts on, kite surfers (you can just make one out in this quick pic I took from the moving car), flowers still flowering and sun-bathers still sun bathing.