Maroque Newsletter 5

Welcome to the next Maroque newsletter, and a belated happy new year to you. I'm sitting here writing this and its cold, grey and plain miserable outside, and Gadget the cat is not moving from his hammock on the radiator. I feel this time of year, more than any other, a need for my home to be a haven: warm, cosy and that bit exotic.

I'm hoping, over the next few newsletters, to look at various Moroccan design ideas for rooms around your home. In this newsletter I'm starting with the living room, and having a look at ways to give this room a Moroccan feel.

In each newsletter I will also include a new recipe, which I will add to the site. This time I have included a recipe for Chicken with Coriander and Lemon, a dish bursting with fresh Moroccan flavours.

Finally, I want like to tell you about our updates on Maroque, including a catalogue redesign and lots of new stock.

The living room is so often the heart of your home, where you relax, unwind and also entertain. A Moroccan themed living room can make a bold statement; it can make the coldest, darkest room seem vibrant and alive, mysterious and exotic, yet at the same time warm and welcoming.

You can easily bring a Moroccan feel to your living room without breaking the bank. One of the favourite colours used on Moroccan walls is terracotta; the enveloping warmth of earthy colours can create a seductive atmosphere. Painting your walls a shade of terra cotta and then sponging them with a slightly paler colour, such are peach, will create a warm glow on your wall reminiscent of a tadlekt finish.

Tadlekt is an ancient plastering technique using lime dust that produces a hard waterproof surface, the plaster is painstakingly polished to make it as hard as marble, painted with egg whites, and finished with black soap. The end result is that the walls reflect the light, yet also seem to glow from within.

With a warm glow around the room, a few carefully chosen items will have you transported to Morocco in no time. A central lantern can instantly transform your room; the myriad of intricate patters reflected on the ceiling can be breath taking. A single piece of furniture, either a table or a bone-inlaid mirror can be very effective with a few traditional ceramics, dotted around to finish your room.

My new recipe this issue is a chicken dish, both simple and exciting.

Chicken with Coriander and Lemon

Serves 4

4 chicken breasts
grated rind and juice of a lemon
seeds from 6 cardamom pods roasted and crushed
1 ˝ teaspoons of ground cumin
1 ˝ teaspoons of ground coriander
1 garlic clove crushed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
450 ml (ž pint) chicken stock
bunch of coriander
salt and pepper
rice or bread to serve

1. Put the chicken breasts into a shallow glass or pottery bowl. Pour over the lemon rind and juice then add the cardamom, cumin, coriander and garlic. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours, turning occasionally.

2. Heat the oil in a large, flameproof casserole. Add the onion and cook until translucent. Arrange the chicken on the cooked chopped onion. Rinse the bowl with some of the stock and pour over the chicken. Add the remaining stock and the coriander and season with salt and pepper.

3. Heat to simmering point then cover the casserole and poach the chicken, turning it over twice, for about 40 minutes until the juices run clear when the thickest part is pierced with the point of a sharp knife.

4. Remove chicken to a warmed serving platter, boil the cooking juices if necessary to concentrate them, then serve with the chicken, accompanied by rice or bread.

If you have any Moroccan recipes that you would like to share, I would love to hear from you. Please email info@maroque.co.uk

The catalogue has had a bit of a revamp. As our lantern selection keeps growing, we have decided to split it into several parts, to enable you to find what you are looking for more quickly. We have also pulled all our large lanterns together, and have increased this selection quite substantially. There are some very fancy lights for bigger rooms. Click here.

We have also introduced a selection of incense sticks and essential room oils. These really are worth a look. Until I was asked to have a look at these incense sticks, my only recollection was burning joss sticks in my bedroom around the age of 13, and the strange smell that permeated the whole house ensured they were promptly banned. However these are quite lovely, and I would certainly recommend the vanilla.

We have increased our stock across the range, and have added some new books; the Time Out guide to Marrakech is a must for anyone planning a trip.

We have also introduced a lower shipping cost for small items; you can now order all small items for Ł2.50 postage (UK only).

I hope to go to Morocco in the next few months, armed with my digital camera. My intention is to capture some more images for the site, especially of interiors, to build up a section on the site with room design ideas. I will write again, in a few months.