Many years ago, hearing of her prestigious cooking, I went to see a woman in Casablanca. She received me in a pale-blue kaftan on a patio with turquoise-and-cobalt mosaics. She explained that her family was from Fez and that her cooking was Fassi, which is reputedly the most refined regional cuisine of Morocco. She had three cooks working for her, but when she had guests, even only one or two, she said she spent at least six hours cooking in the kitchen herself. I asked if there were ways of shortening the cooking times. She said no. Her daughter, who was studying law in the States, interrupted: “Yes, there are shortcuts, you don’t have to take that long.” Her mother was deeply offended. Were all those years that she had spent in the kitchen to please her family a waste, then? Were all her efforts to make things exquisite of little value? We cannot, of course, aspire to the extraordinary refinements of the grand family kitchens of Morocco, but we can achieve quite delicious results without much trouble. One of the recipes the lovely lady gave me was for pigeons stuffed with couscous. When she had a party, she prepared a huge mountain of couscous and covered it with little pigeons, shining and golden in their honey sauce. This is an extremely easy version of the grand dish. Using quick-cooking couscous makes it easy. You can double the number of pigeons for a dinner party, but then you will need more large saucepans.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 4
Ingredients
For the Stuffing
Preparation
Step 1
To prepare the stuffing, moisten the couscous with 2 cups of warm salted water. Stir well, so that it is evenly absorbed. After about 10 minutes, stir in the sugar, 2 tablespoons of the oil, the cinnamon, and the orange-blossom water, and rub between your hands so as to break up any lumps. Add the drained raisins. Fry the almonds in the remaining oil, coarsely chop them and stir them into the couscous.
Step 2
Fill each pigeon or squab with about 3 tablespoons stuffing. They should not be too tightly packed, or the stuffing may burst out. Sew up the skin at both ends with cotton thread (or use toothpicks to secure), and reserve the remaining stuffing.
Step 3
In a wide and heavy saucepan, put the 3 tablespoons butter or oil, the onions, garlic, cinnamon, ginger, saffron, and salt. Add about 1 1/4 cups water and the stuffed pigeons or squabs.
Step 4
Simmer gently, covered, for about 30 minutes, until the birds are tender, adding more water if necessary and turning them over at least once, ending up breast down, so that they are well impregnated with the sauce. Lift one out (to make a little room) and stir in the honey. Then return the squabs to the pan and continue to cook until the flesh is at melting tenderness.
Step 5
At the same time, heat the remaining stuffing in a baking dish, covered with foil, in a 400°F oven for about 20 minutes. Then stir in the butter.
Step 6
To serve, make a mound of the stuffing and place the birds on top.
