Can You Guess What I'm Making For Dinner?

Caroline at bibliocook was talking about Moroccan meals recently and I felt that I was a disgrace for owning two Moroccan/Middle Eastern cookbooks (including one which I had coveted for a year before I bought it) and using each once. If that. And the recipes she mentioned sounded so yummy, especially Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding with Turkish Delight! This recipe comes from Moorish, the second of the books published by Greg and Lucy Malouf, local chef and local writer. I bought their first book, Arabesque, a while ago and though I have flipped through it, I haven't cooked much out from it. And I was kicking myself, because I had seen copies of Moorish at my favourite remainder book shop and hadn't purchased it!

I ran down to the markets for supplies on Thursday and what do you think I found at the nearby shop? A bruised and battered copy of Moorish and not only that, but Modern Moroccan by Ghillie Basan! This is the other Moroccan book I own, a beautiful book. So beautiful that a family member has been eyeing it on my shelf when she visits. And dropping not so obscure hints about future birthday presents ... I was not about to relinquish my copy but now I have another to give her! Isn't that just bizarre!

Anyway, for the first time in months I have guests coming tonight (have been a very lax hostess recently) and was wondering what to cook. I really felt like making something with lamb and in Modern Moroccan I found a recipe for Tagine of Lamb With Prunes. I suspect dates and prunes are pretty much interchangeable, so that's what I'm going to do. And the supplies above? Well, I also found a recipe for a couscous with dried fruits, almonds and pistachios, hence all the little packets. When I wrote my shopping list it didn't look like much, just 100g of this and 100g of that, but when you add it all up, it comes to a basket full! I didn't count on getting quite this much, but I guess at least I'll have the ingredients to make it a few more times!

Wish me luck!