In his column that he shares with his Masterchef co-host John Torode, he comments on the Pizza Stone being ‘a must have’ and mentioning that ‘your pizza will crisp up for a real restaurant taste’.

This is mainly due to the unique design of the Pizza Stone which can withstand high oven temperatures. The glaze is micro-crazed contributing to crispy well-baked crusts, just like a pizza oven.

For more information please visit our later post here.

The unique design of the Pizza Stone can withstand high oven temperatures and the glaze is micro-crazed contributing to crispy well-baked crusts, just like a pizza oven.

You can cut directly on the glazed pizza stone without damaging or scratching the surface, which makes it ideal for creating authentic oven to table pizzas with relative ease.

And since it can be placed on a naked flame, the Pizza Stone can turn a BBQ grill into an outdoor pizza oven which is perfect for the warmer months ahead.

The Pizza Stone also has the added advantage of being easy to clean with soap and water and is dishwasher safe.

Watch the Pizza Stone in action in the video below.

Click here for details.

Without a doubt, the cuisine of Morocco is a fascinating reflection of the history of a country whose invaders, such as the ancient Phoenicians and Romans, have come and gone, each leaving a stamp on the culinary landscape. Starting around 1100BC, the culinary history includes the indigenous Berber population, which inhabited the inland fertile plains and the harsh mountainous terrain where they lived off honey, beans, lentils and wheat and began the lifelong tradition of tagine cooking and couscous; the nomadic Bedouins from the desert who brought dates, milk and grains; the Moors expelled from Spain who relied heavily on olives and olive oil and brought with them the Andalucian flavours of paprika and herbs; the Sephardic Jews with their preserving techniques employing salt; the Arabs who introduced the sophisticated cuisine from the Middle East along with Islamic culinary restrictions; the slaves from central Africa with their tribal secrets; the Ottoman influence of kebabs and pastry making; and the French who left a legacy of wine-making, café culture and general culinary finesse.

To absorb the delights and diversity of Morocco’s cuisine it is worth visiting the markets of Marrakech and Fez where the labrynthine souks are the centres of all social and culinary activity. From the make-shift barber’s shops and stalls selling cones of raw sugar, shampoo stones, dried lizards and snake skins, and the butchered carcasses of cows and sheep to the mini emporiums displaying carpets, leather good, jewellery, pottery, dried spices and herbs, there is much to buy and admire. In my role as a cookery writer, I also look for the utensils carved from lemon wood and juniper bark; fleshy olives of every colour and size; tiny preserved lemons; argan oil, the precious pressing of the roasted kernels of the argan nut which is extracted from the excretions of the goats that climb the stout, thorny trees; and, of course, the traditional clay tagines which I have always hand-carried onto the plane to use in the cookery workshops I run from my home.

However, I really have no need to carry these heavy pots and the accompanying stoves anymore as I was asked by the French company, Emile Henry, to try out one of their tagines and, to be honest, I was very impressed and now cook from them in my workshops. They are slightly wider and deeper than the majority of the traditional Moroccan ones and just as effective for the slow cooking methods. Unlike the traditional earthenware ones which develop hairline cracks over any heat other than a charcoal stove, the Emile Henry version can be used directly on the gas hob or stove. Simply temper the base with milk scalded over a gentle heat, as instructed by the company, then cook away to your heart’s content. The tagine itself is large enough for a whole chicken, a joint of meat, or a whole medium-sized fish, so it is incredibly versatile – so versatile in fact that I often cook other dishes in it such as coq au vin, chicken biriyani, and stuffed vine leaves poached in olive oil and lemon juice.

Although I enjoy many of the traditional, slow-cooked tagines, one of my favourite dishes doesn’t actually cook for long and is a perfect introduction to tagine cooking for the summer and autumn months:

Moroccan ratatouille with dates (taken from Flavours of Morocco)

Similar to a French ratatouille, this delicious dish is spiked with a touch of ras el hanout, the ubiquitous Moroccan spice, and sweetened with succulent dates. It can be served on its own with couscous or rice, or as an accompaniment to grilled or roasted meats and poultry. At home, I often serve it for supper with chunks of French bread, a green salad, and a bowl of thick creamy yogurt.

Serves 4-6

4-5 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, halved lengthways and sliced crossways

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 red bell pepper, halved lengthways and sliced crossways, with stalk and seeds removed

1 medium-sized aubergine, halved lengthways and sliced crossways

2 courgettes, sliced

225g pitted, ready-to-eat dates, halved lengthways

2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes

1-2 teaspoons sugar

2-3 teaspoons ras el hanout

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper, or a mixture of peppers

a small bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped

Heat the oil in a tagine, or a heavy-based pan. Stir in the onions and garlic for 2-3 minutes until they begin to soften. Toss in the pepper, aubergines and courgettes for 3-4 minutes then add the dates, followed by the tomatoes, sugar and ras el hanout. Mix thoroughly, cover with a lid, and cook for about 40 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.

Season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with the chopped parsley and serve the ratatouille hot.

Serves 4-6

Preparation

• Heat the olive oil and butter in the Tagine over a low heat.
• Add the chicken drumsticks and cook until they are golden brown.
• Add the onions and carrots to the chicken in the Tagine and leave to cook for 5 to 6 minutes, season well.
• Sprinkle the ground ginger and saffron over the top, and add the cinnamon stick. Drizzle over the honey and mix everything together so the chicken gets a good coating.
• Gather up the drumsticks to form a pyramid in the middle of the dish.
• Add the prunes and crushed garlic around the edges and pour the chicken stock over the top.
• Dry fry the pine kernels and hazelnuts in a frying pan until they are brown.
• Place the chicken fillets on the drumsticks in a rose shape, so that they do not touch the stock (they should cook simply with the steam produced inside the lid). Season well.
• Sprinkle the pecan nuts, hazelnuts and half of the coriander over the top.
• Cover, and leave to cook for 30 minutes over a low heat.
• Add the remaining coriander just before serving.

TIP

• You can replace the prunes with dates or soft figs.
• Serve the Tagine with couscous and a little cumin.

Serves 6-8

Preparation

• Cut the guinea fowl fillets into 3cm chunks and peel the apples and cut into small squares.
• Gently heat the olive oil in the Tagine. Add the chopped onions and apples, and leave to cook for 5 minutes.
• Add the honey, ginger, saffron and cinnamon sticks and cook for 15 to 20 minutes until soft. Stirring often, add the guinea fowl pieces, mix together, and cook until the fillet pieces have turned white and season well.
• Peel the potatoes and cut into thin slices. Place them in the Tagine, on top of the fillet pieces and apple.
• Peel the sweet potato and cut into thick wedges. Make a dome with the pieces in the middle of the Tagine and pour over the chicken stock. Scatter over half of the chopped coriander.
• Place the pine kernels in a frying pan and dry fry until they are brown.
• Add them to the Tagine, cover, and cook for 1 hour over a low heat, when ready to serve, scatter with the remaining coriander

TIPS AND ADVICE

• Don’t take the lid off the Tagine during cooking!
• As the dish hasn’t been stirred, the preparation is very important and the result will depend on how the dish has been put together. Include the juices in the bottom of the dish when serving.
• Ceramic keeps the heat for a very long time, so you can leave your Tagine on the table without the lid without it going cold too quickly.

Serves 2-4

Preparation

• Heat the olive oil in the Tagine and add the chopped onions and crushed garlic to the hot oil, cover, and cook for 5 minutes.
• Add the chopped tomatoes, brown sugar, ginger, chilli powder and season well. Then cover, and leave to cook for 15 minutes over a low heat.
• Dry fry the pine kernels in a separate frying pan, until they are brown.
• Place the prawns in the Tagine on top of the tomatoes.
• Sprinkle the pine kernels and half the coriander over the top.
• Cover and cook over a low heat for 10 minutes, or until the prawns have turned pink and are cooked through.
• Sprinkle the remaining coriander over the top just before serving.

TIPS AND ADVICE

• King prawns can most often be found in the frozen food section.
• To choose the size, look carefully at the packet i.e. 16/20 or 20/30 or 30/40 etc…
• This corresponds to the number of pieces per kg … the higher the number, the smaller the king prawns.

Serves 6-8

Preparation

• Pre-heat the oven to 160ºC.
• Put the oil into the base of the tagine, place over a medium heat and fry the onions.
• Add the meat and seal all over.
• Add the onions, ginger, chillies and garlic. Cook over a low heat for about 3 minutes. Meanwhile, separate the coriander leaves from the stems and set aside. Finely chop the stems and add these to the pan with the five spice powder. Add the chopped tomatoes and bring to a gentle simmer, stirring and ensuring that the lamb is completely covered.
• Finally add the fish sauce, soy sauce, star anise and maple syrup, season with salt and pepper, stir well and place on tagine lid.
• Place in the oven and cook for 2 hours until the meat is tender.
• To serve, scatter with roughly chopped coriander leaves and serve with a pile of *couscous (see recipe below).

Serving suggestion

*Serve with couscous; cover the couscous with boiling chicken stock and a few knobs of butter,
when the stock is absorbed, fluff up and stir in the zest of a lemon, chopped pistachios and
chopped dried apricots. Season with lemon juice, a slug of olive oil and lots of salt and pepper.

Preparation time: 35 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Dish: Tagine 55.35

Serves 6-8

Preparation

Ginger cream

• Whip the cream until thick but floppy, then fold in the sugar and stem ginger and place in the fridge to keep cool.

The Tagine

• Lightly caramelize 3 tablespoons of honey in the base of the Tagine on a medium high flame.
• Add the pears and let them cook for a few minutes in the open Tagine.
• Dry fry the almonds in a separate frying pan and leave to one side.
• Add all the other fruits to the tagine and arrange them decoratively.
• Grate the zest of the limes and sprinkle them over the pears, add the cinnamon sticks, cloves and nutmeg.
• In a bowl, mix the juice of the lime with the remaining tablespoon of honey and the orange blossom water, then pour the mixture over the fruits.
• Scatter over the almonds, place on the heat and bring to a simmer.
• Then cover with the lid of the tagine and cook in a preheated oven at 180ºC for 45 minutes.
• Allow to cool a little, then serve the warm fruit with the whipped ginger cream.

TIP

• Mint can also be added to enhance the Tagine dish.

Serves 6-8

Preparation

• Tip the mussels into a sink of cold water and scrub and de-beard them, discard any that are broken or do not close completely when in the water.
• Heat the base of the tagine over a medium heat and add the olive oil then add the onion and cook for a few minutes, then add the garlic, leeks, carrots, fennel and celery.
• Add the saffron and Morrocan spices, pour over the wine and cover with the lid and cook for 20 minutes over a low heat
• Gather all the vegetables into a pyramid shape, then pile on the mussels, prawns and squid rings.
• Cover again and cook for a further 10 minutes so that all the mussels have opened.
• Sprinkle the chopped flat leaf parsley and serve with crusty bread to mop up all the juices.

Serves 4-6

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºc

• Cook the chopped peppers in the base of the Tagine with the olive oil over a medium heat.
• Plunge the tomatoes into a bowl of boiling water for a minute, then peel the tomatoes, cut them into quarters, remove the pulp and seeds in order to obtain petals.
• Place the potato slices on top of the peppers in the Tagine and season with salt and pepper.
• Place the tuna steaks into a pyramid over the vegetables and add the ‘tomato petals’ around.
• In a bowl, mix the olive oil, honey, cumin, smoked paprika, ginger, garlic and half of the chopped coriander.
• Pour the marinade over the tomatoes and tuna, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle over the olives and sesame seeds.
• Pour over the water, cover and cook for 40 minutes in the preheated oven.
• When ready to serve scatter with the remaining chopped coriander.

Tips

• This recipe can also be used with Salmon or Turbot as an alternative.
• For a spicier alternative, small chillies may also be added.