Mains · By Sharon
Fish Tajine, with Chermoula Sauce — "Tajine Bil Hout"
Our Moroccan adventure in spring of 2024 was filled with memorable food moments. Our first night there we found an almost empty restaurant, highly recommended, where we basically had our own personal server, recommending dishes, bringing us small taster plates before we decided, and answering many questions about the nature of traditional Moroccan cuisine. Of numerous dishes that evening, we devoured our first truly Moroccan tajines: mine was lamb with prunes, and Sharon's was chicken with apricots. We've had numerous tajines over the years, and even made our own years ago, but now we were experiencing the real tajine cooked over coals, low and slow — so rich. Jocelyn gifted us with an earthenware tajine from Morocco in December of 2025, and the authentic tajine cooking experience was now possible. We brought some Charmoula spices for fish tajine ("Bil Hout or Hoot") from Morocco, and now could cook and present the dish in this gorgeous thick pottery tajine. It cooked perfectly — a thousand years of pottery refinement, rooted in the nomadic Berber culture's use of braising vessels over hot embers, produces results. Some classic components of fish tajine are the use of potatoes, tomatoes, olives, preserved lemons, and a chermoula sauce/pesto, all of which shine in this recipe. Enjoy!
Ingredients
Base Ingredients
- 4 tilapia or cod loin segments or other white fish with firm meat, boneless, skinless
- 5 or 6 small new potatoes — quartered
- 1 large red onion, cut in half and thin sliced
- 1 cup kalamata and green olives, in halves
- ½ cup sliced dried apricots or dates
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Chermoula Sauce (a classic Moroccan sauce; this version adds tomatoes and saffron to the common green chermoula)
- 2 medium tomatoes, shredded or pureed
- ½ tsp lemon zest and 1½ tsp lemon juice (lemon zest, fresh lemon juice, and sea salt mimic preserved lemons, which we can't find here)
- 1 tsp sea salt
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 small bunch of cilantro, finely chopped
- Big handful of parsley, finely chopped
- 5 minced garlic cloves
- ½ tsp grated fresh ginger
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tbsp Fish Chermoula/Charmoula spice-blend (or the generic Moroccan Ras el Hanout spice-blend). If you can't find it, blend: 2 tbsp ground cumin, 1 tbsp ground coriander, 2 tsp chili powder, 2 tsp ground sweet paprika, ½ tsp ground cayenne pepper, 1½ tsp ground cinnamon, 1½ tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp ground allspice, ¾ tsp ground turmeric
- ½ tsp sweet paprika
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper
- 15–20 saffron strands, pulverized and soaked in 3 tablespoons of hot water
- ½ tsp ginger powder
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder
Method
- 1
Combine chermoula ingredients in a food processor — blend. Set it aside.
- 2
Place the tajine and heat-diffuser on the stove. Add 2 tablespoons of oil and sliced onion to the pan — sauté on low-medium until beginning to brown.
- 3
Place tilapia loins, cut potatoes, and apricots on top of the onion.
- 4
Pour prepared chermoula sauce on top of the fish and potatoes. Spread the sauce evenly to cover the fish and potatoes.
- 5
Simmer covered on medium-low heat. Cook without opening for an hour.
- 6
If the stew looks dry at the end, add a bit of hot water (¼ cup or less).
- 7
Add halved olives and stir into sauce. Cover for 5 minutes to warm the olives.
- 8
Serve it hot with pita or naan.
A note from Sharon
Basic recipe outline from https://feastwithsafiya.com/fish-tagine-with-chermoula-sauce/ with other pieces triangulated. Vegetarian note: many tajines are vegetarian in Morocco, and this fish tajine could easily be made vegetarian by using a medley of root vegetables — this dish already has potatoes, so you could add sweet potatoes and/or carrots. The chermoula sauce is completely vegetarian, and loaded with gorgeous flavors! Another vegetarian version found online uses chickpeas as the basic protein with this chermoula sauce. Drink/wine pairing: a lighter chardonnay or sauvignon blanc.
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