Best Tagine in Nador — Riffian Slow Cooking on the Mediterranean

Nador lies in the eastern Rif, and its tagines reflect both the mountains behind the city and the sea in front of it. The meat versions are robust Riffian country cooking — lamb or beef slow-simmered with onion, cumin, saffron and the vegetables of the fertile hinterland, and chicken with preserved lemon and olives. But the coastal signature is the fish tagine: sea bream or another firm white fish layered over potato, tomato and pepper and cooked with chermoula, the herby garlic-and-cumin marinade that defines Moroccan seafood cookery.

The fish tagine is worth seeking out here precisely because Nador is a fishing town, so the fish is fresh and the tradition strong. Cooked slowly under the conical lid, the fish stays moist while the vegetables soak up the chermoula and the sauce reduces to a bright, savoury base you mop up with bread. Meat tagines, meanwhile, lean hearty and warming, suited to the cool Rif evenings, sometimes with the northern touch of local herbs and generous olive oil.

The honest versions are found at the small canteens and family eateries around the market and the working streets of the city, where local families and workers eat lunch. As across Morocco, tagine is a midday dish that has been cooking since morning, so arrive hungry in the early afternoon. Vegetable tagines, built on the Rif's produce, are reliably good for non-meat eaters.

Share one tagine between two with plenty of bread and a salad. If you eat only one, make it the chermoula fish tagine — the dish that best captures Nador's meeting of mountain and Mediterranean.