The best Moroccan cuisine can be found in a Girona town of 250 inhabitants.

GironaThe tagine is the most typical and traditional dish of the Moroccan cuisineWith permission, of course, from couscous, a staple in the cuisine of the entire Maghreb and North Africa, in countries such as Egypt, Algeria, and Mauritania. Tagine, on the other hand, is more exclusive and distinctive to Morocco. It's a type of stew steamed in a clay pot with a conical lid, usually made with only vegetables, fish, or, above all, beef, lamb, chicken, or even camel meat. Of course, the best place to taste this dish is by traveling to its country of origin, but in Catalonia, home to more than 200,000 people of Moroccan origin, you can also find very good dishes. In the Girona region, an authentic and popular restaurant to try is La Trobada, run by Fatima Zohra, in Crespià (Pla de l'Estany), a small town of 250 inhabitants, on the bed of the Fluvià River, between Banyoles and Olot. Last week, Zohra won first prize in the Tagine competition held in the Girona Gastronomic Forum.

Fatima Zohra, who arrived in Catalonia from Rabat in 2007, prepares a delicious beef tagine with prunes: intensely flavorful, with extremely tender meat, a juicy sauté, just right with honey and a mix of spices like ginger and turmeric. Prepared in a magnificent, handmade tagine at a very low temperature for four or five hours, leaving the meat extremely tender and a juicy base ideal for dipping bread. "It's the most popular dish in our restaurant, and the whole family also really likes it. My mother used to make it for guests when I was little, and I liked running after her to learn how to make it," explains Zohra. The Moroccan cook follows her traditional home recipe, but incorporates local products from the village, which give a surprising touch to the preparation: "In Morocco we make the tagine with toasted almonds, but in Crespià, since we have Crespian walnuts, I was clear that I wanted to introduce them, as well as the village honey, Inera.

The dish is a gastronomic journey into traditional Moroccan cuisine without leaving your chair, but also the confirmation of easily recognizable tastes. A bite of a tagine doesn't transport diners to exotic countries or unfamiliar flavors, but the palate, which understands neither prejudice nor discrimination, easily discovers a clear connection between Catalan and Moroccan cuisine, with the Mediterranean as the common denominator. The sweet and sour component of a roast is absolutely distinctive of our house dishes, with chicken with prunes and apricots being a paradigmatic example. Although Fatima Zohra opts for veal instead of poultry, the combination is equally very pleasant. Gastronomic educator Òscar Gòmez, who sits on the jury along with three other judges, experts in Moroccan culture, confirms this: "The combination of meat with the sweetness of fruit is also very characteristic of Catalan cuisine since the Middle Ages; we are sister cuisines," he concludes.

Grandma's Catalan cuisine and authentic tagines

Fatima Zohra's tagine, among many other dishes, can be enjoyed at La Trobada, a bar-restaurant in Crespià, which is frequently visited by many of the town's residents and visitors from all over Girona. In addition to offering drinks and sandwiches, Fatima Zohra has an extensive menu and offers plated breakfasts, Catalan dishes, rice dishes, grilled meats, and tagines. The establishment is located in the town's social center, and Zohra began working there six years ago after winning a public competition held by the town council with this proposal that fuses Catalan and Moroccan cuisine. A year later, she participated in the television competition. Card Game by Marc Ribas and he did a very good job, and since then he has had a regular and very large clientele: "Above all, Catalan people come from all over the province. I'm used to having my tagines prepared by people from here, so winning a competition with other chefs from my country has made me very excited and has been very emotional," she concludes.

4 more Moroccan cooking recommendations

The tagine at La Trobada was the winner, but the other four Catalan-Moroccan restaurants in the competition, carefully selected by the jury, are also of high quality and worth visiting. They are La Diana, in Banyoles, by chef Nouraiman Talal, who prepares an excellent veal ossobuco tagine with prunes, sesame seeds, and quail eggs; Omar, in Lloret de Mar, by chef Driss Oulhami, who dared to try two whole chickens with onions, raisins, and a good seasoning of spices; Nas-Ma, in Girona, by chef Fairouz Fankouch, who presented an Amazigh variety of tagine with lamb, artichokes, and roasted peppers, depicting the Moroccan flag with the colors; and finally, Malek, in Tossa de Mar, where chef AIcha Malek is working, as a trainee, with veal with prunes.

And there's no better time to sample traditional Moroccan cuisine than March, coinciding with Ramadan, a period of contemplation and fasting for the Muslim community. In fact, the competition was held just after sunset, around seven in the evening, at the time of breaking the fast with the communal iftar meal, open to all attendees of the Gastronomic Forum who wished to participate in an act of fellowship and cultural exchange. After sunset, the first bite of date fruit begins to whet the appetite, then comes the first sip of water, the El Hadida prayer, and finally, the truly hearty meal begins: a beautifully laid table with honey and sesame pastries, msamen (a kind of crepe) with honey, harira soup, a soft-boiled egg, avocado and banana juice, red fruits and beef cakes, rice noodles and chicken.