Tamatem Ma’Amrine
Tamatem Ma’Amrine is a Moroccan dish of roasted tomatoes stuffed with albacore, capers, olives and preserved lemon..
Tamatem Ma'Amrine (click to enlarge)
Adapted from a recipe by Claudia Roden
Carve a lid out of the tomatoes and scoop out the insides as you would a jack-o’-lantern. Don’t let the walls get too thin, or the tomatoes will split while roasting. Turn the tomatoes upside down and let the water drain.
Meanwhile, flake apart US Pacific troll or line-caught albacore and toss gently in extra virgin olive oil with bits of roasted red pepper, coarsely chopped capers and black olives, thinly slivered preserved lemon and chopped flat-leaf parsley.
Season tuna mixture with cracked coriander, fennel and white sesame seeds and stuff into the tomatoes.
Drizzle with a little more olive oil and season with sea salt and cracked pepper. Roast in a 375 degree oven until slightly blackened, perhaps 30 minutes.
Serve warm or refrigerate and serve cold; a crisp salad goes well in either case.
This post is part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays
© Monterey Bay Aquarium
Leesie said,
July 30, 2009 at 7:14 pm
…you had me at capers! Wow, wow, wow…another stunning summery dish.
Ren said,
July 30, 2009 at 7:17 pm
thank.you.very.much.leesie!
Cage Free Family said,
July 30, 2009 at 7:40 pm
LOVE moroccan food! What could you sub for the tuna?
Ren said,
July 30, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Spanish Mackerel (Atlantic, not Gulf) or sardines would be OK, but I think that US Pacific troll or line-caught albacore is safe. Do your own fact-checking, of course!
jennie said,
August 2, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Having lived in Morocco, I tasted this dish too many times….YUCK. Had it been made with either crab or shrimp (not canned tuna) it would have been delightful.
Ren said,
August 2, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Your conclusion that this is canned tuna is incorrect; these are select fillets of Pacific troll-caught albacore packed by hand in glass jars. Nevertheless, I agree that lump crab would do very nicely here.
Erica @realfood2health said,
July 30, 2009 at 7:56 pm
Please tell me you are a chef in your day job. I don’t know how you come up with everything otherwise! I LOVE Moroccan food!
Ren said,
July 30, 2009 at 8:08 pm
I’m a Network/Systems Administrator, battling evil botnets & untangling ethernet all day. This is my creative outlet :-)
Erica @realfood2health said,
July 30, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Well, you amaze me. Keep it up!
Ren said,
July 30, 2009 at 9:01 pm
I’ll try. Thank you, Erica! :-)
Jenny @ Nourished Kitchen said,
July 30, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Um .. wow. This is such an incredible recipe, Ren. Beautiful colors and the flavor has got to be so good – I swear I can taste it now! What an ingenious way to use the lemons too. Soooo good.
Ren said,
July 30, 2009 at 9:25 pm
Thanks, Jenny (and thank you for your article about Moroccan preserved lemons) !
Hillary said,
July 31, 2009 at 11:33 am
This is so pretty! I will have to buy some yellow tomatoes next time I’m at the farmer’s market!
Ren said,
July 31, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Thank you, Hillary!
Jessie said,
July 31, 2009 at 11:34 am
Kristen from food renegade sent your site my way and as soon as I saw that photo I was blown away! this is a stunning dish with lots of colors and great flavors.
Ren said,
July 31, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Love that renegade. Thank you, Jessie!!
Cajun Chef Ryan said,
July 31, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Oh now those look just fabulous! Love baked tomatoes and these are way beyond the ones I’ve seen before. Printing out this one for the kitchen…
Regards,
CCR =:~)
Ren said,
July 31, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Thank you, Sir!
eastkentuckygal said,
July 31, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Okay, yum! I love a yellow tomato. This pictures and dishes makes me wonder who is fortunate enough to be fed by you. :)
Ren said,
July 31, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Friends, neighbors, family, whoever is hanging out at the time..
Thanks!
Sarah Schatz - menu plans for limited diets said,
August 1, 2009 at 9:29 pm
This is not only beautiful, but I bet it tastes delicious. Your presentation is stunning and I would love to try this recipe.
I am assuming the tuna is cooked since you flake it apart before you cook it?
thanks again,
sarah
Ren said,
August 1, 2009 at 10:05 pm
Yes, but raw tuna would definitely work here too. Keep the pieces small & make sure there’s plenty of olive oil to keep things moist.
Thank you very much, Sarah!
Teresa said,
May 26, 2011 at 1:42 am
Looks amazing
reminds me of this kefir recipe i tried last week
http://www.royalkefir.com/cooking-and-baking
thanks for the inspiration
dhanes said,
August 2, 2009 at 10:29 pm
WoW! Excellent! I’ve had preserved lemons in my fridge for the past 2 months after their fermentation on the counter and hadn’t found something Moroccan to do with them yet that excited me (without having a tatine).
This rocked! Only changes I made was to wash off the capers to get rid of the extra saltiness and added the fennel/coriander into the mix.
Just serendipitously Stumbled Upon your site today….how cool is that?
I made four, the wife is gonna have to battle me for the final two. THANK YOU!
Ren said,
August 2, 2009 at 10:55 pm
Pretty darn cool, I’d say, and you’d better split the last two with your wife :-)
Thank you, Sir!
Alyss said,
August 6, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Oooh lord… I need to stop looking at your blog before lunch. That sounds fantastic!
Ren said,
August 6, 2009 at 3:10 pm
heh
Thank you, Alyss!
Kelly the Kitchen Kop said,
August 7, 2009 at 2:41 am
Hi Ren,
This looks soooo good – you always have unique and tasty recipes – thank you for joining in on Real Food Wednesday!
Kelly p.s. I stumbled you!
Ren said,
August 7, 2009 at 6:49 am
Thank you very much, Kelly!
The Best of 2009 « Edible Aria said,
January 1, 2010 at 1:46 pm
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