Mrs Rogers Eco-Pack - Moroccan Seasoning product reviews

I adore Moroccan food, even though a lot of the dishes I have tried are vegetarian and I'm a total carnivore at heart. There's something about the warm, rich blend of flavours that you find in dishes from this region that really appeal to me. They speak to some hidden part of me that yearns to walk in the bazaars and try something nearly unidentifiable, on a stick... and find it tastes amazing then leave before I find out how many legs or eyeballs it once owned. Yeah, a bit strange I know, but it's a part of me that craves adventure and exploring the new and unknown.

So, this seasoning is far from the first "Moroccan" seasoning mix I have tried, and past results have left me with an overwhelming sense of ambivalence about the claims of authentic flavours transporting taste buds to long-lost Arabian nights etc. -meh- Marketing hype, pure and simple, to try and con me out of my coins before I discover it's mostly salt and nutmeg with a dash of cinnamon. This mix on the other hand, was something quite different.

For a start, this was the first mix I have come across that includes the citrus zest, for a really authentic flavour. Having spent many years helping a Middle-Eastern food maker in Palmerston North learn the intricacies of Kiwi Slang, while he taught me the beginnings of Muslim greetings and conversation openers, I have tried REAL Middle-Eastern food, and this was pretty close... as close as a non-Middle-Eastern can make it, I think.

Having used this mix as a salad sprinkle and as part of a seasoning rub - normal usage really - and found it to be a wonderful flavour additive, I wanted to try it a little differently so I made a strong infusion of the spices in the same manner as one would make tea... I dropped a good tablespoon and a half of the mix into 1 litre of almost-boiling water (Boiling water will scald spices, and ruin the flavours) and left it to steep for 2 hours, giving it a good stir every 20 minutes to ensure any soluble flavours did in fact dissolve.

Using that broth/stock, I then cooked some rice and topped it with some flavoured tuna. This was my lunch for the day, and I was still quite happily sated at dinner time, so found myself having a half-portion of the evening meal and being OK with that. To be honest, while I was still a tad hungry after the evening meal, I could still taste the rice and it was a flavour I desired more than the dinner I had just eaten.

Overall, this is a really versatile mix, and one I plan to keep in the pantry. After cooking four adult meals, I still had over half the packet left, so I consider it excellent value for money, and a really good "flavour resource" for those times I want something with a lot of flavour, but not spicy-hot. It has even inspired me to dig through 10 years of 'cold storage' to uncover and start reusing my old Tagine cooking dish!

I really wanted to trial and review this product because my husband and I quite like the taste of other Moroccan Seasonings we've tried and are always keen to try new ones and see if they are better.

The packaging was very much like the others in the Mrs Rogers range. It is a brown cardboard box with a white and green sticker label and has a handy pull tab at the back to help you open it. Once it's open it has a little tab that you can slip a bit of the top into to keep it closed. There is also a window which allows you to see the seasoning on the inside. Inside the box there is a little zip lock bag with the seasoning in it which is great for you to be able to open and get what you need and then close it again to store it for later.

I decided to make Moroccan lamb for dinner - I made this with a packet mix so didn't need any of the seasoning for this part but I think I might try and use some with it next time. I spread some olive oil on some pita pockets, sprinkled a generous amount of Mrs Rogers Moroccan Seasoning over each pita and cut them up into pizza slices, then baked them in the oven until they were crispy. We served the Moroccan lamb on cous cous, added a dollop of yogurt and the crispy Moroccan spiced pita slices.

After having a bite of the pita slices my husband and I looked at each other and immediately said this is something we need to repeat. We really enjoyed the taste of the Moroccan seasoning, it had just the right mix of salt and spice. The Moroccan spiced pita slices were a very nice addition to our meal.

Mrs Rogers Moroccan Seasoning is different to other spices I've tried because the ingredients aren't ground down as much and are easier to see what is actually included. I quite like the different colours and textures that are present and it makes the food more appealing.

After reading the other reviews I have a few more ideas on what I can add this seasoning to, since winter is fast approaching I think a nice gravy and roast will be our next experiment.

I have come across this seasoning once before, when it was used in a salad dressing. While interesting in taste, it lacked strength and had a chalky texture to it. This seasoning seems to work better being combined with meat, rather than a dressing as it does not dissolve altogether too well. It would however make a great addition to a thick, rich, meat gravy

I chose to season a couple of sliced chicken breasts, sauteing the poultry with some diced bacon, and a clove of garlic. I added my meat to a wrap with lettuce, spring onions, cheese, and a honey mustard dressing. I am a person that loves salty food, so the salty bacon combined with the heavy seasoning (3+ heaped teaspoons) of moroccan seasoning, mixed well with the lettuce and spring onions creating a full, marbled flavour that combines refreshing with salty.

I very much enjoyed the taste, and unfortunately, I can honestly say that I ate all of the moroccan chicken wraps, on my own, in one sitting. The seasoning has the right balance to use as a rub for grilling meat, and would work exceptionally well in a BBQ marinade. While a great seasoning, it is not a flavour that I would be able to find a variety of uses for, so I would generally only buy it if it was specifically needed for a recipe. It would not be a staple within my spice and herb pantry.

I haven't actually had moroccan flavoured dishes before so I was looking forward to trying this seasoning. It is always fun to get some interesting new flavours into our meals.

The packaging appeals to me. The brown, green and white look good together and it is also nice to see a sample of the product through the leaf shaped window at the front of the packet. The inside packet is re-sealable. This means that we can keep the product dry and prevent spilling if it gets tipped over in our pantry.

We found that the website mrsrogers.co.nz gave a good number of recipes to assist with working out how much of the seasoning mix should be used to prepare a meal. We tend to go more for the creative way and we guess! We have now prepared a number of meals with the Moroccan Seasoning. Initially we didn't put enough seasoning on and the flavour was a little bland. We then put on too much and the we found it a bit too salty. Eventually, we got the right amount to suit our tastes. The dish we most enjoyed was when we put a couple of teaspoons of the seasoning on top of a bowl of diced chicken. We then mixed it up to coat all surfaces and left it to sit for about an hour. We cooked it on a hot BBQ. We sealed all surfaces of the chicken and then continued to cook it. The juice was nicely locked into the children and the outside was thinly coated with the seasoning. I think that a great addition to this would have been to add a dollop of natural yogurt to the dish, perhaps with some grated cucumber in it. I think that would have taken away a bit of the spice and made the flavour a little softer to eat.

I have been trying to find ways to reduce the use of sauces on my meals as I am wishing to loose weight. Adding seasoning such as this to plain meat is a great way of ensuring that flavours are still present in the meal without additional calories. The combination of ingredients in this seasoning are all real foods rather than preservatives or additives. This is certainly a preference for me and my family.

The kids didn't enjoy the flavour of the seasoning, it was a bit spicy for them. We don't like to create special meals for different members of the family, however we found that it worked to divide the chicken up into the correct portion size for the adults and the kids and keep the kids version as just plain chicken and our with the seasoning on it. A great way of creating adult and child appropriate meals without any extra work.

I love trying new flavours and Moroccan is one that I had not use before so was keen to find a way that I could use in my cooking. I was under the understanding that each box came with a recipe inside so thought that would be a good starting place as I had no idea how to use it. On opening the box however I found that this was more of a newsletter with a monthly recipe of which it didn't even use the Moroccan seasoning. I think that it would of been great having a recipe inside that used the seasoning, this could of guided me.

So I had to come up with a way to use this seasoning. I dipped my finger in the bag to see what it tasted like and thought I would be keen to add it to a beef crock pot meal. I mixed the seasoning with flour, salt and coated my cubed beef before giving it a bit of a fry and then into the crock pot with cooked onion and vegetable stock. It was so easy, I left it for the day to cook and when I got home dinner was ready. The flavour was amazing, the seasoning had brought the flavours of the beef out and their was a hint of lemon flavour.

This is definitely a seasoning that I will be buying in future as I like the taste and packaging however would love to see the company come up with recipes that the seasonings could be used for and include this in the box or have on a webpage. It would also give me a guide as to how much seasoning would be needed as this was all guess work for me.

Unfortunately I am on a food plan and am limited to what I can eat for the next couple of weeks. Last nights meal was to consist of Fish, Rice and Vegetables so this was the perfect excuse to use Mrs Rogers Moroccan Seasoning.

We trialled the Butter Chicken last week and found it quite subtle in the taste so I decided to add a bit more seasoning this time. I placed the fish in tin foil and coated with the seasoning and baked for just under half an hour. Stir-fried the vegetables in garlic and made some rice - looked and smelled devine.

Found the seasoning smelled yummy and while it was cooking the smell wifted through out the house. My mouth was basically watering by the time I had it all plated. Firstly I have to say the price is fantastic and leaves you lots of room to play around with it to get the taste just right. Unlike the butter chicken a little goes a long way and was really overpowering. Luckily I had yoghurt left over and covered the fish in the yoghurt and was devine. So creamy and rich and the taste was perfection.

Was still a little strong for the girls and they were not overly fussed but both my husband and I agreed that next time will make a nice marinade out of it with yoghurt. I used less that half of the packet and in all honesty could of used less than that. definitely will be using again and playing around with it.