Let’s Cook Messy in Morocco
Join a Moroccan cooking experience: mint tea, a fall tagine with preserved lemon, chermoula carrots, and almond cookies, with travel photos and stories.
program overview
A Moroccan journey in photographs, stories, and a meal we’ll make together.
1 · Tea from a Height
Moroccan mint green tea poured high, welcoming guests with photographs and stories from Ryan’s travels.
2 · Build the Tagine
A warming fall tagine exploring sweet, sour, salty, and fragrant spices—with preserved lemon bringing everything to life. Option: Chicken or Vegetable. Served with warm Moroccan khobz bread for scooping up the sauce.
3 · Roasted Carrots with Chermoula
Caramelized carrots dressed with fresh herbs, garlic, cumin, lemon, and olive oil. We’ll make the chermoula together.
4 · Shlada: Moroccan Tomato Salad
Fresh tomatoes and cucumber, chopped with herbs and a bright lemon-and-olive-oil dressing.
5 · Something Sweet
Almond ghriba—Moroccan almond cookies, crackly outside and chewy inside—or pears poached with cinnamon, orange peel, and cardamom, a vegan and gluten-free alternative. Served with one last pour of mint tea.
Ingredients are sourced locally from the Farmers Market, with a few well-traveled spices and pantry treasures joining the table.
Meal can be made Vegetarians/Vegan/Gluten Free upon request, contact [email protected].
instructor Overview
Ryan Smolar
Ryan Smolar founded Let’s Cook Messy after traveling the world and cooking with abuelas in caves, Berbers in casbahs, and nonnas in hillside villas. A native Californian, he brings those culinary adventures home for friends and food lovers to get their hands into. His Moroccan escapades include dockside catches in Essaouira, feasting on BBQ camel amid the clamor of a centuries-old meat market, and tagines fragrant with preserved lemon. Come hungry, roll up your sleeves, and get messy.
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Materials fees are not discounted.
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Class FAQ
We ask that you notify us at least 10 days in advance of a class if you need to cancel your registration. You may cancel by phone or email and we will gladly offer you a refund or credit toward a future class. If you cancel with less than 10 days’ notice, we will not be able to provide refunds, due to our contractual obligations and material purchases for each class.
Sometimes, the Sonoma Community Center has to cancel a class due to low enrollment or unforeseen circumstances, such as a natural disaster or health emergency. If this happens and we do not offer a reschedule date, you will be refunded 100% of your registration fee (minus the payment processing and services fee), or credit towards a future class. If we are able to offer a reschedule date but you are unable to make the new date, we will gladly offer credit towards a future class.
All credits must be used within 1 year.
You can view our full class policies and guidelines here.
The Sonoma Community Center is committed to creating an accessible learning environment. If you require any special considerations(medical, physical, learning) please share them with Sean Baskin, Program Associate, by emailing him at [email protected] so that he can forward them to the relevant Program Director and Instructor.
Late additions to any program, class, or workshop that has already begun will be allowed on a per-case basis depending upon the Program Director & instructors approval. Late additions will have to pay the full registration cost of the class, along with any materials fees, and will not be prorated for the time missed. You may reach out to the program directors directly, or the Program Associate Sean Baskin at [email protected] to request a late addition.
We are always looking for new instructors. You can fill out the form directly here.
Friday, November 13, 2026 from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm
Experience Level
All-Levels, Beginning, Intermediate and AdvancedAge(s)
18-overRegistration Cost:
$100
Materials Fee:
$25
Total Registration Cost:
$125
