FIERY HARISSA
Thick, lusciously red, and rather addicting…harissa is one of my favorite condiments to have on hand! Harissa is found all across North Africa, prepared using a blend of chiles and olive oil. It can also include other ingredients such as preserved lemons, roasted red peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, and fragrant spices. Having travelled to Morocco long ago, my memory is that each restaurant had their very own paste just as I imagine each household would.
If you look at the ingredient list of store bought varieties, they are often made with canola oil — making this one condiment I will always make at home as I do my best to avoid highly processed, industrial oils like corn, soybean, and canola. Lastly, it really is food history in a jar as chiles of all varieties have been cultivated for thousands of years in Mexico and are believed to have made their way to North Africa via the Spanish colonizers. Here is my simple recipe using New Mexican red chiles with the addition of sun-dried tomatoes found in my book.
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 New Mexican chiles, stemmed, seeded, softened in hot water, drained
2 Guajillo chiles, stemmed, seeded, softened in hot water, drained
1 - 2 homemade or store-bought sun-dried tomatoes, in olive oil
½ tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. ground coriander
½ tsp. ground cumin
¼ C. cold pressed olive oil
juice of one lemon
In a small sauce pan, gently warm olive oil, then add minced garlic. Stir just a minute or so, until garlic is fragrant, being careful not to brown the garlic. Take sauce pan off the heat to cool slightly.
Using a food processor, combine the chiles, sun-dried tomato, sea salt, coriander, cumin, lemon juice, and garlic infused oil. Pulse until the mixture is spreadable.