Almost vegan, a little African

Today's dinner was completely an inspired blur. Let's hope I can record it because I think it was really yummy.

It started with noticing a package of Saffron Road harissa simmer sauce in the cupboard, with a can of chick peas right above it.

Stew!

Into the big old Le Creuset pot went:

• one package Saffron Road Harrissa Simmer Sauce

• a more or less equal amount water

• about 3/4 cup homemade chicken stock (if I hadn't added this, the stew would have been vegan; I added it to keep the stew from getting too spicy)

• about one cup great northern white beans. I make them from dry beans, unsalted, and freeze them in individual portions

• one can garbanzo beans, rinsed

Now the vegetables... 1/2 to 1 cup each, based on personal preferences:

• three color peppers

• baby carrots

• zucchini

• butternut squash

• peas

• Brussel sprouts (which I chopped)

And meanwhile, I started couscous in the steamer. I started with a normal portion of 2/3 cup couscous to 1 cup water but I had this odd 1/4 cup or so of uncooked couscous left so I tossed that in, too. I added a generous amount if ras el hanout and a drizzle of cold pressed extra virgin olive oil.

I was concerned about protein. I wanted to keep the low proportion of animal products therefore I made Morningstar veggie patties. 

Which ended up in the stew.

And I can't believe how delicious it was.

Harissa chick pea stew and rice

I had to make a whole chicken last week and chicken bone stock to make room in my freezer. 

To use up some of the new chicken stock so it would fit in the freezer I made rice with chicken stock and parsley mixed 50/50 with the water.

To use up the chicken and this pile of tomatoes someone gave us from their garden, I made this stew:

- 2 cups homemade chicken stock (to use up my old stock)

- 1 cup diced chicken

- about 30 ounces chick peas

- about 4 cups diced tomato

- 1/2 cup zesty sprouts

- 1 package saffron road harissa simmer sauce

- about 2 cups vegetables (in my case broccoli, carrot and cauliflower)

- 1 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper

- 1 tablespoon ground cumin

- water

In the crockpot on high.

Quick meals

Tomorrow we're doing a drumstick meal similar to last week but we're using a mango sauce instead of lemon pepper.

Tonight I sautéed beef cubes in Saffron Road harissa medium simmer sauce and added green peppers and carrots.

Looks great:

This was fabulous! The Saffron Road harissa simmer sauce was perfect for my family's desire for a not spicy harissa. I drowned mine in spicy harissa from Tunisia.

Today's chicken turned out fine. I'm still not a fan of drumsticks but I love the vegetables marinated in the same sauce.

Harissa peorogies

So, last night a former work colleague posted a photo from a wine bar in California of "harissa fries." It got me thinking...

I made Wegmans spinach peorogies. I have a whole process for making them. I boil them in water for a couple minutes, drain, cool with cold water, dry with kitchen towels and only THEN do I put them in my cast iron skillet with heated oil.

Today I added garlic pepper to the oil.

After I cooked my family's meal, I addeda bunch of harissa to the oil before I cooked mine. That was yummy. Of course, because they were the last ones prepared, the harissa sputtered and spit like mad.

Conserve d'Harissa

For graduation, and to celebrate belated birthdays of my friend Kevin and I, I opened a can of harissa I bought at Forks Mediterranean Deli. The deli used to carry small cans, but now they only have standard sized cans and that's a lot of harissa.

Especially when you're the only one in the house who likes it. And I like it. A lot. 

I shared some with Kev, letting him take some home and decided to try freezing the rest. I didn't have convenient containers on hand (and it didn't seem a good idea to put spicy pepper spread in my ice cube trays although the tiny ones would have been perfect).

I scooped a heaping teaspoon into a fold top sandwich baggie and rolled the plastic around itself instead of folding it in. Then I placed the cylinders into a quart sized freezer bag.

This harissa was imported from Tunisia, which is neat because while I first had harissa at a shawarma place in Paris near the Gare de Nord, my true appreciation of it comes from my visit in January 2012 to Tunisia.

For those of you who might be curious about what harissa is, let me quote Wikipedia:

"Harissa (Arabic: هريسة) is a Tunisian hotchili sauce whose main ingredients are piri piri (type of chili pepper), serrano peppersand other hot chili peppers and spices andherbs such as garlic paste, coriander, redchili powder, caraway as well as somevegetable or olive oil. It is most closely associated with Tunisia, Libya and Algeria^[1]but recently also making inroads intoMorocco according to Moroccan foodexpert Paula Wolfert.^[2] It can also be found in countries with strong Arab presence such as France or Germany. In Israelharissa is a common topping for falafel.

Recipes for harissa vary according to the household and region. Variations can include the addition of cumin, red peppers, garlic, coriander, and lemon juice. InSaharan regions, harissa can have a smoky flavor. Prepared harissa is also sold in jars, cans, bottles, tubes, plastic bags and other containers."

Margez

One of my favorite parts of travel to the Arab sections of French cities and to North Africa is lamb sausage, Margez.

This particular platter posted is from a café in the Tunisian resort city of Sousse, about 2.5 hours by train from the capital city of Tunis.

What's interesting about Franco-influenced Arab cuisine is the flood of bread with every meal, even more prevalent than in France. The North African region gives a basket of baguette slices its own twist-- by serving it with the chili pepper paste known as harissa blended with olive oil.

See the empty bowl in the background with red smears? That was harissa.

My travels have renewed my interest in checking out the halal butcher in my neighborhood.

Harissa craving

Had to go to Forks Mediterranean Deli. Read this passage in my book and had the worst *need* for lamb shawarma swimming in harissa: "He ate couscous from a big clay bowl... He poured harissa sauce and we ate with our fingers." (From Ted Morgan's My Battle of Algiers.)

So I bought 3 gigantic lamb shawarma with 2 packs of large zaatar bread, 2 packs of homemade zaatar bread (of which daughter ate one immediately), one bottle olive oil, one side of harissa, one bag of dried strawberries, one bag dried blueberries and a nice container of majhool dates.

I spent $57 but $24 was the lamb shawarma.