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."

Bâtard and quince

A few more weeks and my last full semester at Lafayette will end. My daughter is drowning in her phlegm and her ear tubes are falling out. Target opens at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving. We're still barely making ends meet.

But hey, no sense complaining. This is life.

Today I stopped at Wegmans because my poor daughter wanted ice cream and I'm restricting her dairy right now because of her allergy/ear issues.

I got her coconut milk cookies and cream ice cream.

She also wants to cook dinner tonight so I got vegan ravioli, one butternut squash and the other roasted red pepper. She suggested ravioli for the meal.

I also got salad greens and Health is Wealth Pizza Munchees which are also vegan.

And sushi. Because I can't make it through Wegmans without a serious impulse buy.

I also got bâtards, a small type of French bread, because I've craved a bâtard with butter and quince jam for months. A few weeks ago, I discovered Lebanese quince jam at the Mediterranean Deli. Imagine my delight when I found bâtard bread today. The flavors bring me back to Tunisia.

I also made myself a smoothie of vanilla maple yogurt from Klein Farm, frozen pitted dark cherries, a fresh banana and a splash of sour cherry nectar from Turkey. (Another find at the Mediterranean Deli.

My belly celebrates.

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.