Harissa - what is it and what to do with it?

Harissa is something that rarely comes up in recipes so it’s not surprising that many people have never heard of it. If you are a lover of spicy things, you should give this a try.

What is it?

It's a chili pepper paste, basically. The main ingredients of which are roasted red peppers, Baklouti pepper, serrano peppers or other hot chili peppers, spices and herbs such as garlic paste, coriander seed, saffron, rose or caraway, as well as some olive oil for preservation. It is most often associated with Tunisian, Libyan, Algerian, Moroccan and Syrian cuisine.

The paste, as you can imagine, since it contains peppers, can be searing hot or just a little tingly; made tangy with lemon or vinegar, or smoky; it can be loose like a salsa or a thick chunky paste.

In other words, as with most condiments, recipes vary, depending on the region from which they come.

You can make your own by roasting peppers and blending with spices and olive oil, or just buy a jar, trying various ones until you find the one you like best. If you end up with one that’s a tad too spicy, you can always add yogurt to tone it down.  The acid acts as a great neutralizer for things spicy. Keep that in mind next time your mouth is on fire!

These are quite good.

So, harissa is versatile as a condiment, kind of like ketchup and sriracha and, like both of those, it’s great with eggs. It’s also good with poached salmon, or grilled chicken, lamb or beef kebabs.

You can smear it on a burger, mix it with aioli and use it as a dip, add a spoonful to some mayo for sandwiches or add it to Ranch as a salad dressing. Add some to the ground meat in your next meatloaf to kick it up a notch.

You can mix it with labne (a Persian cheese/yogurt) or puree it with crumbled feta cheese, fresh herbs, lemon and olive oil as a dip or spread. Olives work well with harissa’s briny heat and so the  dip in this link combines them with carrots to make a rich spread for celery sticks or pita bread, or perhaps on a sandwich.

If you like food with a little heat and you haven’t heard of harissa, I would give it a try.

The right way to slow cook

What is it about the slow cooker lately? Clearly, its convenience and ability to produce easy one-pot meals makes it a great, inexpensive item for every kitchen. I must admit that for the longest time, I thought of the slow cooker as a sort of relic - a throwback to a time when American cuisine was unadventurous and unexciting - and mine sat in the far reaches of a kitchen shelf for the longest time. But these days I am seeing every cooking website and magazine imaginable boasting their favorite slow cooker recipes! What's going on? It seems the slow cooker has come back.

And you know what, that's fine by me, because last year I actually got mine out again and started using it. There is a trick though, to ensuring that these one-pot meals turn out with a maximum of flavor.

Be forewarned: though you may think slow cooking is as easy as piling everything into the cooker and turning it on, that's not the best way to achieve the most flavor out of the foods that go into it. To do that, go one step further by browning the meat and vegetables in a saute pan before putting them in. The carmelization that comes from browning on the stovetop cannot be achieved in the slow cooker, and that is what adds so much flavor to the dish.

If you have a slow cooker and you are only cooking out of the recipe guide that came with it, you are missing out. I have yet to find a recipe in there that really stands out (although you usually can't go wrong with your basic chili). I found a lovely cookbook called "The Gourmet Slow Cooker" by Lynn Alley, from which I have many numerous recipes, and I've enjoyed nearly every one I've tried. If you need some inspiration for your slow cooker, I highly recommend it.

I have 3 favorites from the book that I wanted to share with you: Baked Eggplant, Greek Bean Soup, and Provencal Chicken Stew. It's the Baked Eggplant that I plan to make again this weekend that prompted this post. I serve it along with numerous "mezze" (Middle Eastern appetizers or nibbles). I will scoop up the eggplant with sliced veggies, and have feta cheese, kalamata olives, roasted peppers handy. If you eat bread, warmed pita is perfect, or crackers. It's all vegetarian, fantastically flavored, and makes for a light supper.

Baked Eggplant

1/2 cup olive oil
2 large or 3 medium eggplants, peeled and cut into cubes
3 cloves garlic, pressed
juice of 1 lemon
salt
extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley for garnish
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh mint leaves for garnish (optional)
4 oz. feta cheese, crumbled, for garnish (1 scant cup)

Pour 1/4 cup of the olive oil into the slow cooker and rotate to coat the bottom. Add the eggplant and the remaining oil and toss lightly. Cover and cook on high for about 2 hours or on low for about 5 hours, until the eggplant is quite mushy. Stir 2-3 times during cooking.

Add the garlic, lemon juice, and salt to taste, and stir well to break up any large chunks of eggplant (sometimes I puree it if I want a smoother texture, especially if I'm going to be using it as a dip). Transfer to a bowl, drizzle with olive oil and garnish with the herbs and feta. Serve warm or at room temperature. Scoop up with pita bread or pita chips.

Greek Bean Soup

2 cups dried white beans
6-8 cups water or chicken stock
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
3 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
3 celery stalks, finely chopped
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 ham bone (optional)
3 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and diced, or 1 (14.5 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
Leaves from 2 sprigs oregano, coarsely chopped
1 cup packed spinach leaves, young dandelion greens, or arugula
1 Tbsp. salt
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

Rinse and sort the beans. Place them in the slow cooker and add enough of the water/stock to cover. Cover and cook on high for about 2 hours, until the beans begin to soften. Or, better yet, soak the beans with water to cover overnight, the drain, rinse, and transfer to the slow cooker. Add the water/stock to cover.

Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat and add the oil. Add the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic and saute, stirring frequently, for 10 min. or until lightly browned. Add the vegetables and ham bone to the beans in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, until the beans are tender. (At this point, you can puree some of the beans for a thicker consistency if you like).

A few minutes before serving, stir in the tomatoes, oregano, spinach, and salt. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with the parsley. Serve immediately.

Provencal Chicken Stew

3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt

1 chicken, cut into serving pieces and skinned

1/4 olive oil

1 yellow onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup dry white wine (sometimes I use red, if I already have that open)
1 (14.5 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
freshly ground black pepper

For garnish:
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves, cut into a chiffonade
1 cup kalamata olives

Combine the 3/4 cup flour and salt in a resealable bag. Add chicken to the bag, several pieces at a time, and shake to coat completely.

Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat and add oil. Add chicken and cook, turning once, for 8-10 min. until browned on all sides. Using tongs, transfer to paper towels to drain, then arrange in the slow cooker.

Set the saute pan over the heat again and add the onions and 2 Tbsp flour. Saute, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Add garlic and stir 2-3 min. Add the wine and stir to scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Increase to high heat and add the tomatoes and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring frequently, for 10-15 minutes until some of the tomato liquid has evaporated.

Pour the onion mixture over the chicken in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 3-8 hours, until chicken is tender. At 3-4 hours, the chicken will still be firm and hold its shape. At 6-8 hours, the meat will be falling off the bone.

Divide the chicken among dinner plates and garnish with the parsley, basil and olives.
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A word about slow cooking safety.

"When cooking large pieces of meat, remember that they will take some time to come to temperature.  Browning the meat in a saute pan before slow cooking can jump-start the heating process and kill any bacteria on the surface of the meat. Don't fill the insert of the slow cooker more than 2/3 full or the food near the top will take too long to cook. Place those ingredients that take longer to cook, such as larger pieces of meat, carrots or potatoes, near the bottom."

And these bits of information I found on wikipedia.

"Cheaper cuts of meat with connective tissue and lean muscle fibre are suitable for stewing, and tastier than stews using expensive cuts, as long slow cooking will soften the connective tissue without toughening the muscle."

"Raw kidney beans, and some other beans, contain the toxin phytohaemagglutinin, which is destroyed by boiling for at least ten minutes, but not by the lower temperatures of a slow cooker, so dry beans must be boiled prior to slow cooking to avoid poisoning. Even a few beans can be toxic, and beans can be as much as five times more toxic if cooked at 175°F (80°C) than if eaten raw, so adequate pre-boiling is vital. Cases of poisoning by slow-cooked beans have been published in the UK, poisoning has occurred in the US but has not been formally reported."

Some websites highlighting their favorite slow cooker recipes: myRecipes.com, Sunset.com, and Food Channel.com.

If you have a favorite slow cooker recipe you'd like to share, please do!

Healthy Snacking

It's a new year, and since most of us have new year's resolutions that involve eating healthier, our snacking could use some improvement, too.

I have found that both veggies and beans make great bases for all kinds of "dippables" like multi-grain crackers and chips, but more importantly vegetables like baby carrots, celery and cukes, that long for something to be dipped into.

Here are a couple of dips I really like. The first is a vegetable dip made with butternut squash. Since it's still "wintry" out (well, everywhere but So.Cal.) this one's ideal for this time of year. I am also always interested in using beans in tasty ways and the second recipe is really delish. Both are good ways to get more veggies and beans into your diet.

Butternut Squash Dip with Creme Fraiche

1 butternut squash (1.5-2 lbs), cut in half lengthwise and seeded
1 very small yellow onion, cut in half lengthwise, stem and root ends trimmed
2 large cloves garlic, skins left on
2 Tbsp. pure olive oil
2 Tbsp. creme fraiche
1 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
freshly ground white pepper

Preheat oven to 350F. Brush flesh of squash, the onion, and the garlic generously with the olive oil and arrange the squash and onion cut side down on a rimmed baking sheet. Tuck a garlic clove in each cavity of the squash. Roast until very tender when pierced with a fork, about 50 minutes. Set aside until cool enough to handle, about 20 minutes.

Use a spoon to scrape out the flesh of the squash and put it in the workbowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Discard the skins. Squeeze the garlic pulp from the cloves and add to the workbowl along with the onion. Puree until smooth. Add the creme fraiche, salt, nutmeg, cayenne, and a few grinds of the pepper. Process to combine and then taste and adjust the seasonings. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve immediately.

Great with parmesan breadsticks, crostini, pita chips and baby carrots.

Warm Bean Dip

4 large cloves garlic, minced
2 cans (15 oz. each) white beans, such as navy, cannellini, drained and rinsed, warmed in a saucepan
5 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2-3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
3/4 tsp. kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
chopped fresh thyme or basil leaves

Saute the garlic briefly in a little olive oil. Add the beans to the sauteed garlic to warm them up. Put the olive oil and beans in the workbowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, then add the remaining olive oil, 2 Tbsp. of the lemon juice, the salt, and a few grinds of pepper and herbs. Process until pureed and smooth, tasting and adding more lemon juice, salt and pepper if desired. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve immediately. Best warm. Garnish with an herb sprig.

Great with anything, especially grilled or raw veggies, pita chips, and bagel chips.

Flavor Profile : Relish this!

One way to add flavor to foods is to add condiments alongside them. If you think of the usual - mayo, mustard, ketchup - those are some of them, but there are many, many more, especially if you think globally. The one I want to talk about today is relish.

Typical pickle relish

If pickle relish is all you envision when you think of "relish", then you should know that there is a whole universe of relishes out there. There are more varieties of this condiment made around the world than you can imagine. Nearly every continent has its own version. They consist of every conceivable combination of fruit, vegetable, herb or spice you could toss together.

Wikipedia defines relish as “a cooked, pickled, or chopped vegetable or fruit food item typically used as a condiment in particular to enhance a staple. Examples are jams, chutneys, and the North American 'relish', a pickled cucumber jam eaten with hot dogs or hamburgers”.

Relish can be made out of all sorts of things, usually finely chopped fruits or vegetables, and are generally not smooth textured sauces, like ketchup, but rather a bit more chunky. The taste sensation may be sweet or savory, hot or mild, but always there is a strong flavor component that adds to the primary food that it’s being served with.

Mango chutney

Relish seems to have originated in India as a way to preserve vegetables in winter. Indian chutneys are probably familiar to most people. There is a vast array of types: mango, tamarind, coconut, cilantro, onion, tomato, lime, garlic, even apricot, to name a few, with each part of the country seemingly having its own kind. Chutneys began being shipped to European countries in the 17^th Century as a luxury food item. By the 19^th Century, brands like Major Grey’s and Bengal Club were created for Western tastes and were generally made of fruit, vinegar and sugar cooked down to a reduction.  

Ajvar

A wonderful relish which hails from Serbia is called Ajvar. Consisting of red bell peppers, eggplant, garlic and chili pepper, it is one of the few relishes that are smooth in texture. Depending on the capsaicin content of the peppers and the amount of added chili peppers, it can be sweet, piquant (the most common), or very hot. The relish can be used as a bread spread, a salad or a side dish. I will serve it alongside a mixed appetizer plate I make that usually involves stuffed grape leaves, sheep’s milk feta cheese, kalamata olives, taboulleh salad, sliced tomatoes with onions, and maybe some falafel, pita bread and hummus. Ajvar is also good spread on sandwiches for a different twist. It’s especially good on a veggie sandwich. Layer sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, provolone or munster cheese, and a handful of sprouts on 2 slices of whole grain bread, spread some mayo on one slice and ajvar on the other, and presto! You’ve got a killer sandwich.

I have 2 relish recipes for you: one savory and one sweet/sour. You can make either with summer veggies available right now. The first one is compliments of my mother. It is very refreshing on a hot summer day. Eat it cold as a snack, or at room temp alongside grilled sausages, chicken or fish.

Zucchini relish

Zucchini Relish

3 pounds zucchini

1 red bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

2 onions

2 Tbsp. salt

325 ml white wine vinegar

2 Tbsp. mustard seeds

½ Tbsp. cayenne pepper

1 ½ Tbsp. paprika

2 ½ Tbsp. flour

Yield: 8 small jam size glasses with screw top lids for canning/preserving

Chop all the veggies into a small dice. Place in a colander, sprinkle with salt and allow to sit for 30 minutes to draw out the liquid. Place zucchini, bell peppers, onions, vinegar, and mustard seeds in a saucepan and bring to a boil, simmer 15 min.  Add the remaining ingredients, simmer another 10 min. Add a little water to the flour and add this to the pot to thicken. Fill glasses, leaving a bit of space at the top for air, and seal tightly. Place glasses on their heads and allow to cool. 

Friends Greg and Michelle offered up this enticing relish at their house a few years ago as an appetizer. They served it with crackers and cream cheese. Everyone loved it and asked for the recipe. It's really good and easy to make.

Red Pepper Relish

2 large red bell peppers
1 onion chopped
1 cup white wine vinegar
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. crushed red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste

Combine the first 5 ingredients in a 2 qt. pan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to medium high heat, stirring often, until liquid looks like syrup and is reduced by 2/3. Simmer an additional 25 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cool and then puree in a food processor. Serve with crackers and cream cheese or with a wedge of brie. Also great with roasted meats like turkey, chicken and pork. Keeps in the fridge for about a month.

Curried Tofu Dip

Under "Favorite Cooking Reads" I just added a few more of the cookbooks that I use on a fairly regular basis. As I added one of them, I realized I wanted to share a recipe from it. The book is called "Delicious Dips" and it has some great ones that span from veggie and herb dips, to salsas and guacamoles, to cheese, bean and legume dips, to meat and even dessert dips. A little of everything.

I love to snack, and to do this more healthfully, I wanted to make dips for the veggies I was trying to eat more of. I've prepared a lot of the recipes in this book, but one of my favorites in this one: a curried tofu dip. It is alive with flavor and totally addictive! It's a great way to get some healthy soy in your diet but you'd never know it was there.

Curried Tofu Pate

1 lb. firm tofu
1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
3 green onions, including tops, finely sliced
1 celery stalk, finely sliced
1 Tbsp. curry powder
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1/8 tsp. cayenne powder
1/2 cup mayonnaise (soy-based, or regular, whichever is your preference)
1/3 cup minced flat-leaf parsley
2 tsp. honey
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Drain tofu and blot completely dry with paper towels or a kitchen towel. Let the tofu sit in the towel while you saute the vegetables.

In a small saute pan, warm the olive oil and swirl to coat the pan. Add the green onions and celery and saute until beginning to soften, about 1 minute. Add the curry, turmeric, and cayenne. Saute, stirring constantly, until the spices are fragrant, about 1 minute longer. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a food processor, puree the tofu, add the curry mixture and the mayo. Add the remaining ingredients, pulsing until just blended.

Great with crudites (cut veggies), pita chips, or bagel chips.