While this won’t blow anybody’s mind for  being on the cutting edge of exotic ingredients, I have discovered recently that I have a deep love for harissa. At first I was just using it as it was called for in North African recipes, but I eventually realized that it works in a lot more. It is great on buffalo burgers with brie cheese. On New Years day I discovered that it helped to make a great spicy thousand island dressing. And, this weekend, the greatest revelation of all: as I was searching desperately for something to eat for lunch, I found a can of tuna (in olive oil). I grew up eating tuna mixed with mayo on saltine crackers (with yellow cheese and green olives!). This time, I thew a little harissa in with the tuna and ate the resulting mixture on rye hardtack with spicy pickles. It was good.

So if you need some spice and smoke with a peppery body to hold it up, I recommend getting a jar of harissa. As far as I can tell, it keeps a long time. I have had my jar in the fridge for well over six months, and I haven’t died yet.

No comments | Harissa, Lunch, Tuna

This entry was posted by Tom on Monday, January 19th, 2009 at 9:35 am and is filed under Food + Drink. You can subscribe to responses to this entry via RSS.