Saturday, August 9, 2008

Harissa

If harissa was the new chipotle, and it looks like vadouvan is the new harissa, what's the new vadouvan?

With my post-Montreal Merguez sausage obsession I had to seek the pictured stuff out. I thought it'd be like sriracha. I was very wrong. The first two ingredients in the can--beets and carrots. Still, it has some heat.

* In the Cleveland area this and many other Middle Eastern/North African (and in some of the stores, Indian) treats can be found around W 117 and Lorain. It's a neat neighborhood. Good Mexican groceries too.

** There was just a nice post on a recipe with the stuff here.

*** Chicken wings, dusted (?) with harissa are available in Cleveland. The end is near.

**** And here's what I did with it: Never-frozen NC shrimp from Kate's Fish, green pepper and yellow tomatoes from the garden, vegan Ohio City pasta from the West Side food buying group, and, of course, some harissa cooked with the shrimp.

4 comments:

Dine O Mite! said...

Love it. The wife and I went to Zingermann's about 3 weeks ago. They make this side dish called Carrot Top that is made with carrots, sweet potatoes, and harissa. The harissa adds a little bite at the end that you don't expect. The coolness of the carrots and sweet potatoes are a great partner to the harissa. Good stuff.

The CFT said...

Sounds like it was great. If you've looked around this blog, you know I love Zingermann's (based on the one time I went there). I think the Roadhouse is everything a restaurant should be.

Anonymous said...

I had the misfortune of meeting friends at the "dusted" restaurant this past friday. While the menu has improved (pretty sure the word "dusted" has been removed), the food, alas, still disappoints.

The CFT said...

Well, hopefully it will pick up. An improved menu is a start.