Harissa is common throughout a lot of Northern Africa and is a spicy sauce made up of Pirichili peppers, tomatoes, and paprika. It definitely has quite a bite to it so do not taste too much of it plain unless you are a big fan of spice. You'll see below that I just use a little bit of it to add flavor without making my dinner spicy.
A Tagine actually refers to a heavy clay pot that is used in cooking a tagine - a tagine pot. It can be used on a stove or even in an oven when needed and is made for cooking stews at low temperatures for a long time. These typically Moroccan stews can include vegetables or meat and often cheaper meats are used. This saves money (in a relatively poor country) but when the meats are cooked for long periods of time they still become very soft and tender. I do not have a tagine pot so I used a large frying type pan that is more cylindrically shaped but the cooking process was the same.
Cooking Time: 1 hr
Difficulty: easy-medium
Wine: Shiraz
Vegetable Tagine
Time: 1 hr
(from now on I will post individual times at the start of each individual recipe so if you make part of a meal you can properly guage)
We'll start with the vegetable tagine since it will take the longest to cook!
Ingredients:
1 tsp olive oil
1 cup diced onion
1 chopped red bell pepper
1 cup chopped carrots
2 sliced zucchinis
2 minced garlic cloves
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 can diced tomatoes (no salt added)
1 cup vegetable broth
1/2 cup raisins
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup slivered almonds
Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large pan. Add the onions. Stirring frequently to avoid burning, cook the onions for 8-9 minutes or until they are wilting. Add the bell pepper, carrots, and zucchini. Cook for another 5 minutes or until the vegetables begin to get soft. Then add the garlic, turmeric, and cinnamon. Stir well to make sure the vegetables are coated with the spices. Cook another 2 minutes, continuing to stir fairly often to avoid any burning.
Add the diced tomatoes (do not drain - add whole can with juice) and the vegetable broth. Turn the heat up and bring to a boil and then turn the heat down but keep the vegetables/broth simmering. Cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. By the end the vegetables should be very tender.
Add the raisins and sea salt and stir. Cook another 3 minutes then remove from heat and sprinkle with almonds. This tagine should be served over cous-cous.
Harissa Salmon
Time: 25 minutes
And now it is time for the Salmon itself! This does not take as long to cook so you can start this after the tagine is about halfway done. You'll also want to cook up some cous-cous when you have about 15 minutes left on the tagine. (You need time for the water to boil before you add the cous-cous so 15 minutes should suffice.)
Ingredients:
3 tbsp olive oil (divided into 1 and 2)
1/2 cup diced shallots
3 minced cloves garlic
black pepper
2 tsp harissa
2 diced tomatoes
2.5 tsp coriander (divided)
1.5 tsp cumin (divided)
2.5 tsp fennel seed (divided)
3/4 tsp cloves (divided)
1.5 tsp cardamom (divided)
1 lb salmon fillet
First we'll start with the sauce, or rather topping since it's thicker than a sauce. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a smaller fry pan over medium heat. Add the garlic, shallots, and black pepper to taste. I believe I used about 1/2 a teaspoon. Stir frequently to avoid burning and cook for about 5 minutes. The shallots should be translucent and wilted. Add 2 tsp harissa (1 tablespoon if you prefer spicier food) and stir well. Cook for another 2-3 minutes. Add the diced tomatoes. Add 1/2 tsp coriander, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp fennel seed, 1/4 tsp cloves, and 1/2 tsp cardamom. Stir well and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Set aside.
I know this is unusual for me, but you'll now use a full 2 tbsp of olive oil to cook your fish. I do not say this normally but, alas, this fish will be a crispy-skinned salmon. The original Moroccan recipes often call for 1/4 or 1/2 a cup of oil so cutting to 2 tbsp is a huge cut back but still enough to make the salmon plenty crispy without saturating it in oil.
Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Let it heat before adding the fish for best results. Sprinkle your salmon fillet with the remaining 2 tsp coriander, 1 tsp cumin, 2 tsp fennel seed, 1/2 tsp cloves, and 1 tsp cardamom. Place in the pan, skin-side down. It should sizzle when it is added to the hot oil. The oil may pop a bit so be careful not to burn yourself and make sure your clothes are covered.
Cook the salmon for about 5 minutes with the skin-side down. The skin should now be getting crispy. Flip the salmon over so the spice side is now down. Let it cook for another 4-5 minutes. Flip it back over. The top of the fillet with the spice should be browned where the spices have cooked into the salmon. Once the salmon is the amount cooked you enjoy, pour the Harissa mixture on top of it. Heat for another 1-2 minutes to make sure the topping is hot and enjoy.
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