Harissa is a staple sauce in North African cuisine, a condiment as well as an ingredient. The ketchup, if you will, of countries like Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. In the Sahara region it often has a smoky element. While it is typical quite spicy, we keep ours accessible by using Urfa and Aleppo chiles from Turkey, which have great flavor but not much heat. In Northern Africa and even Spain and France, the stuff abounds in grocery stores - sold in tubes, tins and jars.
Vesta's harissa is made from scratch using roasted red peppers, sundried tomatoes, onions, garlic and a myriad of spices including cumin, coriander and sumac - a sour-sweet dried bush berry culitivated in the middle east.
Perhaps the most classic use of harissa is in Merguez au Harissa, a spicy lamb sausage slathered with harissa and served in a fresh roll. This North African staple has become a fixture on the streets of Paris as well.
Harissa can be mixed with olives, added to tagines for heat and flavor, or served with eggs, as we do in our farm egg flatbread with yogurt, feta and herbs. We also pair our beef flatbread with harissa and carrot jicama pickle, the intense earthiness from the sauce balancing nicely with the sweet tartness of the carrot pickle. Coming this summer we will feature a grilled eggplant flatbread with harissa.
If you do like your harissa spicy, check out our Laszlo sauce. Named after Jenya's fiery doberman, we offer it to the folks who like to heat it up a bit, just like Laszlo does.
-- Traci
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