Preserved Lemon Harissa

Last year our Tassie friends came up for a visit, and kindly gave us some organic Meyer lemons from their tree.  I turned some of them into preserved (salted) lemons, and there they sat in our fridge since last Winter.  (This was written a few months ago!)  So I decided to turn them into preserved lemon harissa.  'Cos I love to whizz things up in my food processor.  "So satisfying!" as a certain YouTuber (EmmyMade) often says.

I've adapted a basic harissa recipe from Taste.com.au, adding a few extra ingredients, like the preserved lemons, the rose petal powder and honey (and lemon EVoo).  Why not go big? :=)  So here we have it - the Sherry version.  

the result - 2 wee jars of paste

Makes 2 small jars:

ingredients:

2 long red chillies  (looks like I added some dried chilli flakes too)

2 green jalapeños

130g./4.5 oz (approx.) of preserved lemon rinds (no flesh)  see Notes

2-3 garlic cloves, chopped roughly

1/2-1 tsp sea salt flakes  

1/2 tsp ground rose petal powder (or dried rose petals) or a sprinkle of rosewater (maybe 1/8 to 1/4 tsp?)

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cummin

3-4 tsp EV olive oil, or 1 tsp lemon-pressed EVoo + 2 regular EVoo

1/2-1 tsp honey (optional)

1 tsp EV olive oil on top of each jar

Method:

Chop up the chillies and jalapeños, removing most (or some) of the seeds (all of 'em if you don't fancy the heat)

Throw the de-seeded little babies into your food processor (a small-ish one if you have it) or grab your mortar and pestle if you're going old-school

Put in the preserved lemon pieces, without the flesh, and the garlic, and blitz away

And add the rest of the ingredients (sans the last amount of EV olive oil)

And blitz!  till as smooth or chunky as you please

Spoon into small jars, top with EV olive oil, and keep in the fridge for a month or 2

Notes:

Use all red chillies, or your choice of chilli - green, whatever :)

Use more or less preserved lemon, as you wish

ingredients gathered

in go the chillies and jalapeños

and the preserved lemon rinds, and garlic

and the rest of the ingredients

spoon into small jars

and keep in the fridge for a month or 2

c. Sherry M.

I used the harissa in a chicken traybake one night.  I had about a kilo/2 lb of skinless chicken thighs, which I tossed in 3 Tbs maple syrup, 3-4 Tbs harissa paste, a huge splash of EVOO, and salt and pepper.  Baked at 185C for about 25 minutes.  Delicious!

and don't forget the veg.!

Mr P. is sick with a cold at the moment, not that he lets that stop him.  He's still working as per ...  I am feeding him up, and giving him lots of vitamins.  I made a preserved lemon hummus yesterday (I'll blog it eventually), and added lots of garlic to help kill the germs (just kidding) - but you never know!

He's convinced that the flu jab helps keep the colds at bay too.  He read recently that we need a second jab each winter!  Crumbs, when does it stop?  I am a pin-cushion already these days.  Wow, those shingles shots were a blast!  I reckon this harissa will kill 'em all too - the germs I mean.