Black Olives with Harissa
- 1 pound oil-cured black olives (preferably Moroccan)
- 1 teaspoon cumin seed
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds
- 2 hot red dried arbol chiles, stemmed but not seeded (about 2 inches in length)
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1 medium red bell pepper, roasted, procedure follows, coarsely chopped
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- In a colander rinse olives under cold water 1 minute and in a large bowl cover with cold water.
- Soak olives 4 hours to remove excess salt and drain well.
- To make the harissa: In a mortar with a pestle, an electric spice grinder, or a cleaned coffee grinder, grind seeds fine.
- If using mortar and pestle, add chiles, garlic, and salt and pound, to taste.
- If using a spice or coffee grinder, transfer seeds to a small food processor and add chiles, garlic, and salt.
- Grind mixture to a paste.
- Add pepper and oil and pound or puree to a coarse paste.
- In a large bowl stir together the harissa and olives and marinate, covered and chilled, at least 6 hours or overnight.
- Olives may be prepared 1 week ahead and kept chilled, covered.
- Serve olives at room temperature.
- Roasted Peppers: Using a long-handled fork, char peppers over an open flame or on a rack set over an electric burner, turning, until skins are blackened, 4 to 6 minutes.
- (Or to broil peppers on rack of a broiler pan under a preheated broiler about 2 inches from heat, turning every 5 minutes, 15 to 20 minutes, or until skins are blistered and charred.)
- Transfer peppers to a bowl and let stand, covered, until cool enough to handle.
- Keeping peppers whole, peel them, starting at blossom end.
- Cut off pepper tops and discard seeds and ribs.
black olives, cumin, coriander seeds, caraway seeds, arbol chiles, garlic, coarse salt, red bell pepper, olive oil
Taken from www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/black-olives-with-harissa.html (may not work)