Slow roast harissa chicken

There wasn’t enough room on a postcard for the harissa stories of Tunisia. Everywhere you went there would be harissa, homemade and slightly different to the one last night or that which caused the stain on your shirt at lunch. Some were hot, most bright red, others only barely to be glimpsed under fathoms of olive oil. All were to be soaked up by toasted bread.

At home we make our own version to accompany almost anything we eat with blackened lemons: from steak to lamb, bulgur wheat to dark greens. It can be made as spicy as you like, thick spoonfuls of red or, the more olive oil you add, more of a marinade. Or do what the postcards say: serve with hot garlic bread and dip.

Recipe | Harissa

-        Chilli peppers (about 7)

-        ½ tsp. caraway seeds

-        ¼ tsp. cumin

-        1/2 tsp. coriander seeds

-        5 cloves of garlic

-        1 or 2 anchovy fillets

-        Lemon juice

-        3 tbsp. olive oil

-        Salt

Method:

Grind the spices in a pestle and mortar and then add the finely chopped chillies, anchovies and garlic. Grind this all down so that it becomes a paste (I like mine to still have a little structure as opposed to being too smooth). Add salt to taste, transfer into a bowl and add the olive oil. Dip or spread.