This was the first proper dinner I cooked in our new Manhattan kitchen. If I’d thought about it, I probably would have chosen a more elaborate inaugural meal, but it was a busy day, our friend Visnja was stopping by for dinner, and I needed something quick and tasty. Aside from its lively flavor, the best thing about this dish is that everything except the fish itself comes from the pantry: just pick up some fresh fish at the market on your way home, and you can have dinner on the table in half an hour.
The only uncommon ingredient is harissa, a richly spicy North African red pepper sauce. You can make it yourself (and the result is worth the effort), but there are several good store-bought options now, my current favorite being Mustapha’s Moroccan Harissa, which is available at many good markets and from online sources such as Amazon. Aside from this dish, harissa is a nice condiment to have around. You can use it to flavor soups and stews, mix it with mayonnaise to give new life to a roast beef sandwich or thin it with olive oil for a delicious marinade for grilled chicken.
Recipe
(adapted from Pan-Fried Snapper with Harissa and Olive Sauce from Flavors of Morocco by Ghille Basan, serves 4)
Ingredients
For the sauce:
2-3 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2-3 teaspoons Harissa (store-bought or home-made)
1 cinnamon stick
2 teaspoons sugar
14-oz (400 ml) can of chopped tomatoes, drained
3 tablespons black olives (preferably Moroccan oil-cured or Kalamatas)
For the fish:
About 1 1/2 pounds (700g) of snapper, sea bass or another firm white fish (I used Tilapia here.)
2-3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons light vegetable oil, for frying
1 small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
1 lemon, cut into wedges
salt and pepper
Instructions
1. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat for about a minute. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 3-4 minutes until they begin to color.
2. Stir in the Harissa, cinnamon stick and sugar, then add the tomatoes. Cook for about 5 minutes and then add the olives. Stir, cook for about two minutes more and then taste and season with salt and pepper. (Be careful not to oversalt the sauce. Moroccan oil-cured olives in particular are quite salty, and you’ll want to preserve the delicious contrast between the spicy-sweet tomato sauce and the salty olives.) Cover and keep warm.
3. Sprinkle the fish lightly with salt and then dredge them in the flour, coating both sides.
4. Warm the vegetable oil in a skillet over medium heat for about a minute and then add the fish. Fry until cooked through, about 2-4 minutes per side depending on thickness. Blot the fish on paper towels and then transfer to plates or a serving dish.
5. Spoon the sauce over the fish and squeeze fresh lemon juice over all — about 1/4 lemon per serving. Serve immediately with additional lemon wedges.
