African food isn’t something I have a lot of experience with, but after making a batch of preserved lemons recently, I have been dreaming up some tasty and creative ways to use them. Being a traditional Moroccan staple food, it felt right to pair them with the harissa.
Harissa is a bit spicy and it has such a robust and full flavor. So much more than your run-of-the-mill pepper blend. Harissa comes in paste form or as a dried blend, for this recipe I used a dry blend, but you could certainly use a paste, you may want a tad bit more, but use your judgement.
The creamy tangy feta compliments the heat of the harissa nicely and the wonderful tangy and tart zing from the preserved lemons is just meant for dishes like this. The fresh mint, brings a nice a bright finish.
Mark despises carrots and will rarely eat them cooked, he always says “carrots just always make everything around them taste like carrots”. He couldn’t get enough of these. He actually said this was the best way he’d ever eaten carrots. I have to agree.
On and in case you don’t have your menu fully planned yet, these harissa roasted carrots would make the perfect unique side dish for any Thanksgiving feast. What are your plans for Thanksgiving? Are you cooking dinner? Do you have your Thanksgiving menu already planned?
[print_this]Harissa Roasted Carrots with Preserved Lemons and Feta (Gluten-free w/ Vegan-Option)
serves 2
- 1 lb carrots (one small bunch) peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
- 1-2 teaspoons harissa paste or a dry harissa spice blend
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- sea salt, to taste
- 1 tablespoon preserved lemons, chopped finely
- 1/4 cup sheep’s milk feta cheese, crumbled (leave off if vegan)
- small handful of fresh mint, roughly chopped, for garnish
Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
Toss the carrots with the harissa, olive oil and sea salt. Make sure the carrots are evenly coated in the spices and oil. Lay the carrots in an even single layer on a baking sheet. Place into the oven and roast for about 30 minutes, until they are tender and start to brown a tad, some caramelization on the carrots is extra nice.
Serve topped with the chopped preserved lemons and crumbled feta. Garnish with fresh mint. [/print_this]
8 Responses
I am making these for dinner…happy dancing, humming, and silliness are whats happening on the other end of this keyboard right now.
This recipe was meant for my dad. He would have harissa on his morning toast! You have no idea how much he loves it. I’m going to make this recipe for sure next time I have him for supper!
OMG this is brilliant. I am not a huge fan of carrots myself but this looks like a creative enough way to prepare them, that I could totally get down with this! Thank you Beth!
You ALWAYS come up with the best recipes. I love everything about this recipe.
I’ve never seen dry Harissa spice blend before, but am going to hunt some down. African cuisine is an area that I’ve been trying over the past year after I became friends with someone from Ghana. I’m still learning about the various regional cooking from Africa and am finding it intriguing. Always so fun learning about how different food is around the world.
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Your recipe is being featured in a collection of preserved lemon dishes on Simple Living and Eating. I will be pinning and tweeting it this week.
These carrots sound amazing! I have pinned this so I can use it later & I don’t forget to try harissa carrots