harissa stewed shrimp. roasted yellow pepper and goat cheese shortbread. minted pea yogurt.

i have a new favorite thing.  harissa.  its smoky, spicy goodness that comes in a tube.  not to mention, it's showing up all over the place.  harissa is the new bacon.  


first.  making the stewing liquid is simple.  all you need is onion, harissa, coconut milk and a ton of cilantro.  


caramelize the onion.

then add your harissa (i used a lot, but your personal preference wins), coconut milk and cilantro.

add your shrimp.  season and let reduce by about half.  set aside. (i did mine individually so i could regulate portion size at the restaurant, but you don't have to.)


next...  the shortbread is the most time consuming part of this one.  i roasted my yellow peppers myself, but to save time you could just buy the can/jar roasted red peppers -tho the yellow are sweeter.


if you have a gas stove, put the peppers right on the flame.  a grill will do the job too.  keep an eye on them, you just want the skin to get nicely charred, but not overly.  keep turning them.

once they are black all over, put them in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  let them sit for about 20 minutes.  this will lock in the smoky flavor and also sort of steam the rest of the pepper.

i forgot to take a picture of the next step, but all you have to do to clean the peppers is run them under some cold water, pop off the top and rinse out the seeds.  after thats done, throw them in a food processor and puree.  dump puree into a chinoise (pronounced shin-wah) or fine mesh strainer.  

let it sit and allow the liquid to separate.  if you are impatient like me, use a ladle to push the liquid out of the pulp.  (the liquid could be used for a stock for soup, so don't toss it!)  set aside the pepper pulp.

now.  this is the fun part.  (oh, and you may get dirty...you should have seen the mess i made making these.)  grab some butter and goat cheese.  i'd say about a 50/50 mix.  let them get to room temp and put them in a mixer with the paddle attachment.  cream them together.  

now grab your pepper pulp from before and toss it in there as well.  how much is entirely up to you and your personal taste.  i did equal pulp to goat cheese/butter blend.  

after the pulp is mixed in, start adding flour until it's not sticky but not dry and clumpy.  take it out of the mixer and roll it out to about a 1/4" thick.  put it on a cookie sheet and cook at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, or golden brown. (sorry for the bad pic!)

let that cool and you can cut out cool shapes with cookie cutters or just crumble it.  either way.


i just realized i don't have any photos of the minted pea yogurt process, but its simple.  put some fresh peas, mint, yogurt and salt and pepper into food processor and puree the crap out of it.  done.


now here's the result.