Black Olives With Red Pepper Harissa

Total Time: 6 hrs 30 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 6 hrs

Ingredients

• 2 (15 ounce) cans pitted large black olives or 2 (15 ounce) cans pitted jumbo black olives or 1 lb moroccan oil-cured black olive, if available
• 1 teaspoon cumin seed
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander seed
• 1/2 teaspoon caraway seed
• 2 dried hot red chilies or 2 fresh hot red chili peppers, stemmed,minced,seeded if desired (about 2 inches in length)
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, to taste
• 1 large red bell pepper, roasted,peeled,coarsely chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, adjustable for desired consistency

Recipe

• 1 drain olives, rinse under running water, place in large bowl and cover with fresh water; soak 15 minutes for canned, 4 hours for oil-cured, to remove excess salt; drain, rinse again; drain well.
• 2 toast cumin, coriander and caraway seeds in a hot, dry skillet to release flavor and fragrance, being careful not to scorch or burn them. cool.
• 3 grind the toasted seeds fine; if using a spice grinder or coffee grinder dedicated to such purposes, add dried chiles here and continue to grind.
• 4 if using electric appliances, transfer finely ground spices/dried chiles to a food processor or blender here; if using a mortar & pestle, continue with it.
• 5 to ground spices, add garlic, salt, and fresh chiles, if using them; grind to a paste.
• 6 add red bell pepper and olive oil and pound or puree to a paste (your preference here, i like it rather fine); adding more oil, drop by drop, if desired for consistency.
• 7 taste and add a touch more salt, if necessary.
• 8 in a large, nonreactive or non-stainable bowl, stir together olives and harissa; cover, chill and marinate at least 6 hours and up to a week before serving.
• 9 for best flavor, bring olives in harissa to room temperature before serving.
• 10 i have kept them up to 4 weeks (if they last that long!),well covered and chilled; with a layer of olive oil floated on top.