Harissa

The great thing about Harissa is you can use it for anything you would use tomato sauce for: pizza, pasta, marinades, and it brings its own heat.

Pre-heat your oven to 220°c, 425°f, gas 7.

Ingredients:

3 red peppers
10 red chillies
10 ripe plum tomatoes
4 cloves of garlic - peeled and sliced
2 tspn fine salt
1 tspn sugar
1 tblspn balsamic vinegar
1 heaped tblspn tomato puree
2 tspn toasted cumin seeds
1 tspn corriander seeds
A pinch of Saffron
leaves from a sprig of thyme
4 tblspn olive oil

Method:

1. Cut the peppers in half and remove the stalks and seeds. Do the same with the chillies but leave the seeds in. Roughly chop along with the tomatoes and place in an oven tray.

2. Toss in the other ingredients, give the mix a stir and place in your pre-heated oven. Cook for 30 minutes.

4. Transfer the mix to a food blender and liquidise until as smooth as it's going to get, then, using a small ladel or spoon, force the mixture through a fine sieve.