Harissa Potatoes

Oh, hi there! Long time no see. How’s things?

I know Easter was a couple months ago at this point, and you’re probably over it. You’ve probably been over it for weeks. But I am still dreaming about my Easter dinner, and I just needed to pop in and talk about it for a minute.

It was an unusual Easter in the Nishibun household; whereas Holy Week is normally a non-stop marathon of rehearsals and services for Alex (and a slightly less laborious marathon of tagging along for me), this year found Alex spending the week in the UK with Skylark. He returned the night before Easter and celebrated Easter Sunday by sleeping off his jet lag. So instead of our usual 2pm lunch (the time he would normally come crawling in the door after three back-to-back services), we had a casual lunch at noon and a fancy dinner several hours later. To be honest, it was a nice change.

The menu was inspired by Easter dinners past: specifically, the ones we used to enjoy in our college years, when we’d spend Easter afternoon at the home of Paul and Jan Davis, who were surrogate guardians of sorts for us. (Actually, I think I listed Paul’s Easter lamb chops as part of my dream dinner in a post from several years back.) Before this year, I’d cooked lamb chops exactly once, and I remember being surprised to discover how easy it was, but apparently the ease of preparation didn’t stick in my mind, because I let years elapse before trying it again. But this month, the time seemed ripe, and more importantly, lamb seemed like the perfect complement to my new favorite side dish: harissa potatoes. (Yes, I pick my protein based on my chosen sides. What of it?)

Even though harissa has been pretty widely available for a while now, it seems like it’s really been having a moment in the last few years. I imagine we can credit Yotam Ottolenghi for a good bit of this (I mean, if you own more than a handful of recent cookbooks, there’s a good chance you have one of his), as well as what I see as a growing interest in non-Western cooking styles. These potatoes, though, come from Melissa Clark, and her blockbuster cookbook Dinner: Changing the Game. Is it weird to call a cookbook a blockbuster? Maybe, but more than a year after publication, you still can’t get it from the Boston Public Library without going on the waiting list, so I’m not sure what else you’d call it.

I’ve used a few different brands of harissa, and I tried my hand at making my own last summer (using a recipe by– guess who?– Yotam Ottolenghi). My two favorites, though, are Entube and Moulins Mahjoub. The MM harissa is slightly less spicy (but still packs a good punch), and I like its coarse texture. It is also, it must be said, a little pricey, but a little goes a long way, and it’s nice to look at.

To make the potatoes, you simply toss them (chopped) with a bit of the harissa, some ground cumin and olive oil, and after letting them sit and soak up the marinade for about half an hour, roast until crisp. The original recipe asks you to throw some chicken thighs and drumsticks in the marinade as well, and then roast them together with the potatoes, topping them later with fresh herbs and yogurt sauce. I have done this many times, and I highly recommend it– it’s a fantastic one-pan meal, and the extra chicken fat certainly doesn’t hurt the potatoes, either– but the potatoes are also mighty fine on their own. They’re just spicy enough to complement other flavors without overwhelming them, with enough Middle Eastern flair to intrigue without scaring anyone off. I can’t think of a single protein that wouldn’t be great with a heap of these alongside.

So there you have it! Spicy, crispy potatoes that are so good I barely even mentioned the lamb chops. Maybe we’ll talk about those sometime soon.

Harissa Potatoes
adapted from Dinner: Changing the Game by Melissa Clark, via Food52

1 1/4 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1 x 1/2-inch chunks
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 Tablespoons harissa
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
3 Tablespoons olive oil

Heat the oven to 425°F.

In a large bowl, whisk together the harissa, cumin, and the olive oil. Add the potatoes, salt, and pepper, and toss to combine. Let sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes (or while your oven preheats).

Arrange the potatoes in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet, and roast for about 40 minutes, tossing once about halfway through roasting time.