Jerusalem, Part 1

For months I've been coveting the cookbook Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi. I go to Amazon all the time and look at it. Finally it occurred to me to check it out from the library and see what it actually looks like! So I did that and am making stuff from it all week. I can tell you that 24 hours in I've already decided to buy it.

Yesterday for lunch I made a chopped vegetable salad with spiced chickpeas and Greek yogurt. 

It was terrific, and also a good idea since the day before we had managed to eat both Indian buffet and pepperoni pizza. 

For dinner I made chicken thighs with cardamom rice and currants and caramelized onions. 

Whoa. It was excellent. The rice! I don't remember the last time I was so excited for leftovers. 

Today in preparation for tonight's dinner I made harissa, a Tunisian hot pepper paste, from scratch. It nearly killed all of us, sautéing the habaneros. Those peppers are no joke! Hours later my lips and the inside of my nose are still burning, just from being in the same room while the peppers were cooking! So, while the finished product is pretty tasty (and spicy!) I think I might just buy harissa in a jar from now on.