Moroccan Red Stuff

My best friend is Moroccan, and in college, she was famous for putting Tabasco on everything she ate. I never understood why until she made me this: the one ‘authentic’ recipe that was passed down to her from her grandmother. Similar to what’s called Harissa in stores, she’d always just refer to this as “red stuff” (I’m guessing because of the color). A condiment, it’s good with a number of things: on toast with a soft-boiled egg, in a bowl with rice and beans, alongside hummus and pita, mixed with yogurt and eaten with chips. It stores really well – put it in a jar or something else, it will keep for weeks.

Ingredients:
4 lbs tomatoes, peeled OR 2 large (24 OZ) cans whole peeled tomatoes
4-5 cloves Garlic
2 green bell peppers
4 small green hot peppers OR 2 tbs dried crushed chili peppers
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp tumeric
½ tsp salt
4 tbs olive oil

Utensils:
1 saucepan
1 garlic press (optional)
Paper towels
Plastic bag

Recipe:
Peppers: Turn on stove burner. Take bell pepper and place directly onto open flame, turning occasionally, until as much of the outer skin is blackened and blistered as possible (use a fork or a shishkabob skewer to avoid burning your hands). Once entire pepper skin is blackened, wrap pepper in damp paper towel and then wrap in plastic bag. Repeat for second pepper. Let sit for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, mince the small green peppers (or crushed red pepper) and add to saucepan. Take the peeled tomatoes and crush them with your bare hands into the sauce pan. Add the 4-5 cloves crushed garlic. Place saucepan over medium-high heat, and cover. Stir often, making sure mixture doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Cook about 20-30 minutes, until mixture is no longer liquidy but is thick.

While the tomato mixture is cooking, take the bell peppers out of the plastic bad and paper towels. Run peppers under cold water and remove all burnt skin, until all you’re left with is the flesh of the pepper. Take a knife and slit the pepper open: cut off the very top, being sure to remove the seed, heart and veins along with it. Slice pepper into bitesize chunks.

Once the tomato mixture has thickened, turn down the flame and add all spices. Mix thoroughly, then turn off heat and add the oil and bell peppers. Mix thoroughly again, cool and serve.

Vodka Tomato Soup

This recipe first started as a half-hearted attempt at a tomato vodka sauce. Somehow, somewhere, it turned into a soup. The Vodka adds a sweetness, that along with slow-cooking the tomatoes and a hell of a lot of veggie broth, makes for a downright pleasant meal. Also, using canned tomatoes and little else makes it cheap…

Ingredients:
1 small can (~16 OZ) whole peeled tomatoes, preferably organic OR 4-5 whole fresh tomatoes
2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup vodka
2 basil leaves
3 tbs olive oil
Water
Pinch salt
Sour cream or goat cheese (optional)

Utensils:
Sauce pan
Can opener (duh)
Measuring cup & spoons
Blender
Sharp knife

Recipe:

If using whole tomatoes:
Fill saucepan full of water and put on stove over high heat.

While waiting for it to boil, take a sharp knife and make a shallow “X” in the bottom of each tomato’s skin. Place each tomato in the boiling water for about 20 seconds, or until the skin starts peeling away from the flesh of the tomatoes. Remove tomatoes from boiling water and peel off skin. Repeat.

If using canned tomatoes:
Open can. Drain liquid. Take out tomatoes.

Either Way:
Cut tomatoes open and remove seeds. Add to saucepan along with the broth, oil, basil leaves, ½ cup water and ¾ cup vodka. Bring to a boil, then quickly reduce to the lowest heat possible and cover. Let simmer for 45 minutes, or until tomatoes look like they are about ready to fall apart. Remove from heat and let cool for about 10 minutes. Remove basil leaves, and pour rest of the mixture into a blender. Puree entire mixture until smooth. Add liquid back into pot, along with the salt and the rest of the vodka. Cook for about 10 minutes more, remove from heat and serve, with goat cheese or sour cream if you want.

Variation: add one smoked chipotle pepper (from a can). It will add heat but still be great.

Variation: add only one and a half cups vegetable broth and no water to make a mean, yet thin, vodka sauce. Perfect for ravioli or lasagna.