Ingredients
- Harissa
- 10 long red chillies, split, seeded, roughly chopped
- 80ml olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tsp white pepper
- 2 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1 large garlic clove
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- Extra olive oil, for paste
- Salad
- vegetable oil
- 1 small brown onion, sliced
- 1 garlic clove, squashed
- 200ml white wine
- 3 sprigs thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 20 mussels, bearded
- 4 x 180g snapper fillets, scaled and skin scoured
- Sea salt
- Freshly ground white pepper
- 1 large orange, segmented
- 2 ripe avocados, sliced
- 2 handfuls coriander leaves, washed
Method
For the harissa Preheat oven to 180C. Place chillies, olive oil, salt and bay leaves in a frying pan and cook over a medium heat until chilli is soft and starting to brown, about 12 minutes. Toast pepper, fennel seeds, cumin seeds and coriander in the oven for three minutes to refresh then grind to a powder in a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle. Pass through a fine sieve, add to chilli and cook one minute. Remove from heat, discard bay leaves, add garlic and sugar and blend to a paste.
For the salad Heat a little vegetable oil in a large saucepan and fry onion and garlic over a high heat for two minutes. Add white wine, thyme, bay leaf and peppercorns and bring to boil. Add mussels, stir and cover with a lid. Cook about six minutes, stirring a couple of times until the mussels have opened. Pour into a bowl and pick mussels from their shells, taking care to remove any beards that may still be attached. Set aside.
For the snapper Heat frypan with a little vegetable oil over a high heat and fry snapper fillets, skin-side down, for one minute. Season, turn over and fry another minute. Turn back to skin-side down and roast in the oven for about four minutes, until just cooked through.
To serve Toss orange, avocado and coriander into salad and mussels. Mix through four heaped tablespoons of harissa and serve on the side of snapper fillets.
