flat peaches

if you ever spot these at the farmer's market you should totally get them. i thought we were the peach state...why don't we grow these??

snack time (aka- tunisian fried heaven)

i’m not sure how we avoided it up to now, but we finally had the national snack of tunisia, the brik a l’oeuf…



simple enough ingredients- egg, capers, cheese and fresh herbs wrapped in an incredibly thin pastry and then fried. they’re really delicious and probably the best truly local food i’ve tried. the tricky part is not getting the still runny yolk on your clothes…



they also like to stuff them with tuna. tunisians really love canned tuna. it comes atop just about any salad you order, on top of harissa or on top of pizza. again, they love their tuna.

i actually only had a few bites of the wife’s brik since i had chosen to have a fricassee. i was too busy eating to take a photo, but the fricassee is a small sandwich consisting of a fried bun filled with mashed potatoes, tuna (of course), boiled egg, olives and a healthy serving of a spicy harissa based sauce.

i had been craving one since frenchie and i came across a little shop frying them up near our hotel. we had spotted a couple walking with giant donuts covered in sugar and immediately started looking around for where they could have scored them.

more of an alcove than restaurant this little shop fries up one amazing donut. it actually tastes a lot more like a funnel cake just with granulated sugar instead of powdered. *hello* heaven.

anyway, while we were waiting on our donuts to be made we watched them serve up about a million of those little sandwiches and i had to have one. but, at the time i had to have the donut more.

thankfully i was able to have one in sousse and i’m thinking it would probably be a good idea to hit up the nearby shop one last time before we leave. maybe even tonight…

tea time

i’m southern and therefore like my tea sweet and over ice. being american, i like my coffee nice and weak. even our strongest brews are nothing compared to the motor oil the rest of the world enjoys. my only salvation has been in latin america where they at least drink their crude with lots of hot milk.

due to my inability to digest castrol gtx i’ve become quite the hot tea drinker on the road.

here in tunisia they like to finish off meals with a delightful mint tea. they serve it hot and very sweet, always garnishing with fresh mint and sometimes pine nuts. which is actually quite nice.

i know the last thing i would normally want in the summer is a hot drink, but it’s really rather refreshing...




want to make some?

2 tea bags
1/3 cup fresh mint leaves
sugar/sweetener
toasted pine nuts and mint sprigs for garnish

1. place tea bags and mint leaves in teapot. fill teapot with 5 cups boiling water, cover and let steep 5 minutes.

2. pour brewed tea into individual glasses or cups. float a few toasted pine nuts in each glass and garnish with a mint sprig. sweeten to your desire.

addicted

I failed to mention harissa in the previous post because I didn’t have a photo of it yet…



Crisis averted.

Popular throughout Northern Africa, harissa is to Tunisians what chips and salsa is to us at a Mexican restuarant- the forever opening act to the main show. They serve it with warm bread and also use it to spice up recipes. I’m totally addicted to it and going to miss it terribly when we leave.

If anyone wants to make it for me at Christmas here’s a recipe…

• 11 ounces dried red chile peppers
• 3/4 cup chopped garlic
• 2 cups caraway seed
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seed
• 2 teaspoons salt

Directions
1. Remove the stems and seeds from the chile peppers. Soak in cold water for 20 minutes, then drain. Place the peppers, garlic, caraway, coriander, and salt in a mortar; pound with a pestle until smooth. Place harissa in a jar, and cover the top with a little oil to maintain freshness. Store in the refrigerator.

Put a tablespoon or so on a plate with raised edges and pour a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil on top and serve with warm bread and olives. Spicy deliciousness!

tunisia

surprisingly, this country or at least the area of tunis that we're staying in has loads of ethnic food choices. we’ve had italian, chinese, some really good indian, japanese…you get the point.

but, we’ve also had some tunisian fare…



lamb and couscous is pretty much a staple.

so is coffee. very, very strong coffee…





and sweets, they love their sweets…




which are even better with fresh strawberry juice and sweet mint tea…



the best part is how much french influence there is here. not only in terms of language, but also their food...



we scored some fresh hot chocolate croissants in the medina last saturday. they were divine and cost less than 15 cents each. win. win.