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Black Olives with Harissa

Marinated black olives in a spicy harissa paste.

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Why it works: Harissa and coriander match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 105 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

The recipe

Time4 hours

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the olives

  1. Rinse olives under cold water for 1 minute in a colander.

  2. Place olives in a large bowl and cover with cold water.

  3. Soak olives for 4 hours to remove excess salt, then drain well.

Roast the pepper

  1. Using a long‑handled fork, char peppers over an open flame or on a rack set over an electric burner, turning, until skins are blackened, 4 to 6 minutes; or broil peppers on a broiler pan about 2 inches from heat, turning every 5 minutes, until skins are blistered and charred.

  2. Transfer peppers to a bowl and let stand, covered, until cool enough to handle.

  3. Peel peppers, starting at blossom end, keeping peppers whole.

  4. Cut off pepper tops and discard seeds and ribs.

Make the harissa

  1. Grind cumin, coriander, and caraway seeds finely in a mortar with pestle, electric spice grinder, or cleaned coffee grinder.

  2. If using mortar and pestle, add chilies, garlic, and salt, then pound to taste.

  3. If using a grinder, transfer seeds to a small food processor, add chilies, garlic, and salt, then grind to a paste.

  4. Add roasted pepper and olive oil, then pound or purée to a coarse paste.

Marinate and serve

  1. Stir together harissa and olives in a large bowl.

  2. Marinate covered and chilled for at least 6 hours or overnight.

  3. Prepare olives up to 1 week ahead, keeping chilled and covered.

  4. Serve olives at room temperature.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Harissa + coriandertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together105 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Olive + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together23,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Coriander + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together6,477 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Coriander + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together5,948 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Coriander + carawaytop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together185 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-decenal (green, must).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Oil-cured black olives
Provide the main flavor and salty, meaty texture that the harissa seasons.
Hot red dried chilies
Supply heat and a smoky, fruity chili flavor to the harissa.
Garlic cloves
Add pungent, savory aroma that deepens the paste.
Red bell pepper
Adds sweetness, body and moisture to the coarse paste.
Olive oil
Carries the spice flavors and gives the paste a smooth, rich fat.

The step that matters

Soaking the olives. Soaking for the full 4 hours draws out excess salt from the cured olives; skipping or shortening it leaves the marinated olives too salty.

Flavor stand-ins for the caraway

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, harissa, coriander, garlic, pepper):

  1. Cuminbetter flavor fit
  2. Parsleybetter flavor fit
  3. Basilbetter flavor fit
  4. Carawaythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, harissa, coriander, garlic, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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