How to Spice Up a Bloody Mary

Photo by kthread/Flickr CC

In honesty at some otherwise unspoken level I kind of keep trying to be "done" with harissa for awhile so that you don't think I'm exceptionally, overly fixated on it. But almost as soon as I decide I won't write any more about it, I seem to find some other way to use it that's so good I don't want to be stingy and not share. And hey, if it's a good relationship that keeps getting better over time, why not run with that?

This is about a cocktail and has nothing to do with couscous or really even anything Tunisian. It just tastes really good. Quite simply, it's just a Bloody Mary made with harissa instead of your usual spice mix. It's super simple. Just put a spoonful or two of harissa into your next Bloody Mary.

Or, if you're not drinking alcohol you can just mix it tomato juice. You can up the harissa portion to meet your own tastes for heat. Personally I've been going with at least two teaspoons into a good-sized glass of tomato juice. I haven't been putting in the alcohol, but there's no reason you shouldn't.

If you do make this up, I recommend foregoing any ice and just having the juice really cold before you blend--the ice tends to water things down and detract from the intensity of the flavors. If you want to play around when tomato season comes around again you could make your own heirloom tomato juice from scratch at home.

But even with canned juice, this is seriously good. Easy, easy, easy and really good!! It takes the idea of having a V-8 to new levels of loveliness. Garnish could be a stick of organic celery, or better still, with a nice wedge of one the Mahjoub's preserved lemons.