50 Recipes 2011, #15 & 16: baked fish with peppers and saffron / zucchini with harissa

I love the Ashkenazi seder food I grew up with, but sometimes I just want something different, you know? Especially since we aren't having a seder as such this year -- although of course I still made my favorite Sephardic charoset and ate it with horseradish, as one should. (I sometimes think I could pretty much live on Hillel sandwiches during Passover.)

Anyway, along with the charoset, I made a recipe for baked whitefish from one of Faye Levy's cookbooks. The fish was pleasant but could have used a stronger saffron/garlic flavor. Maybe even some stronger fish, too, like mackerel or bluefish, though I'm not sure how those would go with saffron. Something to experiment with next time.

I also whipped up a quick ancho chile-based harissa from a set of Sephardic recipes someone photocopied for me ages ago, and stirred it into roasted squash, as suggested. Delicious, though I was surprised at how mild the harissa was. The anchos are sweet and fruity, but they don't have quite enough kick. (Of course, if you don't care for super-hot peppers, you'll probably love this.) There's plenty of harissa left, and I think I'm going to stir it into tomorrow night's black bean chilaquiles.