A while back I decided to try out a few new uses for my harissa recipe, besides the lamb tagine dish I posted last year. One great thing about harissa is that it’s so full-flavored that it can take an otherwise simple dish and make it immediately and exponentially complex (not to mention tasty). For example, I tried simply spooning it onto a couple steaks before grilling them, and the taste was ridiculous: the North African condiment formed a nice crust around the steak, but didn’t fully penetrate the pure meaty taste of the steaks themselves. It was a winning combination.
Warning: this is a super simple recipe. I’m still recovering from my trip to Atlanta for the Ancestral Health Symposium, where I spoke about gourmet culinary practices in a Paleo context. I’ll post more about my trip later this week.
Serves two
2 8-10oz steaks (sirloin, ribeye, strip, etc)
2 tbsp (1/2 batch) harissa
For this recipe, we used the newly-stocked bison ribeye steaks from US Wellness Meats, but really, any steak would do fine.
Spoon the harissa onto the steaks evenly, then let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. I warned you, this recipe is dead simple!
Grill the steaks on direct, high heat, until cooked to your liking. We are a medium/medium-rare kind of family, so it took about 3 minutes per side with these 1″ thick ribeyes.
Let rest for five minutes, then dive in. Serve with pickled turnips for an even better dining experience.
The Domestic Man 
This looks amazing. I love harissa.
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I love harissa! This looks delicious. I’m really inspired to try this technique on salmon! It seems to stand up to a lot of the “meatier” marinades.
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Sometimes simple can be the best-I often have little time to cook when I get home, so it’s nice to have something that isn’t bland or microwaved and that doesn’t also take forever. Thanks for this!
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Perfectly pink steak !!
Yum
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Russ, this is my favorite type of recipe: complex flavor, quick to prepare. I’ve often found that recipes attempting to achieve this combination fail, resulting in a multitude of flavors that just don’t mesh. I’d love to see lots of these recipes in your cookbook! :-)
By the way, it was so nice to meet you! (tall blonde, hanging with Ute, discussing national security)
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Thanks Jennifer! It was nice meeting you too.
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What is harissa, where do you get it, and what are its ingredients? (I am chemically-sensitive can’t eat canned soups or condiments or some spices). Thank you for replying. This looks really good! Am hunting for GF Worcestershire and GF Vanilla Extract also. Health Food store?
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Harissa is a condiment used in Northern Africa, it’s a little spicy. Here is my recipe: https://thedomesticman.com/2012/12/04/homemade-harissa/
I’m not celiac so I am not as diligent in running down ingredients as I should be, but both my Worcestershire (I actually just have Lea & Perrins) and vanillla extract (Costco/Kirkland signature brand) don’t gluten listed in their ingredients and are relatively clean.
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looks delish!
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Harissa is definitely my favorite taste from my journey’s in Tunisia! Thank you…
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are those pickled turnips- the pink things in the little dish in the upper right corner of the photo with the finished steak? Do you have a recipe for those?
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Hi Susan, here is the recipe (it’s linked at the bottom of this post): https://thedomesticman.com/2012/11/27/kabees-el-lift-pickled-turnips/
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