Kiwi Strawberry Sorbet

Serves 1
1 kiwi
2-3 strawberries
1 Tablespoon of age balsamic vinegar
Freshly coarsely ground black pepper

Cut up kiwi and strawberries and freeze.
Process frozen kiwi and strawberries in a food processor until smooth. 
Scoop out into a bowl or cup. Drizzle balsamic vinegar and sprinkle with pepper.

Depending on the tartness and sweetness of your fruit, you may want to add more sweetener. I find the aged balsamic vinegar to make the dessert sweet enough.

Harissa Tapenade

Adapted from various harissa recipes
4 ounces of dried chiles, seeded (can leave some seeds if you like more heat) and stemmed
4 Tablespoons cumin seeds
5 Tablespoons coriander seeds
5 cloves of garlic, smashed and roughly chopped
1 15 ounce can of olives (I used green olives.  I'm not sure how this would taste with black olives), drained

If you're concerned about sodium,  soak olives in water overnight and drain.  Pit olives if they are not already pitted.

Place the dried chiles in a bowl and pour enough boiling water over them to completely submerge them. Allow the chiles to soften (about 20 minutes). Drain, reserving some of the liquid.

Toast the cumin and coriander seeds on a dry pan over medium low heat until fragrant. Grind using a spice grinder or mortar and pestle.

Place drained/pitted the olives, drained chiles, garlic, and ground spices into a food processor.  Process to desired consistency.  Add the reserved liquid if you desire a thinner consistency.

This is a general template for harissa.  Other harissa recipes call for roasted bell peppers, mint, onions, and other spices (like caraway seeds).  As part of my restrictive diet poker, I eliminated the olive oil and added salt by replacing it with whole olives.    While olives are soaked in brine, I attempted to mitigate the sodium level by soaking them in water before hand.

Chocolate Sorbet

Adapted from David Lebowitz's Chocolate Sorbet as posted on  Food52
Makes 1/2 quart (I'm guessing because I consumed so much prior to freezing that I cannot estimate the actual yield)
1/2 cup of dried fruit (prunes, dates and/or raisins)
1/2 cup of liquid to soak dried fruit (coffee, water, orange juice, armagnac)
~1 cup of water
1/2 cup minus 2 T unsweetened cocoa powder (I used natural)
3 ounces chopped unsweetened chocolate

Macerate/soak the dried fruit for about 12 hours.  The dried fruit should soak up the liquids and become soft (you can skip this step if your dried fruit is already soft).  Place dried fruit and about 1/4 cup of water in a pot along with unsweetened cocoa powder.  Heat until it starts to bubble, whisking frequently.
Remove from heat and add chopped unsweetened chocolate and mix until the chocolate melts.  Add the rest of the water, a few tablespoons at a time along with the vanilla. You'll want a nice creamy mixture.
Pour mixture into a blender and blend until smooth.  Let cool before transferring to the freezer (I didn't have an ice cream maker so I froze it in a container and mixed it every so often to prevent ice crystals).
Note: This is not a very sweet chocolate sorbet (I'd call it ice cream-- it's really creamy and smooth).  Use prunes for a more pronounced chocolate flavour with very little sweetness. Use dates for a sweeter ice cream. Use raisins for a sweet and tart ice cream-- you can even add spices like cinnamon and cayenne pepper for a Mexican chocolate ice cream.  Increase the amount of dried fruit for a more pronounced sweetness (you can probably add up to 1 cup of dried fruit-- just add water to smooth out the texture).