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Dairy
Easy
30 m
Diets 
Along with Yemenite schug, harissa ties for first as the hot sauce of our home. It has notes of paprika, hot peppers, and garlic in every spoonful without a lot of vinegary bite, making it a balanced, flavor-packed pantry staple. Here, I combine it with butter and even more garlic to make a compound butter that tops the fish with richness and heat. The accompanying salad, with its fresh market produce and za’atar dressing, would be just as good as a side dish or light lunch on its own.
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon Ta’amti Harissa
1 large clove garlic, finely minced or 1 cube Gefen Frozen Garlic
1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground Tuscanini Black Pepper, divided
4–5 skinless whitefish fillets (5–6 ounces each), such as sea bass or snapper
2 large ears corn, husked (see note)
12 ounces (about 2 and 1/2 cups) cherry tomatoes, quartered
2 tablespoons za’atar spice blend
3 tablespoons finely chopped chives
2 tablespoons finely chopped jalapeño
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 tablespoons Gefen Olive Oil
1 large firm-ripe avocado, finely diced
1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled Ta’amti Feta cheese
Arrange a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a shallow bowl, combine the butter, harissa, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Mash with a fork until smooth.
Arrange the fish in a 10-inch round or square baking dish and pat dry. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Spread each fillet with one tablespoon of the harissa butter, adding any extra butter to the baking dish.
Roast, basting once midway through with the melted harissa butter, until the fish is opaque and the butter is bubbly, about 12–13 minutes. Remove from the oven, baste again with the melted butter, and season with additional salt.
While the fish is roasting, cut the corn kernels off the cobs into a medium bowl (you should have about two generous cups). Add the tomatoes, za’atar, chives, jalapeño, lemon juice, olive oil, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Toss gently to combine.
Fold in the avocado and feta just before serving.
Serve the salad alongside the fish.
Excerpted from Zariz: 100 Easy, Breezy, Tel Aviv-y Recipes by Adeena Sussman with permission of Avery, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright ©️ Adeena Sussman, 2026
Photography by Dan Perez
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