· Sandwich Tunisienne

· Lablabi

· Ojja

· Couscous with Octopus

· Olives with Olive Oil and Harissa

Sandwich Tunisienne
This has to be at the top of this list, since a) it's eaten and enjoyed all over Tunisia and b) we're a Deli where sandwiches are just about a way of life. It's also easy to make at home. You can vary the ingredients a bit to fit your own desires. The keys are the harissa, the tuna and the addition of other good vegetables. Start with a good sized bit of the hand-rolled French baguette, cut in half, or a Paesano roll. Brush with some of the Mahjoub's extra virgin olive oil, then a generous spread of the harissa. Lay on some tuna (the Ortiz tuna from Spain is my pick), then toss on chopped up preserved lemon, capers, chopped onion, olives, pickled vegetables, roasted red peppers... press it all together and eat. It's a great combination, equally good I think when it's freshly made, but also a few hours out from the kitchen when the oil's nicely soaked into the bread and the flavors have set up really well. Great for picnics, lunches, dinners, or in small mini-versions for parties. You could even turn it into a two foot sub to celebrate Big Ten football this fall!

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Lablabi
Lablabi is really THE dish of Tunisia. Chickpeas and the steaming hot broth they're cooked in, ladled over broken up bits of bread, then topped with lots of harissa, chopped pickled lemon, capers, olive oil, and cumin. There are of course a few thousand versions (a coddled egg is common addition) but the key is that it's served from stands that literally are all over Tunisia. Lablabi is street food at its finest. It's filling, it's healthy, it's delicious. In Tunisia you can spot the lablabi stands from the stacks of brown earthenware bowls stacked up on the counters out front. Delicious and definitely something we'll be serving at the Taste of Tunisia dinner on Tuesday June 2.

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Ojja
I first heard about ojja in an email dialogue between Majid and William Marshall at the Deli about their shared passion for eating eggs with harissa. In an Italian context ojja is basically a Tunisian version of the dish "eggs in purgatory" (which I also like a lot!). The Tunisian take on it starts out with a tomato sauce. You start with a good bit of olive oil. Add the tomato puree and cook for a few minutes. Then add some of the sun-dried garlic from the Mahjoubs. (You can certainly use fresh garlic too, but if you haven't had their sun dried stuff, it's pretty remarkable). Then add a good bit of the harissa. Onsa puts in both the traditional sun dried harissa and some of more widely used, moister harissa. Then add a bit of ground caraway and some ground cumin. Simmer for ten minutes or so. While the sauce is simmering, beat some eggs together, figuring 1-2 per person. Reduce the heat to a low simmer. Slowly stir the beaten eggs into the tomato sauce. Cover the pan and let cook slowly, stirring once or twice but very gently, 'til the eggs are lightly cooked. You should end up with noticeable "rivers" of egg that wend their way visibly throughout the sauce. Turn off the heat and let stand for a few minutes. Serve the ojja warm with bread, or refrigerate and eat it cold the next day. It's great either way.

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Couscous with Octopus
I can safely say that I've eaten more octopus in the last month than in the previous two years put together. It's really not a very hard dish to do. It's basically baby fava beans, chickpeas, and sliced up octopus, in a light tomato sauce with couscous cooked in at the end. You basically start by making a light tomato broth — a liter or so of water, a half-cup of tomato puree, a few tablespoons of tomato paste, a few spoonfuls of the Mahjoub harissa, and a good bit of extra virgin olive oil. Bring to a boil, add the cooked chickpeas and the octopus, bring back to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about an hour. Add the cooked baby fava beans and a little bit of ground caraway. Stir, bring back to a boil, and then add some of the Mahjoub's amazing couscous. The texture you're looking for in the finished dish is that of thick stew so a handful of the couscous (about a half cup) will probably be fine. Stir well, turn off the heat, cover and let rest 7 or so minutes. The couscous will cook in the broth.

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Olives with Olive Oil and Harissa and Tuna with Olive Oil and Harissa
I remember these two well for their simplicity, for their striking visual appeal and for the fact that they're a simple route to a tasty meal. Neither of these is really even a recipe — they're just a little something you make when you're putting out plates of appetizers or some snacks for sitting in the sun some spring day. Tunisian tapas, I guess you could call them.

Make a small mound of harissa in the middle of a plate or pasta bowl. Spoon some olives or good tuna on top of the harissa and then pour a good bit of good extra virgin olive oil on and around the whole thing. You should end up with a deep red colored harissa island, topped with the black olives or tan-colored tuna sitting in a little "lake" of green-gold oil.

I'd use the really great black Sahli olives we're getting from the Mahjoubs. They're grown on the Mahjoub farm, hand-picked, then cured in a natural salt brine for an entire year! The barrels sit outdoors for the whole year, following all the old methods. The change in temperature as the seasons pass is a big part of the natural curing process. If I was going with the tuna, I'd opt for the Spanish yellowfin tuna we get from the Ortiz family. In either case, take some warm bread — the Bakehouse's Paesano or Sicilian Sesame Semolina would be my choices — and drag it through the whole thing; using a fork to spear some tuna or an olive or two and eat. If you like spicy foods, if you like a taste of the sun, this is a great way to go.

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