Bread, oil and harissa

Reading on my friend's blog http://ablogeclectic.blogspot.com/ about the highly refined pleasure of crackers and sardines reminded me of similar tasty experiences with my father, peace to his dear soul. One of our shared pleasures was to have a Tunisian trash snack consisting of bread, olive oil, tomato paste and harissa, which is a Tunisian hot pepper paste. So the refinement is to put out a small plate, put in it some tomato paste, harissa, and olive oil, and to scrape it with the bread. The best bread for this was what Tunisians call Italian bread, a big, thick bread, very dense, with a cracky crust. Of course you have to get high quality olive oil for the experience to be complete. My dad would often get up at night to have a snack, and whenever I'd hear him I'd sneak in the kitchen to share this deli. Of course Mum thought this perfectly disgusting, which made us giggle, so it was our thing. Like two kids plotting, we'd prepare the gourmet snack, me still half asleep, and we wouldn't leave the kitchen till the plate was all scraped from its content. The middle of the night is a perfect time if you want to tempt the experience.