Sunday, December 14, 2008

Tapenade with Sun Dried Tomato

I’m a fan tapenade. And with the holidays upon us it is a great, easy to make appetizer spread. Everything goes in the food processor. No baking. Little fuse. But, not everyone likes olives and tapenade. My tapenade with sun dried tomato might just win them over. The sun dried tomato gives it a little bit of sweetness and cuts down on some of the briny olive taste. The sun dried tomato makes it a little extra special and the small flicks of red give it a little holiday festive flare.


Ingredients
1 pound Kalamata or other good black olive - pitted
3 tablespoons Capers - drained
2 cloves Garlic - minced
8.5 ounces Sun Dried Tomatoes in Olive Oil and Herbs, Julienne Cut - oil reserved
good Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
2 tablespoons Lemon Juice – freshly squeezed
2 teaspoons Dijon Mustard
2 teaspoons fresh Thyme - chopped
2 tablespoons fresh Parsley - chopped
Crackers or toasted sliced Baguette

Combine olives, capers, and garlic in a food processor fitted with the steel blade and pulse a few times till very roughly chopped. Add enough olive oil to the oil reserved from the sun dried tomatoes to make ½ cup. Roughly chop the sun dried tomatoes. Add the sun dried tomatoes, ½ cup oil, lemon juice, mustard, thyme and parsley and process until combined but still chunky. You still want to be able to see bits of the sun dried tomato.

Serve with crackers or toasted baguette. Makes a large potion enough for a good sized party.


I buy pitted olives and then cut each one in half. I find on average one pit per pound of olives. This recipe can easily be halved. Divide all the ingredients in half, just watch the amount of oil you add to get the consistence you want. To make a traditional tapenade: delete the sun dried tomatoes, use only olive oil, and add 10 anchovy fillets. Also, see the crostini blog post that goes excellently with this tapenade.

3 comments:

Chris Freeland said...

So glad you posted this recipe - it is faaaabulous!!

Nemanick said...

I made it last night. It was fabulous

Anonymous said...

I'm having a hard time getting past Grandma Ellens fudge ... Now I'm craving dessert big time! But in response to your tapenade post, we're having a party food recipe contest and would love to have you check it out (and enter!). I've linked to it through my name.