My Easy, Five Minute Black Olive Tapenade
Black Olive Tapenade is a spread that bursts with flavour and originates from the Provence region of France. Using simple ingredients, olives, capers, anchovies and olive oil you can create a spread is right up there in the flavour steaks. The anchovies provide an umami / briny hit to the taste, but not all Tapenade recipes use them (see below).
Tapenade is great to have in the fridge as it is very versatile, great for bruschetta, small canapés and a great addition to some soups like courgette and parmesan. It is superb with fish and also very good with chicken, lamb and beef. Try rubbing some tapenade under the skin of a chicken before roasting or finishing a fried egg with a dollop of tapenade. You’ll never look back and all it take is five minutes.
You will need.
- Small food processor
- Chopping board and knife
- Spatula
- Scales
- Measuring spoons
Black Olive Tapenade.
Makes 280g (1 ¼ US cups).
- 6 anchovy filets in oil
- 200g pitted black olives
- 2tbsp (heaped) capers in brine
- 1 large garlic clove
- 1tbsp lemon juice
- 2tbsp chopped flat parsley
- 60ml good quality unfiltered olive oil
Black Olive Tapenade – preparation.
Drain the olives and check them over in case any fragments of stones are still inside them. It only takes one to ruin the blades of your processor.
Peel the garlic, split it in half and remove any green shoot that you see. Roughly chop the garlic flesh and put to one side.
Pick the leaves from the parsley and roughly chop the leaves. You will need 2 tbsp for the mix.
Black Olive Tapenade – Processing.
Add the olives to the processor, then add the rest of the ingredients apart from the olive oil. Process the contents to a paste. I prefer to leave a little texture in the Tapenade, but there is nothing wrong in making it smother if you wish.
When the mix is ready begin to add the olive oil using the processer in short bursts. I sometimes add a little of the oil the anchovies were stored in if you want more flavour have a taste adding a tough of salt if needed.
Should the Tapenade taste too oily add just a dash more lemon juice to cut though the oil.
Black Olive Tapenade – Storage.
Black Olive Tapenade can be made a week in advance and even freezes very well.
If you require to store in the fridge, place in a clean glass jar with a tight-fitting lid, fill nearly to the top and pour some olive oil over, this will protect it from the air.
F.A.Qs.
I hate anchovies! Can you make Tapenade without them?
Yes, as I said above not all recipes use them, however they do add a lot of depth to the mix. Try adding some sun-dried tomatoes instead to ger a salty hit. A little miso paste is also particularly good for adding an umami background and bringing out all the other flavours.
Enjoy Life.
John.
Hi, my name is John Webber, award winning chef and tutor, now retired to the west coast of Scotland. Welcome to our blog focusing on food, cooking, and countryside. My aim is to pass on my years of skills and knowledge together with an appreciation of the countryside.
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