How to Make a Variation of Tapenade

Tapenade is an olive relish that you can use in a million ways. I like to make a big batch and have it on hand all the time.

Mix it with mayonnaise for a sandwich spread.

Sprinkle on salads.

Add a few tablespoons to any tomato sauce for pasta.

Use in devilled eggs.

Dress pasta or cooked vegetables with tapenade, a little olive oil, and parmesan or feta cheese. Boom! -- dinner.

Step 1 Basic Ingredients

Large jar of salad olives
Two cans of black, ripe olives
Two jars of black kalamata olives
2-3 cloves of garlic
1/4 of a medium onion

This is all you really need, but you can certainly include plenty of other ingredients. Good ones to try are capers, peperoncini, roasted bell peppers, dried tomatoes, or red pepper flakes.

NOTE: I'm informed that capers are NOT optional. If you don't use capers, it will still be fabulous, but it won't really be tapenade.

Comments

[sunshiine]

I have never heard of this dish before but will certainly give it a try! It sounds soo good.

[SMRUDOLPH]

Thanks for looking! You'll love it. Mix with cream cheese and a little milk for a fabulous dip with crackers or raw vegetables.

[sunshiine]

Thanks! I will try!

[hammer9876]

Help! I want to make this for Thanksgiving! How much lemon juice is there in two or three lemons?!?! Teaspoons? A half a cup? 

[SMRUDOLPH]

Maybe a half a cup to three quarters of a cup, depending on how big your lemons are. Put in half a cup, let it sit a little, then taste and add more if you like. Don't fret too much over the amount. If you like olives a LOT, it will be good no matter what else you put in it. I promise!

[hammer9876]

I was making this on Thanksgiving morning with lots of others in the kitchen. No one had ever heard of it. We didn't have lemons, so we used our limes. We tried it out on vegetables, crackers, turkey, pizza - let's just say lots of different things. It is a lot of chopping, but very good. Thank you!

[chipman]

In order to cut down on the power of the acid in onions I put them in a small strainer and run them under the cold water tap to rinse them. This will keep the good onion flavor, cut down on the bite and allow for a longer storage in the refrigerator (assuming people can be kept from snarfing it all).

[rwturner]

I used to make the stuff several gallons at a time for restaurants and groceries... The quality and balance of the olives is very important. When doing it professionally it was roughly a 50/50 mix of black olives (of the California ripe variety) and Kalamata. Basically the briney Kalamata olives were tempered with the generic blacks. At home I would use a blend of Gaeta (which have a nice mellow fruity flavor- that compliments high-quality capers) and Kalamata, or whatever else happened to be good at the time. Olives are easy to pit with a paring knife, two opposable fingers, and a cutting board ( put an "x" in the top of an olive, then "x" side up push the olive down onto the cutting board- sliding out the pit). Salt pack capers are desirable, and usually only marginally pricier than the vinegar brined ones. Make certain to soak the capers "until they're done" (anywhere from 15 minutes to a couple hours). Also, as redundant as it seems, olive oil is a necessity for tapenade for taste and consistency. It was also common practice to blend in a mix of cheap-o parmigiano-reggiano, pecorino-romano, and asiago.... But I think this doesn't add anything to it. Other common, but optional additives: dried oregano, pignoli (pine nuts), anchovies, dried hot chiles. The food processor (robo-coupe) does a fine job at making tapenade. No worries there, though it probably wouldn't do a good job making "chunky style"... Cheers!

[Phoghat]

I've been making this stuff since I was (never mind). Anyway, if you live near a good supermarket, they'll have an real olive section and you can buy them buy the pound. Bottled Spanish olives are OK, but bulk olives are much tastier. Also, try to find an Italian deli that has capers in salt. Buy, rinse and use.

[dav1b]

tried the recipe with a food processor and it took me 10minutes... nice one amigo

[SMRUDOLPH]

There, see? A food processor is better! And as Chooseausername says, it ought to be a paste anyway, which you can manage easily in a food processor.

I find a food processor to be a pain in the neck to clean -- it has so many parts, and tiny crevices to harbor ickyness. Of course if I had a dishwasher, this wouldn't be a problem.

[rdsgirl12]

You're so talented! Cool!

[artecnical]

A cheese grater can be used in place of the zester. By the way, I will be making this tonight! My kids love olives.

[oskay]

I love this stuff.

One detail: Without the capers, it's just olive spread! (Capers are required, not optional.) The name "tapenadetapenade" comes from a word for capers, after all.

I suppose that a good analogy would be a clam chowder recipe where clams are listed as "optional." :)

[SMRUDOLPH]

Dude! You got me there. I should have done a little research before calling this "tapenade" in public! (My friends and family don't care what I call it. They just scarf it up.) Let's change the name, shall we?

[chooseausername]

Let's change the name, shall we?

Maybe : Salad of olives ?

[oskay]

Awesome Olive Dip and Spread?

[Pathologic]

Looks delicious! How long does it keep in the fridge?

[SMRUDOLPH]

A week or two -- but then, it seldom lasts longer than a week around my house. If you won't use it often, make half the recipe.

[chooseausername]

This is a unique version of tapenade ! =o)

Traditionally, tapenade is a thinly crushed paste (a purEe), not a salad !
Here, a lot of people also mix a purEe of anchovy with it ... but I don't like anchovy ...

[GorillazMiko]

Yummy! Almost anything with lemons are good, great job!

[gmjhowe]

I agree! It is impossible to go wrong with lemons! Looks great!

[Tool Using Animal]

Mmmm, olives........