Be there in five - olive tapenade
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 11:07PM 
If you have ever bought this in a jar from the supermarket, then please pause for a moment before doing so next time and reconsider. It really does only take 5 minutes to make it yourself (well, 10 if you are pitting the olives) and the result is oh, so much better!
I usually make a batch of it and keep it in the fridge for sandwiches or bruschetta-style toasts, e.g. with roast tomato or Portobello mushrooms. It is great with soft white cheeses, such as goats cheese, feta or cream cheese. It also works quite well with lamb dishes, so long as you don’t use too much; it has a very strong flavour, so can overpower a dish if too much is added.
I buy my kalamata olives from my local Turkish greengrocer. The ones I get there are fantastically full flavoured and juicy. The latter is important because it leads to a smoother tapenade and means you do not need to add so much oil. The downside is I have to pit them myself, but it is worth the hassle (and purple fingernails) for the superior flavour.
Having said that, I have made this tapenade with pitted kalamatas from Sainsbury’s and it worked perfectly well; it wasn’t quite as tasty, but it was still better than anything you could buy in a jar. If you are using olives of a lesser quality, taste the tapenade once you have added all the ingredients here and if you think it is a little bland, I would suggest adding a few more capers or possibly an extra anchovy. Be cautious of adding another anchovy though, as you don’t want it to taste ‘fishy’.
Ingredients
*Not extra virgin, as it will give the tapenade a bitter aftertaste
Method
Pit the olives. To do so by hand, i.e. if you don't have a pitter, press the olive between your thumb and forefinger until you can feel the top and bottom of the pip press into them. Some kalamata olives come with a little slit cut down one side, if not make your own slit with a knife. You should now be able to slide the pip out reasonably easily. They may not look very neat when you are done, but it doesn't matter since they are going to be blended up anyway.
Put the pitted olives in a food processor with the capers, anchovy, parsley and half the olive oil. Blend for a 30 seconds, then while it is still on, drizzle the rest of the olive oil into the blender until you have a smooth consistency. You can add less or more than 50ml oil depending on your desired consistency. The consistency will also be dependent on how soft and juicy the olives are. If you are unsure, go with the 50ml olive oil.
Check for seasoning; it shouldn’t need any salt, but if it is a little bland this is the point at which you might want to add a few more capers or perhaps an extra anchovy. Add some freshly ground black pepper too, if you fancy it.
Simples.
Reader Comments (4)
I use pretty much the same recipe but add a sqeeze(or ten) of lemon juice...
dont just write off this comment because i put lemon on everything...it really does taste good i promise!!
It is official, you really do add lemon to EVERYTHING! Perhaps you could try really spicing things up and add BBQ sauce too?!
I made this very successfully for a pre lunch appetiser, after which we had proscuitto stuffed with figs and blue cheese as a starter - fantasic combination . I saw a recipe that suggested breifly warming the proscuitto rolls under the grill , so that the meat gets slightly crspy and the cheese more gooey.Maybe try that next time.
Glad you enjoyed it. It really is so simple, isn't it?
That starter sounds delicious. I think the warm idea sounds lovely, especially if the figs are shop bought and not perfectly ripe. The figs we had at Pam and Joe's house in the Provence were just so divine that you wouldn't want to tamper with them, but it is unusual for shop bought ones (as opposed to 'estate grown') to be that fresh, so cooking can help to soften them. Crispy prosciutto sounds good too, although it is pretty damned good as it is, so I bet your cold starter was delish!