Anyone have a good recipe for tapenade?

Kalamata olives, pitted.....................2cups
Black olives, pitted...........................2 cups
parsley, Flat leaf Italian, chopped.......1/2 cup
anchovies......................................10 each
garlic cloves...................................4 each
capers, drained well.........................2 tbsp
lemon juice, fresh only......................2tbsp
olive oil, extra virgin.........................6 oz (vol.)
1. Combine all ingredients in food processor and mix until smooth and pasty.
2. Store in clear plastic 1/9 pan insert. RDIL and refrigerate.

Used this one in a couple different kitchens I ran with good success.

Vinegar? What I make as a tapenade is usually something like 3 parts olives, 1 part anchovies and 1 part garlic. The olives can be whatever sort of mix you have on hand, like kalamata, generic green from a jar (pimento included) as long as they are pitted one way or another. A couple of local mega markets have a passable selection in their olive bar.

Mince it all up, by hand is fine if it is a small batch. If using black olives I often thorw in a bit of roasted red bell pepper and some finely diced chives to add extra color.

mjb.

You beat me to it, Teamfat. I can't imagine adding vinegar to a tapenade.

I have one difference between what you advise. I don't mix olive colors. I either make a black tapenade or a green one. I'm more likely to add additional herbs to the green. Sometimes, but not always, I'll add a squeeze of lemon juice.

Mostly I do black---a cup of Kalamata, pitted; a few anchovy filets; and a couple of garlic cloves in the food processor. Pulse until chopped. Then add olive oil to reach the consistency you want.

For mixed olives I'm more likely to do something like a Lebanese style olive salad than a tapenade.

No problem Abe!

If you can't imagine it maybe gve it a try!

For the record, I actually do use some good Balsamic in it from time to time depending on what the Tapenade is used for. Adds a very nice dimension of flavor especially when using it as an ingredient on a Roasted egglant, portobello and red pepper sand.

Focaccia bread, toasted...............1 each
Goat cheese spread.....................1 Tbsp.
Tapenade...................................1 Tbsp.
Field greens................................1/4 cup
Roasted vegetable set..................1 each
Fresh house chips or Terra chips.....2 oz. Wt.

The Balsamic also works well when using tapenade as a topping for grilled or seared salmon. JMHPO

i add thyme, and have a cooking friend who adds brandy......

Chopped Rosemary and Thyme added to it works for a Grilled Portobello "Pizza" with Tapenade, julienne of roasted tomatoes and Montrechet I once had on a menu.

Glad the recipe worked out for you. I got to thinking that I had hoped I posted the recipe from my files and not the one that I would give the property just after opening. Always a slight difference just in case the owners or upper managment decided to...umm, err, uhh......... promote my Sous to replace me. :p

I'm pretty ad hoc about what goes into a tapenade. Depends on which olives predominate, and which fresh herbs are hanging around the sink. One consistent addition, which so far has surprisingly gone unmentioned in this thread is capers.

If there's one tapenade that's prototypical, to my mind it's provencal. That "tapenade" is a French word may have something to do with it.

Anyway:



4 - 6 cloves garlic (to your taste)
2 cups nicoise olives, pitted
1 tin fillets of anchoives drained (or 10 - 12 dried fillets, refreshed in olive oil)
1/4 cup plus 1 tbs capers (drained if pickled, rinsed if salt packed)
1/2 can oil-packed tuna (you're going to have 1 happy cat)
1 healthy shot marc or brandy
2 - 4 tbs fresh lemon juice (to taste)
1-1/2 tbs (about) dijon mustard
1 tbs fresh thyme (or 1 tsp dried, or 1 tsp dry herbes de provence of a good brand)
1 - 2 tsp fresh coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 - 3/4 cup olive oil.

Technique:
Put 4 cloves of galric in your food processor's bowl, and give the processor a pulse. Add the remaining ingredeints up to the olive oil, using only 2 tbs of lemon juice and 1 tsp pepper. Pulse until the olives are broken up. Taste and adjust for garlic, lemon and pepper (be conservative with the oil and pepper, you'll have another chance).

Run the food processor and add the olive oil in a steady stream until your desired consistency is reached. Don't over-process. You want some texture, not an olive smoothy. Taste again and adjust for oil and pepper.

Keeps for awhile.

Notes:
1. Tuna may be omitted.
2. Add anywhere from 1/2 a cup to 2 whole cups of fresh basil and use as a condiment for grilled meats and fish.
3. The odds of having a bottle of marc lying around the house are infinitesimal. Don't feel like you have to go out and buy one. Cheap brandy works better here than cooking cognac, but again ... if you don't already have a bottle lying around don't bother. Go with anything kind of raw -- agardiente works fine, so do white rum, white tequila and vodka.

I think tapenade goes extremely well with Mediterranean type aperitifs. Campari and soda, Lilet and soda, Raki (or Pernod or Ouzo or Araki) and chilled water, a chilled dry (like a fino) sherry, etc.

Bon appetit,
BDL

PS. The usual PS about sharing. If you like this recipe enough to share it (online or in any other form of publication not for profit), you have my permission as long you credit me, Boar D. Laze. It would make me happy indeed if you remembered to also mention my eventually forthcoming book, COOK FOOD GOOD: American Cooking and Technique for Beginners and Intermediates.

Actually..........The Portobello's were basted with Balsamic before, during and after being grilled, before the other ingredients were added to the gill side of the shroom. And yes........:rolleyes: the gills were removed before cooking.;):D