Traditionally tapenade recipes are made from a mixture of capers, anchovies, lemon juice and olive oil. The name tapenade derives from the word tepena which is the French (Provencal) word for capers. It is strange but now a days we just assume that the traditional recipe includes olives, this is often the case with recipes once they are made by cooks that do not have a grounding in the cuisine of a particular region.
Tapenade is delicious as a sauce with cold meats, boiled eggs and fish. Olive tapenade can also be used as a stuffing in meat dishes, this works particularly well with roast lamb.
Below I have listed a couple of recipes first of all a tapenade made from black olives and then the traditional recipe using capers, try out both they are equally delicious.
There are a whole host of recipes for making olive tapenades but the basic recipe is pretty simple. This is a recipe for those of us who love black olives.
Tapenade Recipe
Ingredients
500g black pitted olives
4 anchovy fillets (in olive oil from a can)
2 garlic cloves chopped
2 ½ tablespoons pickled capers
Juice from ½ lemon
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Black pepper
Method
Rinse but the olives and capers.
Place all the ingredients into a food processor.
Process until a coarse paste is formed.
How to Make Tapenade with Capers – the Traditional Provencal way – Inspired by Elizabeth David “A Book of Mediterranean Food”
Ingredients
Juice of one lemon.
3 tablespoons of pickled capers (not caper berries which are larger) rinsed.
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
8 anchovy fillets in olive oil from a can
Freshly milled black pepper a few twists of the pepper mill.
Method
Place all the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.
Alternatively, this recipe can be made using a mortar and pestle.
Place the capers and anchovy fillets in the mortar.
Pound until smooth then add the olive oil slowly mixing as you go, then add the lemon and pepper.
Tapenade Recipes from around the web.
Olive Tapenade Recipe Martha Stewart
Ditch the toast to make this recipe paleo/primal.
Ignore the bread and eat this with cold meat and salad.
