Small Bowl of Tapenade

Tapenade


France,Provence   -   Tapenade
Makes:
Effort:
Sched:
DoAhead:  		 1-1/3 cup
**
25 min
Yes		 This black olive and caper spread is very popular in Provence (the name comes from Tapeno, caper in Provençal). Tapenade is also used as an ingredient in stuffed eggs and other recipes.

1-2/3
1/2
2
6
1/2
1/4
4
#
c
cl

t
t
T
Olives, black (1)
Capers
Garlic
Anchovy fillet (2)  
Herbs (3)
Peppercorns
Olive Oil, ExtV
Make:   -   (25 min)
  1. Pit OLIVES. Forget olive pitters, they're worthless. Place olives on your cutting board and whack them with the side of your prep knife hard enough to split them. The pits will remove easily.
  2. Rinse and drain Capers.
  3. Grind HERBS and Pepper to powder in your spice grinder.
  4. Put everything in a mini-prep food processor and process as fine as you can get it.
NOTES:

  1. Olives:

      These must be Mediterranean salt/oil cured olives - not those horrible canned black salad olives. Very fine olives of this sort are made in Turkey, Greece and Italy. For details see our Olive Page.

  2. Anchovies:

      In Provence whole salted anchovies would be used, rinsed and filleted, but those are very difficult to find in North America. Instead we use Italian oil packed anchovies - avoid Moroccan canned anchovies if possible. For details see our European Anchovy page.

  3. Herbs:

      The shortcut here is to use Herbs de Provence but just dried thyme, marjoram and a few fennel seeds will do.
  4. U.S. measure: t=teaspoon, T=Tablespoon, c=cup, qt=quart, oz=ounce, #=pound, cl=clove in=inch, ar=as required tt=to taste
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