When I first moved to Atlanta I invested in a library card. I lived at the top of Mount Pace, at the bottom was Vinings with a Cobb County library, I would get up on Saturday, enjoy a cup of coffee on my patio then hike down to town and hit the library, pick up a few books then hit the smoothy shop before hiking back up the mountain. I would almost always pick up a cookbook on these weekend excursions which is how I discovered olive tapenade. I checked out a cookbook dedicated to French vegetarian cooking, this lady's idea was that as a vegetarian it wasn't necessary to give up the European flavors that we are used to. I found it to be an excellent cookbook and although I usually substituted her tofu and bean paste with chicken and fish I could see her point.
One of her recipes was tofu cooked in crushed tomatoes and topped with tapenade. Being a Chipleyite, all be it a worldly one, I had never heard of tap-e-nade but I'm an adventuresome soul so I very dutifully followed the recipe to create this odd stuff to top my chicken cooked in crushed tomatoes. With great recipes as with great adventures there are many places to turn back or turn aside and in this strange concoction I was being lead to make, this tap-e-nade I found many such a trial. There were capers, a thing I had been introduced to in South Florida, which I had determined that I could tolerate but only in small amounts. There were anchovies, I had my first anchovy on the Mall in Washington DC, they were on a salad I was having for lunch. I was hungry and feeling mentally fortified with my mornings adventures in several of the Capital's museums, I felt it was time to put aside my knee jerk reaction to the word anchovy and I felt I owed the chef that prepared my meal the benefit of the doubt so I bravely forked an anchovy with the greens of my salad. The anchovy was furry, slimy, salty, and indescribably IKE, needless to say I only had the one and had steered clear of them ever since. Last but not lest there were lots of expensive, good olives being combined with these other things which would surely be better whole and left alone. Tapenade, however, turned out to be a culinary adventure worth having.
Having discovered olive tapenade, I found that in Atlanta I could buy commercially prepared tapenade which I happily added to my diet. Moving back to Chipley I despaired of finding any on the shelves of my Piggly Wiggly or even the "Big Box" store by the interstate. I was surprised, therefore, to discover tapenade in the pickle/olive section of the later. It caught my eye which scanned back over to it and my first reaction was, "What's wrong with it?" I picked up the jar to have a closer look and found that this stuff was a "zucchini/olive" tapenade, I tell you this to warn you. This is not Olive Tapenade it is a mere sad shadow of the real thing.
Below is my recipe for olive tapenade I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Combine all the ingredients in a blender and process until you have a paste. Store in the refrigerator until needed.
If you would like a quick easy recipe to use tapenade with tonight try New Potatoes and Green Beans dressed with tapenade. Snap the green beans into bit size pieces, cut the potatoes into 1/4 inch cubes and steam them together until the potatoes are fork tender about 10 minutes. Dress them with olive tapenade and balsamic vinegar.
One of her recipes was tofu cooked in crushed tomatoes and topped with tapenade. Being a Chipleyite, all be it a worldly one, I had never heard of tap-e-nade but I'm an adventuresome soul so I very dutifully followed the recipe to create this odd stuff to top my chicken cooked in crushed tomatoes. With great recipes as with great adventures there are many places to turn back or turn aside and in this strange concoction I was being lead to make, this tap-e-nade I found many such a trial. There were capers, a thing I had been introduced to in South Florida, which I had determined that I could tolerate but only in small amounts. There were anchovies, I had my first anchovy on the Mall in Washington DC, they were on a salad I was having for lunch. I was hungry and feeling mentally fortified with my mornings adventures in several of the Capital's museums, I felt it was time to put aside my knee jerk reaction to the word anchovy and I felt I owed the chef that prepared my meal the benefit of the doubt so I bravely forked an anchovy with the greens of my salad. The anchovy was furry, slimy, salty, and indescribably IKE, needless to say I only had the one and had steered clear of them ever since. Last but not lest there were lots of expensive, good olives being combined with these other things which would surely be better whole and left alone. Tapenade, however, turned out to be a culinary adventure worth having.
Having discovered olive tapenade, I found that in Atlanta I could buy commercially prepared tapenade which I happily added to my diet. Moving back to Chipley I despaired of finding any on the shelves of my Piggly Wiggly or even the "Big Box" store by the interstate. I was surprised, therefore, to discover tapenade in the pickle/olive section of the later. It caught my eye which scanned back over to it and my first reaction was, "What's wrong with it?" I picked up the jar to have a closer look and found that this stuff was a "zucchini/olive" tapenade, I tell you this to warn you. This is not Olive Tapenade it is a mere sad shadow of the real thing.
Below is my recipe for olive tapenade I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
- 2 anchovy fillets
- 12 oz olives drained (I use green and Kalamata)
- 1 tablespoon capers
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- salt and pepper to taste
Combine all the ingredients in a blender and process until you have a paste. Store in the refrigerator until needed.
If you would like a quick easy recipe to use tapenade with tonight try New Potatoes and Green Beans dressed with tapenade. Snap the green beans into bit size pieces, cut the potatoes into 1/4 inch cubes and steam them together until the potatoes are fork tender about 10 minutes. Dress them with olive tapenade and balsamic vinegar.
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