Tapenade

Last weekend, friends of mine invited us to an awesome Scotch tasting. They had recently visited Islay and brought back some for us to try as well! Each Scotch was paired with a bite of food to bring out some of the flavors, including oysters, lamb kofta, pheasant sausage and so much more.

I naturally didn’t want to come empty handed so I brought this simple olive tapenade along with me.

Tapenade is a pureed mixture of olives, anchovies, capers and olive oil. Salty foods always pair nicely with spirits, so this recipe was an easy choice to bring to the party.

Ingredients:

• 1 (9 oz) jar pitted kalamata olives, drained
• 1 (9 oz) jar pitted green olives, drained
• 3 anchovy fillets, patted dry
• 2  garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tablespoons capers
• 3 fresh basil leaves
• the juice and zest of 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• crusty bread or raw vegetables

Thoroughly rinse your olives to remove some brine.

Add all ingredients to a food processor. (Note: my food processor is currently in storage so I used my immersion blender.)

Process/blend to combine, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl until the mixture is a coarse paste.

Transfer to a bowl and serve with crusty bread.

This super salty and satisfying tapenade is a great party appetizer.

The tapenade can also be used as a spread on a sandwich, mixed into pasta, or added to a salad dressing. It’s quite versatile! What other ways have you used tapenade?

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