World Food and Wine
what people eat and drink worldwide

Tapenade

Tapenade is a sauce, dip, or savory spread, from the Provençe, in France. Black olives, capers, and olive oil are the basic ingredients, and then each one adds their preferred condiments from anchovies, brandy, garlic, and herbs.

Ingredients

1 pk olives (pitted, 8 oz package, Niçoise olives)
1⁄2 c olive oil
2 T anchovy (chopped, about 6 anchovy fillets)
1 T brandy (or brandy, optional)
1 clv garlic (finely chopped, optional)

Instructions

  1. Chop the olives and capers and mix with the anchovy fillets, chopped, and the garlic, if using.
  2. Add the olive oil and Cognac or brandy, if using, and mix to a paste.
  3. Check seasoning, and serve.
Total time
10 minutes
Cooking time
0
Preparation time
10
Yield
1 cup

Notes

In our testing kitchen both the garlic and the brandy versions of tapenade were much liked, and preferred to the version that had both ingredients. Our recommendation: Choose your favorite between garlic and brandy and omit the other

Tapenade is delicious on toast or sliced bread. It is also good with fish or cheese, especially goats cheese.

The tapenade will keep in the refrigerator, in a sealed jar, for over 3 months.

Variations

Experiment seasoning with Provençal herbs such as thyme or rosemary.

Prepare a green tapenade with green pitted olives, or a tomato tapenade, substituting olives with sunblush tomatoes.

 

Source

French cuisine

The name tapenade comes from the word tapeno, the word used to name capers in that region of France, although capers are not the main ingredient in the modern version of this sauce.

easy, meat free
sauces, condiments, dips
French food recipes
Food in Europe