Tapenade

[Dorman]

I'm going to make a simple olive tapenade for my wife this weekend and am looking for ingredient suggestions and/or complete recipies. I found this one and it looks resonable, but since I have never done one before any input would be welcome.

12 oz. Kalamata olives, pitted
3 oz. capers, rinsed
2 Anchovy fillets, rinsed and dried
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. dijon mustard
5 sprigs fresh Thyme, stemmed and chopped fine
3 tbl. chopped Parsley
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
juice of one lemon
1 tsp. red wine vinegar
1/2 cup plus extra virgin olive oil (add more to get proper consistency)

combine in food processor.

Thoughts? Omissions or additions? I love tapenade, but have only eaten and not been privy to the recipes that I have had.

[Too Tall]

It's pretty easy to freelance. I'd handprocess, I like weird diff. sized chunks so that the bits are semi-identifiable. If you use garlic turn it into grease on a cutting board...even minced it will be overpowering...but that's just me.
Maybe skip the mustard.

You can't miss.

What cracker or bread do you have in mind?

[Dorman]

I've got too much going on to make bread, so I figured I would just pick up whatever italian style loaf I can find at the store that looks good, slice, hit with evoo and broil to toast.

[Dorman]

Maybe I should just rub garlic on the bread and skip it in the tapenade?

[Too Tall]

Maybe I should just rub garlic on the bread and skip it in the tapenade?

Good call.

[RIHans]

The foodprocessor will chip up the tampinade stuff OK, go slow, add olive oil,
needs to be kind of loose, like a salsa.

Carry on in the new year v-salon cooks , I love it, so should you.

[Dorman]

Thanks gents. I will proceed as recommended and will let you know how it turns out.

And certainly have a happy holiday season all.

[Too Tall]

This is all because of RIHans. Awesome baby.
Hey I don't want to make you feel bad....but...*Robin S. is coming to my NYE party and I asked her to bring the cheese. All I'm sayin' is my NYE cheese will be amazing. I'm starving myself starting NOW!
*Robin organizes the DC Farmers Markets.

[Dorman]

Well, here you go. This is the finished product and it went over really well. I ended up sticking to the original recipe with the only difference being I substituted anchovie paste for actual filets. I used the minimum amount of olive oil and in hindsight I think more oil would be good and a little less processing to get the aforementioned chunkier texture. The garlic was imperceptible, but the dijon made for an interesting finish and I think we decided to omit it for the next time.

[deano]

This is getting made in our house soon. Last we were in France we paid an outrageous sum for some tapinade that was a red pepper/ sundried tomato base and we'd like to gve one like that a go, too.

[rydesteel]

This isn't exactly a tapenade but it is darn tasty. I made mine in a 400* oven instead of grilled but I think the smoke would lend a nice touch.

Grilled olives and garlic from Bon Apetit, one of the good months where it had more recipes than ads.;>)