Homemade Olive Tapenade

Some of you who follow me on Instagram know about the “toast Wednesday.” I post pictures, and a short description of the toasts that I make for breakfast, and they are quite easy to prepare at home.

Due to the great demand for recipes, I sometimes decided to post them on the blog with a detailed description.

Today we are preparing a classic olive tapenade – the traditional French spread, which came to us from the Provence region. Most often consists of ground dark olives, olive oil, and capers. Our variation today also contains basil and anchovies.

Pro Tip:

The tapenade can be made 3 days ahead. Store in a glass container in a fridge.

Serving size:

8 servings

Ingredients:

• 100 grams of Kalamata olives

• 2 cups basil

• 4 anchovy fillets

• 2 tsp. capers

• 2 cloves of garlic

• juice of 1 lemon

• 4 tablespoons olive oil

Nutrition Per Serving:

• 102 Calories

• 9.8 g Fat

• 2.7 g Carbs

• 0.2 g Fiber

• 0.2 g Sugar

• 0.5 g Protein

How to make:

There are two possible ways to make tapenade: in a blender and a mortar and pestle. My version is made in a mortar and pestle since the blender sometimes is not able to interpret the texture, which I tried to achieve. Also, there is a possibility that a blender will turn tapenade into a liquid puree which you don’t want.

Add garlic and basil to the mortar and pestle and mash it well until there are no large leaves left from the basil.

Strain the liquid from the olives and add them to the basil with garlic and again mash 3-4 minutes. To save time, try to get pitted olives.

When the desired texture is reached, add the anchovies, capers and mash again. Add the olive oil, stir well and transfer to a separate container.

Tapenade can be done in advance. You can keep it in the refrigerator for about 6-7 days.

You can serve tapenade with fried ciabatta, on toast, with steak or even with white fish.