Real Food Tapenade {Healthy Olive Spread for Bread, Crackers, & Pasta}

Real Food Tapenade {a healthy olive spread for bread, crackers, & pasta!}

 

Hailing from the south of France (Provençe, to be precise), tapenade is a delightful olive paste made with olives, capers, and olive oil.

You’ll often find tapenade (pronounced top-in-odd) served as an appetizer at parties, but it deserves a place in your everyday kitchen as well.

Bursting with flavor, tapenade is delicious served over crostini, focaccia, or crackers. Or, why not think outside the box and toss a little in a batch of spaghetti or spread a spoonful on your next serving of avocado toast?

Thin tapenade with extra olive oil to make a dipping sauce, much like this one (only with lots of olives!).

About The Ingredients In Real Food Tapenade

Olives

Olives are the base of tapenade. Use all black, all green, or a mix of your favorite olives. The higher the quality, the better your tapenade will taste.

Capers

Tapenade actually comes from the Provençal word for capers, so capers are an important part of this dish. The sharp, salty taste of capers lends a lot of flavor to tapenade. Our recipe uses only 1-1/2 tablespoons of capers, but feel free to include more (or fewer) according to your taste.

Sundried Tomatoes

Add extra zing and visual interest to tapenade. Omit if desired.

Garlic

Tapenade would not be tapenade without garlic. And, the 2 cloves used in our recipe is fairly conservative, so increase the amount if you love the flavor of garlic.

(This is a tasty way to get some of the health benefits of raw garlic into your life!)

Anchovy Paste

Anchovy paste is convenient, but feel free to mash one anchovy filet in its place. Anchovies may seem weird, but they truly do add a depth of flavor that’s hard to replace. Use soy sauce, miso paste, or double the capers to make this a vegan dish.

Organic, Extra Virgin Olive Oil

The quality of olive oil used in tapenade is of extreme importance, not just for its health implications, but also for taste.

The olive oil industry is so corrupt that it’s difficult to know if bottles labeled “olive oil” contain any olive oil at all. Be sure to buy from a reputable source.

The rich, deep flavor of Wildly Organic’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil is perfect for tapenade and is produced in an ethically transparent manner.

Wondering if your olive oil is fake? Click here to find out.

The following recipe makes a delicious olive tapenade, but don’t feel confined by the suggested amounts, play with the ratios of olive, garlic, capers, and sundried tomatoes to make it your own.

Have you ever had or made tapenade?

Real Food Tapenade
Hailing from the south of France (Provençe, to be precise), tapenade is a delightful olive paste made with olives, capers, and olive oil. Bursting with flavor, tapenade is delicious served over crostini, focaccia, or crackers.
    Ingredients
    • 1-1/2cup black olivespitted
    • 1/8 cup sundried tomatoes
    • 1-1/2tablespoons capers
    • 1teaspoon anchovy pasteor soy sauce for a vegan alternative
    • 1/4teaspoon Wildly Organic Black Pepper
    • 1/2 teaspoon dried basilor 2-3 fresh leaves
    • 2cloves garlicminced
    • 1Tablespoon lemon juice
    • 1/4cup Wildly Organic Olive Oil
    Instructions
    1. Place olives, capers, and sundried tomatoes in food processor and pulse until finely chopped.
    2. Add basil, pepper, salt, anchovy paste (or soy sauce), lemon juice, and minced garlic. Pulse until thoroughly combined.
    3. Drizzle olive oil over all and pulse again until a thick paste is formed. Paste should still have small chunks and be somewhat coarse (not smooth).

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