Making tapenade the first time occurred as a bit of a happy accident. I had been working in the area of St Lawrence Market and got in the habit when I worked late, of picking up some of their dips and condiments as my dinner, taking the leftovers home at the end of the night. Over time, the containers of sundried tomatoes, capers and Moroccan olives multiplied, although the refrigerator was so generally well-stocked that I seldom noticed more than two of a type (possibly also because I was so busy that I rarely had time to cook in those days).
Eventually, the containers proliferated to the point where they tumbled out of the refrigerator every time the door was opened. So, one Saturday I pulled all the containers out (an embarrassing number) and combined all the contents into a single large container of each, ending up with enough to make a second set of containers. The second set though, was pretty much the dregs of the process. Nothing wrong with them really, except that they were less attractive, smaller fragments of sun dried tomato, half pieces of olive and some that had no olive oil in the container and had dried somewhat...capers similarly dried, but still perfectly edible...at least perfectly safe.
The Scot in me reared high, insisting on not wasting the $15 or $20 worth of condiments (I did say it was an embarrassing number of containers, right?). So, I decided that they would be well reconstituted using olive oil, since that was what I would normally have marinated them in...but not perhaps to their original state...so, rather than expect the impossible, I set about making something new out of them (this is also a good strategy for leftover vegetable soups, rather than expect them to taste as good with soggy veggies, purée them, adjust the seasoning and add some cream).
I pitted the olives, putting them into the food processor along with the sun-dried tomatoes, capers, some pickled garlic and olive oil, buzzing it until it was smooth and served it to guests...who loved both the tapenade and the story behind it (for the unnecessarily squeamish, all of the ingredients were properly stored and collected over a 3 month period, well inside the lifespan of pickled condiments...they just weren't pretty).
:-D
Tapenade
1 cup Pitted Moroccan Sun Dried Olives
1 cup Sun Dried Tomatoes
1/3 cup Capers
2-3 cloves Pickled Garlic
Olive Oil as needed
I now regularly buy the ingredients to make this tapenade in quantity. I don't worry too much about exact measurements of ingredients, as I like my dishes to have some personality, but generally 3:3:1 olives:tomatoes:capers with some pickled garlic if available (perhaps from a jar of Garlic dills, if you don't have pickled garlic), and as much olive oil as it takes to make a good spread, putting a nice layer of olive oil over the top before sealing. Process with a steel blade.
* If you are planning to use this right away, you could use fresh roasted garlic, but you would not want to preserve it in that case.
A supertaster with a lifelong passion for food, Gayle's training was at the elbow of her Grandfather and at the Broadcast School of the Galloping Gourmet. She made her first pie at 8 years old and was baking bread solo by 10.
Gayle has written and illustrated a cookbook, Easy Date Oven, that will be published by CanadianFoodies in early 2012.
