Olive Tapenade with Capers & Parsley
Description
A favorite spread to put out for guests, to smear over sandwich bread, and to eat straight up with a spoon, this tapenade is loaded with parsley, lemon and olive oil. You can tailor the heat to your liking by increasing or decreasing the pepper flakes as you please.
Ingreadient :
- 2 cups pitted black olives, such as Kalamata, see notes above
- grated zest and juice of ½ to 1 lemon
- pinch crushed red pepper flakes, optional
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- 2 tablespoons capers, drained
- 1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
- 2 cups (about) parsley, divided roughly into two 1-cup portions
- 1/3 cup olive oil, plus more to taste
Direction :
- Pulse the olives, zest, juice of half a lemon, pepper flakes, garlic, capers, vinegar, and half of the parsley in the food processor until a coarse paste is formed—be sure to pulse to avoid turning the purée into complete mush. It may take 20 to 30 quick pulses.
- Transfer the mixture to a bowl. Finely chop the remaining parsley, and stir it in. Stir in the olive oil. Taste; then adjust seasoning as necessary with more lemon, pepper flakes, or olive oil. I almost always end up using the remaining half lemon, and I always stir in more olive oil by the tablespoon until the mixture both looks and tastes right.
- Store olive tapenade in the refrigerator for 1 week. Bring to room temperature before serving. If the parsley looks dull after the tapenade has spent a few days in the fridge, spruce it up by adding freshly chopped parsley.
