sun dried tomato tapenade

Sun dried tomato tapenade

Gavin Wren Recipes, Side dishes, Spreads & Dips, Starters, Vegetarian

Tapenade used to be one of those ‘things’ that I didn’t understand. It smells and tastes beautiful, and evokes romantic visions of lazy mediterranean lunches, but I never really knew what to do with it. Showing a stereotypical Britishness, I was confused because it’s not a chutney or a pickle, it’s not a jam and it’s not Marmite. I would see it on supermarket shelves and in delis, but leave it behind. I’d see it with some mustards whilst at lunch but wouldn’t know where it goes. Then eventually, my tapenade maturity arrived and I realised it goes with lots of things, and it’s an ingredient that makes simple pairings spectacular.

sun dried tomato tapenade

There are loads of ways you can use it, my favourite uses for tapenade are the following:
• With cheese
• Mini crostini with a dollop of tapenade
• Larger crostini spread with tapenade and topped with other ingredients (cheese, herbs, anchovies, olives, tomatoes, peppers etc)
• Stirred into pasta (it is a close relation to pesto after all)
• Served with a plain, sliced avocado as a starter.
• As a dip with crackers or crudités

Today, I’ve created a sun dried tomato tapenade, also called red tapenade, and you’ll also traditionally see green and black versions. These all relate to the primary ingredients used, red is sun dried tomato, green is green olive and black is black olive. Simple, eh?

sun dried tomato tapenade

In the past I’ve talked about enjoying deep rich flavours which can be obtained by completing long slow cooking processes. Well, tapenade is the opposite. Not that it creates light, insipid flavours, but that it’s has an exceptionally short and quick cooking process. In fact, scrub that, there’s no cooking involved, no heat added, you just whizz the whole thing up. Because the base ingredients are all powerful on their own, sun dried tomato tapenade is a really simple accompaniment to knock up with just a bit of rough chopping and a food processor for preparation.

sun dried tomato tapenade

The resultant flavour really is something else. You’re taking a raft of ingredients that singularly have strong flavours, and combining them together. It’s the sort of idea that shouldn’t work, but it does, magnificently. So if you’re like I was, back in those dark years, yet to reach your tapenade maturity, you’re missing out on a real treat, but you’re in the right place to start, right now.

sun dried tomato tapenade

I’ve done a vegetarian version here, but if you aren’t veggie, the addition of 2-4 anchovies (yes, another strong flavour) is a traditional ingredient that adds a bit more depth to the dish. It’s a dish that matures in flavour with time, so I would recommend leaving for a few hours or overnight for the ingredients to meld before serving, as some kind of symbiotic transformation seems to occour and the individual flavours all become one.

sun dried tomato tapenade

Sun dried tomato tapenade

By

Serves 6, dependent on usage

Uses a food processor

PDF recipe card to download or print

Ingredients

150g sun dried tomatoes in oil, drained weight, roughly chopped
2 red chillis, de-seeded and roughly chopped.
1 clove garlic, crushed
25g basil leaves
50g kalamata olives, de-seeded and roughly chopped
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Directions

Put all of the ingredients into a mini food processor. Process until a rough paste has formed, you want to keep a rough texture, rather than aiming for a puree.

Set aside until ready to serve. This also keeps very well, so you can store it in an airtight container in the fridge for quite a while.


Brain Food looks behind the stories we get told about food.

Join the community today.
* indicates required

Brain Food Studio can keep me updated with food news and events via:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. For information about our privacy practices, please visit our website.

We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy practices here.