Well hello Olive & Sun-Dried Tomato Rustic Tapenade. How are you on this fine day? Fabulous, I can tell.
Tapenades are usually a dark paste made of ground up olives. Now that’s all fine and dandy, and there is nothing wrong with that, but gosh, why would you paste it all up when instead you can celebrate all of this gorgeous colour and texture? This is one fine toast topper. Hello perfect party appetizer. Make ahead, colourful, and gorgeous. The flavours of the salty and rich olives, the sweet chewy sun-dried tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic, and a bright note of lemon throughout. It’s an Italian party in my mouth. Hey mambo, mambo Italiano!
Serve up this bad boy with a baguette, some crackers, and maybe if you are feeling really fancy, this Homemade Vegan Cashew Ricotta.
To make this recipe, first do a taste test of your olives. Different brands of olives can range hugely in saltiness. If you love the saltiness of your olives, then perfect you are good to go! If you find your olives too salty, then rinse them. If they are still too salty, then soak them in water for up to an hour, the salt will be pulled out into the water.
Now just chop up the olives, sun-dried tomatoes, basil, finely mince the garlic, zest and juice the lemon, and add it to a bowl.
Mix it all up, taste and add more lemon, and salt and pepper if desired.
- 1 Cup Mixed Pitted Olives
- ¾ Cup Sun-Dried Tomatoes
- ¼ Cup Fresh Basil Leaves
- 1 Clove Garlic
- 2 teaspoons Lemon Zest
- 2 teaspoons Lemon Juice
- Salt & Pepper to taste if desired
- Taste your olives, different brands of olives can range hugely in saltiness. If you are happy with the saltiness of your olives, continue to the next step. If you find your olives too salty, rinse the olives with clean water to remove excess salt. If they are still too salty, soak the olives in fresh water for as long as an hour and then rinse clean. The salt will come out in the water.
- Once your olives are ready, roughly chop them and add them to a bowl. If some of your olives have pits, carefully remove the pits, and then continue to chop. Chop the sun-dried tomatoes, the basil, and finely mince the garlic and add to bowl. Zest and juice the lemon and add that to the bowl as well.
- Mix it all up, and taste. Add more lemon, salt and pepper if desired. Serve along with toast or crackers. This would also be lovely served along side Homemade Vegan Cashew Ricotta.
Featured Ingredient: Olives. 19 Recipes, 5 Days to go! (eek!)
Bon Appetegan,
Sam.
Making this for a party how do you think some artichoke hearts would taste in this recipe?
That sounds like a great addition!
I am absolutely drooling over this recipe. You’ve combined 2 of my favourite ingredients: olives and sun dried tomatoes, then slapped it on top of little bread rounds. Delicious!!
Haha! I love that! So happy I got you drooling 🙂
OMG the flavours… the saltiness…best combo of things on a baguette!
Haha! Agree. Also, most things on baguette are a good idea in my opinion! haha.
Yum! Love me a good baguette topper. This looks divine. I may have to invent a party just so I can make it!
I love inventing parties around food!! haha