Tapenade
Updated May 20, 2024

- Total Time
- 10 minutes
- Prep Time
- 5 minutes
- Cook Time
- 5 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 2small garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 3anchovies, roughly chopped
- 2tablespoons salted capers, rinsed, drained and roughly chopped
- ¾cup pitted black olives (such as Niçoise or Kalamata) or green olives (such as Picholine or Lucques), roughly chopped
- ¼cup extra-virgin olive oil
- Freshly ground black pepper
Preparation
- Step 1
If using a mortar and pestle, place the garlic in a mortar and grind until a rough paste forms. Add the anchovies and capers, and pound them, scraping the sides of the mortar often, until they are smashed into a mostly smooth paste. Add the olives and pound into a slightly chunky paste. Slowly add the oil, 1 tablespoon at a time, smashing until it’s all combined. Season with pepper.
- Step 2
If using a food processor, place the garlic in the bowl and pulse until finely chopped, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary with a flexible spatula. Add the anchovies and capers, and pulse, scraping the sides often, until they are finely ground. Add the olives and pulse until a slightly chunky paste forms. With the food processor running, slowly pour in the oil until it’s all combined, stopping to scrape once or twice. Season with pepper.
Private Notes
Comments
No need to pre-chop anything. Just throw it all into a blender or food processor and give it a quick blitz or two. Don’t over blend. Lemon juice or zest helps lighten the taste a bit. And yes, rinse and drain all olives, capers, and anchovies before processing. Otherwise delicious.
Hi, you can omit the anchovies completely, you won't notice the difference and it will remain fresh longer in the fridge. Do please see my note. Enjoy.
Have made this and other versions of tapenade more than once, and found that the initial chopping is unnecessary if using a food processor. Just throw everything in there. The machine does the chopping.
we love garlic and anchovies here so used 5 med. cloves garlic and a tin of anchovies along with a 3 ounce can of tuna. delicious! Great for a snack night supper along with NYT's cottage cheese dip, good crackers and crunchy veggies for serving.
Are the olives to be rinsed or merely drained of the brine they’re in?
doubled this recipe, and the anchovies neary blew me away. I didn't try it without doubling it, so I don't know if the original recipe was ok, but I would recommend not putting as much of the anchovies as required. It was waaaay too fishy. I had to double that recipe just to get the fishiness away.
