Counting the days to that holiday in the Med?
I may just be able to carry you through ’till then. I’ve been experimenting with the best Mediterranean sauce there is: Tapenade
Full recipe with measurements and ingredients below.
This will make about a jar of tapenade. Enough for a very hefty loaf of bread, or about four portions as pasta sauce.
I’m also aware that a traditional tapenade is made with anchoveis and capers, not sundreied tomatoes, however you’ll have to excuse me for prefering the sweet tomato over small, bony fish mixed with pickled flowers.
Prepare your ingredients
Slice the sun-dried tomatoes, olives and garlic.
There’s no need to cut them too finely, just so they’re fine enough to blend.
- 2 garlic cloves
- 20 olives
- 200g sun-dried tomatoes
Juice and zest a lemon.
- 1 lemon
To make the sauce
Combine all ingredients in a high sided jug.
The high sided jug makes sure everything gets blended properly with the hand blender.
- chopped olives
- chopped sun-dried tomatoes
- juice and zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tbsp / 15ml red/white wine vinegar
Blend the ingredients into a paste with a hand blender ( ~ 1 minute )
Add olive oil and blend again until a rough, thick sauce emerges ( ~ 1 minute )
There’s no need to blend until smooth, the tapenade’s charm comes from it’s thick, pesto like consistency.
- 120ml olive oil
Season with salt and pepper.
Store the tapenade in the fridge, either in a jar or cling filmed bowl, under oil.
The tapenade should keep for about 2 weeks or so, with the low pH of the tomatoes and the salt inhibiting bacteria such as clostridium botulinium from multiplying, despite the anaerobic, moist conditions.
More to try
If the tapenade’s hit a summery note for you, there’s plenty more for you to try. To continue the Mediterranean theme, check out our Pesto recipe, or for more fun with the hand blender, try your hand at making some Garlic Aioli.
