Simple Olive Spread

Well, my husband’s family did it again, gave me another recipe that I just can’t get enough of. The scene was Christmas Day and we were having family dinner at the extended family’s house and there was a type of tapenade on the table that looked homemade. One bite and I was hooked. I haven’t made my other olive spread in a while, partly because I don’t always have sun dried tomatoes around. This one feels even easier or maybe just hits my current preferences better. I’ve made it twice already and I’ve got little puff pastry pinwheels in the oven filled with them, using the leftover rough puff from the Galette des Rois we are making for Epiphany tonight, from Molly Wilkinson’s excellent French Pastry Made Simple. 

You can find the original recipe at Cookie and Kate. The two reasons I’m posting the recipe here are one, recipes often disappear from the Internet and I want my own copy and two, I wanted a better weight ratio of green to Kalamata olives. Yes it’s annoying to give the weight with pits for Castelvetrano and only pitted for Kalamata but that’s how I buy them so that’s what is the most relevant for me. If using Kalamatas with pits, I’d guess add another 30% so anywhere between 125-150g should work

INGREDIENTS

300g Castelvetrano olives with pits (~200g pitted)

100g pitted Kalamata olives 

1 large handful flat-leaf parsley (leaves only— optional)

1 TBSP drained capers

1 TBSP lemon juice

2-3 medium garlic cloves, crushed or minced

1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS

1. Pit the olives and place them in the bowl of a food processor with the S blade
2. All the other ingredients
3. Pulse 10-15 times or until you have a chunky spread of whatever consistency you like
4. For best results, let the flavors blend for a few hours before serving. Store in the fridge.