Tomato Salad with Olive Tapenade

1. Olives – Do not use the black olives you find unrefrigerated in jars on supermarket shelves, they lack the intense olive flavour and briny tang that is the heart and soul of tapenade. Buy fresh olives either from a deli or deli section of supermarkets, or in refrigerated tubs.

Try to buy olives that are unpitted and pit them yourself, because they have better flavour and are less soggy. The easiest way to pit olives I find is just squash them with your fingers or the flat of a knife, and pull out the seed.

You can use green olives if you wish but it’s less traditional and will look more like a pesto.

2. Anchovies – can substitute with 1/2 tsp anchovy paste. If you leave them out, add another teaspoon of capers instead.

3. Tapenade leftover – You’ll probably have leftover tapenade, it is hard to make a smaller batch. But it’s a bonus! It will keep for 2 weeks easily. Use for:

Stir through cooked pasta! Add more oil or salt it needed; Spread on crostini or bread, or dot over creamy layer of ricotta, cream cheese or goat’s cheese. Also great in sandwiches! Dollop generously over a ball of fresh buffalo mozzarella or burrata, serve as part of an antipasto platter; Use as a dip for crackers or crudites (raw vegetables); Serve as a condiment alongside fish, seafood, chicken and even lamb (a very Provençal combination, in fact); Toss boiled potatoes in tapenade and chopped herbs of your choice; Mix into mayonnaise to give it some perky flavour and colour; Combine with softened butter and refrigerate. Use as a flavoured butter on meats or grilled veg.

4. Nutrition per serving assuming 6 servings, assuming half the tapenade is used.