Olive tapenade

The last time I had good tapenade was in Jamie’s Italian served with Pane Carasau and giant Queen olives - maybe it tasted that little bit sweeter because it was one of the free tasters with my Jamie’s Italian Gold Card (back when Jamie’s Italian was still going strong), that aside it was a brilliant appetiser. When I got my hands on some Crosta & Mollica flatbreads, Rosemary Linguette I knew they would pair perfectly with a tasty tapenade. This is also great to have with my homemade grissini.

Black Olive Tapenade with Crosta & Mollica Flatbreads

Black Olive Tapenade

• Prep time: Less than 5 minutes

Ingredients:

• Pitted black olives 330g (drained weight 163g)

• 1 anchovy fillet (in olive oil)

• 1 tbsp capers

• 1 garlic clove (to taste)

• 1 - 2 tbsp olive oil

• Juice of 1/2 a lemon

• Chilli flakes (to taste)

Instructions:

1. Put everything into a blender except the olive oil and blitz for 30 seconds. I don’t like too much garlic so I added a tiny amount for flavour, probably a ¼ of a clove.

2. Add olive oil, start with a tbsp and then see how the consistency is, add another tbsp if you prefer it to be smoother - for me tapenade should have some texture with little pieces of olive.

This works alongside other antipasti style stuzzichini or cichetti like stuffed mushrooms with ricotta, lemon and chilli and mozzarella wrapped in parma ham, or a caprese, focaccia and some tasty meats and cheeses - I love making big sharing plates for everyone to tuck into with an aperitivo!

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