Hairy Bikers Tapenade

One pot of Hairy Bikers tapenade blitzes 200g of black olives with capers, anchovy, garlic, lemon and chilli before the olive oil goes in. With no cooking involved, the Mediterranean Adventure recipe takes about 20 minutes, at roughly 125 calories for each of 8 servings by my estimate.

Wrinkled, dry black olives are the ones to buy, and Si and Dave are clear: “don’t use the pitted or pickled ones”. So you stone them yourself, which is easier than it sounds, because a wrinkly olive’s stone usually pops out when you tear it open.

The oil decides the texture, since drizzling it in with the motor running makes it smooth while tipping it in at once keeps it coarse. So coarse is my pick for spreading on toast, because I like a little bite left in the olives.

Hairy Bikers Tapenade

Author: Alex Saidani Cooking Method:Blending Cuisine:British French Courses:Starter

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 20 minutesCook time: minutesRest time: minutesTotal time: 20 minutesServings:8 servingsCalories:125 kcal Best Season:Summer

Description

Stoned olives, capers, anchovy, garlic, lemon juice and red wine vinegar pulse to a rough purée with pepper and a pinch of chilli. Then olive oil goes in, followed by parsley and thyme, before it’s spooned into a jar for the fridge.

Ingredients

For the tapenade

• 200g black olives
• 50g capers
• 2 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• juice of ½ lemon
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar
• pinch of chilli flakes or cayenne
• 75ml olive oil
• 1 tbsp finely chopped flatleaf parsley
• 1 tsp finely chopped thyme leaves
• black pepper

Instructions

1. Stone the olives: Remove the stones with an olive or cherry pitter, or cut round each stone carefully with a very sharp knife. With wrinkly olives, tearing them open usually pops the stone straight out.
2. Rinse the capers: If your capers are packed in salt, pour just-boiled water over them to dissolve it. Then rinse them thoroughly.
3. Pulse the purée: Put the olives, capers, anchovies, garlic, lemon juice and vinegar in a food processor, then add pepper and the chilli flakes or cayenne. Pulse, scraping down the sides regularly, until you have a coarse purée.
4. Add the oil: For a smooth tapenade, drizzle in the oil with the motor running. Or for a coarser paste, add it all at once and blitz very briefly.
5. Finish and store: Taste and adjust the seasoning, then stir in the herbs. Then scoop it into a jar and keep it in the fridge.

FAQs

Does tapenade have anchovies?

Theirs does, with 2 finely chopped fillets blitzed in with the olives, capers and garlic. And they say it’s unlikely you’ll need to add any salt.

The same anchovy and caper punch runs through their Chicken and Egg chicken puttanesca, which cooks 6 fillets into the tomato sauce.

Can you make green olive tapenade?

Yes, one of them made a green version in their taste test, while the other made the classic with black olives. But they both agreed the black olive classic “won hands down”, and that’s the one in the book.

Can you use tapenade as a pasta sauce?

I haven’t found one of their recipes that uses it as a pasta sauce, but a tablespoon goes into their Veggie Feasts aubergine veggie meatballs. Then the 20 baked balls are warmed through in tomato sauce and served with spaghetti or linguine.

How do you serve tapenade?

They suggest toast or sticks of raw veg, “whatever you like”. And in Veggie Feasts it tops their buckwheat Biker blinis, swirled over herby cream cheese with chopped cherry tomatoes.

For the toast, I’d use a slice of their Mediterranean Adventure focaccia recipe from the same book, which can take olives on top too.

Is tapenade Greek?

Their book doesn’t say where it comes from, but it sits in the South of France chapter after a taste test near Nîmes. And brandade de morue follows it there, with socca and pissaladière further on in the same chapter.