Olive Tapenade Recipe from Provence

Olive tapenade or simply tapenade is a French speciality from Provence. Here it is often eaten as a dip with toasted bread or vegetable sticks, but it is also used to refine many recipes.

What is olive tapenade made of?

There is black and green olive tapenade. Black olive tapenade consists mainly of real black olives, anchovies, capers and garlic.

Green olive tapenade, on the other hand, consists of green olives, anchovies and garlic.

However, every family has slightly different olive tapenade recipes and they can be easily adapted.

Is olive tapenade vegan?

Traditionally, olive tapenade is neither vegan nor vegetarian. Green olive tapenade, but also black olive tapenade, contains anchovies, small salted fish (which sounds strange at first, but tastes delicious. Ottolenghi also sings the praises of this forgotten ingredient!)

However, it is very easy to make vegan olive tapenade. In Provence, this olive paste without anchovies is called “affinade”. To do this, simply leave out the anchovies.

What is olive tapenade used for?

Olive tapenade is often nibbled as an aperitif in Provence, with toasted baguette or with fresh vegetable sticks such as chicory, carrots or raw cauliflower.

Olive paste also spices up various dishes in the kitchen. For example, in savory tarts, in vignigrettes or for grilling with meat, fish and vegetables.

Is there a difference between anchovies and sardines?

Anchovies and sardines are both small fish pickled in salt and left to ferment for a long time. According to the German consumer advice center, the word anchovy is simply the international term for our European sardines.

Anchovies and sardines are used in many different recipes, especially in the Mediterranean. They have a strong and salty taste and are mainly used for seasoning. In the south of France, for example, for anchoiade dip, for the onion tart pissaladiere or for olive tapenades.

 

Ingredients for our olive tapenade recipe

Ingredients for 8 people

- You need a mixer

- 1-2 cloves of garlic

- 300 g real pitted black olives (avoid colored olives as they have hardly any flavor)

- 1-2 tablespoons of capers with their vinegar (amount according to taste)

- 1 anchovy fillet in oil (for the vegan version simply leave out the anchovies)

- 3-5 tablespoons of mild olive oil, for example olive oil AOP Nyons

preparation

- Difficulty: easy

- Preparation time: 10 minutes

1. Peel the garlic clove. Roughly chop the garlic and the pitted black olives.
2. Put the garlic, pitted olives, anchovy fillet and half of the capers and olive oil into the blender. For the vegan olive tapenade, simply leave out the anchovy fillets.
3. Mix the ingredients until the paste reaches the desired consistency. For the olive dip, we mix until a creamy, homogeneous puree is obtained. This makes a good dip. But sometimes we leave the olive tapenade a little coarser if we want to use the olive paste for cooking, for example.
4. Now taste the paste. Add the remaining capers to taste and season with salt and pepper. If you like it creamier, add more olive oil.
5. Done! You can store the olive tapenade in a sealed jar in the fridge for a week. Always make sure that the olive paste is always covered with olive oil so that no germs build up.

Enjoy your wine!

Buy real black olives

Since olive tapenade consists mainly of olives, its quality is absolutely important for a delicious olive paste. Therefore, make sure to buy high-quality, real black olives that have a lot of flavor. Unfortunately, many black olives in supermarkets are simply colored.

We love real ingredients and quality and would therefore always recommend real black olives. But from a health perspective, we think fewer additives are simply better.

In our shop you can, for example, buy real black olives from Nyons (available according to season).

If you're in a hurry, you can also order ready-made olive tapenade in our shop. Made from real black olives from Provence, of course.