Olive Tepanade
Michael Speca

Mix in a food processor:

2 cups pitted oil cured black olives
3 tablespoons drained capers
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons brandy or lemon juice
2 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried

Pulse until mixture is "coarse" but uniform.


My notes:

I've used both oil cured and kalamata olives.  If you use kalamata (or
other) olives which are packed in brine or vinegar, rinse them very
thoroughly and squeeze out onto paper towels.  You lose a little bit
of the oil this way, but you can make up for it by adding an extra 1/2
tablespoon or so of olive oil.  The oil cured olives make for a
heavier, oiler tapenade, while the kalamatas make for a lighter,
moister (as in water) tapenade.

I have always added 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, being a garlic lover.

It is good with either brandy or lemon juice.  The preparation we had
at the last dinner party used brandy.  Like most ingredients, I don't
think I was too careful about measuring, and probably would up with
more (in honor of Irene's extra-brandy tiramisu).  For daily use I
make it without the brandy -- I like it on sandwiches, etc, and IMO
the brandy is too heavy.

I have used thyme, oregano (leaves, not powder) and tarragon
interchangably.  They're all nice.

I pretty much run the food processor until everything is mixed up and
relatively unrecognizable.  I don't think that's what they meant when
they said "coarse but uniform".  When I'm done you can only pick out
the garlic as yellow if you stare at the tapenade closely.