I will not be “cutting a caper” in this post. In fact, I’m going to cut out the capers. I used to have a jar of them in the fridge but I got so much grief from my family that I decided to toss them.
“What is a caper anyway?” I was asked over and over again. “They look gross!”
Okay. A caper is a plant from the Mediterranean region. In Provençal the caper plant was known as tapeneï and its little edible bud was the tapeno.
Tapeno buds have been eaten since as early as 1200 B.C. They were preserved in olive oil in pottery jars, and apparently got mashed into a kind of paste.
And that has eventually became what we know today as tapenade.
So the name comes from the main ingredient I’m leaving out of my recipe today. If you decide to add them – which I have done, but they don’t really make that much difference – you can add 2 tablespoons.
(Some recipes call for anchovies also, but I have never put them in. I’d be the only person in my family who would eat it.)
So…sans the namesake tapano, here is my delicious recipe for olive tapenade. I guarantee it will be one of the favourite hors d’oeuvre you serve this holiday season!
Ingredients:
3 cans black olives
2 cups kalamata olives
1 cup green olives with pimentos
1 bell pepper
½ cup olive oil
1 tablespoon lime or lemon juice
Directions:
Drain olives well and pack in cup when measuring
Run olives and pepper through a food grinder (do not puree)
Stir in olive oil and lime juice
Mix well and refrigerate for at least 24 hours before serving
Serve with crackers or bruschetta.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
Welcome! My name is Andrena Paladini and this is a blog about family and love and faith and fun. I call it Paladini Potpie because a potpie is like an adventure in a crust. You never know what might come up, but it’s always going to be good!
Think of the best potpie you’ve ever eaten…hot flaky crust holding a rich savory sauce and all kinds of pieces of meat and vegetables…and who knows what?
As a family, we’ve chosen to live within the parameters of God’s love and protection. This is the crust of our Paladini Potpie. The crust never changes. Within this crust, the savory sauce of family love binds it all together. That is also fairly constant. But beyond the crust and the sauce we can add just about anything!
Good ideas come our way and we’ve adopted and adapted them to add to what John calls our treasure box of memories. These stories and ideas from John’s treasure box of memories are the ingredients I’m putting into our Paladini Potpie.
(Okay, so this ridiculous mixing of metaphors about treasure boxes and potpies is exactly what I’m talking about. Silly and ungrammatically correct. But both illustrations work… so we’ll mix them together and it’ll be just fine!)
John and I have been married for 30 years. Our children have wonderfully doubled in number since David married Amanda, Monica married Dan, and Matthew married Sarah.
And the newest little treats that have been added to our potpie are six adorable grandchildren - Ethan, Angelina, Nathan, Audrey, Maleia and Caleb!
I hope you’ll subscribe to my Paladini Potpie blog, and keep up with all the fun new ingredients I add. Hopefully you’ll enjoy our stories and ideas, and find something you’ll want to put into your own potpie! Bon appétit!
Paladini Potpie 
November 22, 2011 at 3:46 pm
I love tapenades! Of course, I’ll do mine with capers. and maybe some mushrooms (love the marinated ones!) and some garlic…. Giggles… I wasn’t even hungry until I read THIS!!!
O, and I LOVE artichoke tapenade! And eggplant caponata, tooooo!!!!
November 22, 2011 at 4:36 pm
Your comment is making me hungry Avonelle!
November 13, 2012 at 8:23 am
sounds like something even a non-cook girl like myself can handle!
Pingback: Ice Cream Cone Tacos | Paladini Potpie