What are you taking to the lake?
Posted by Lise McClendon in Uncategorized on Jun 16, 2011
It’s summer. (Sort of, here in Montana.) Besides loading up on beach books and scrambling to find enough weekends or weeks off to play, it’s time to try out a new or favorite summer dish. I’m taking Green Olive Tapenade to Flathead Lake this weekend, for a Wild Women’s Weekend. FYI, board games and painting toenails are about as wild as it gets. Because it’s women though, food is a serious issue. Must rise to the occasion. Here’s my recipe, adapted from Some Magazine which was British and I could never remember how many grams are in an ounce. You can leave out the anchovies entirely. If you like anchovies you can either use olives stuffed with them, or add as many of them as you like during the first “whizz.”
Green Olive Tapenade
8 or 10 oz. jar of green olives stuffed with garlic or anchovies, drained
2 cloves garlic (if using anchovy-stuffed olives)
Half handful fresh basil leaves
1 slice stale bread, wetted and squeezed dry
1/4 cup good olive oil
1-2 tsp white wine vinegar
good grind sea salt to taste
Salted crackers, toasted baguette rounds, or lettuce leaves to serve
Put olives, garlic/anchovies, basil, and bread into a food processor and whizz for 30 sec. With machine running, drizzle in enough olive oil to create a pleasant texture, then add vinegar to taste with a final whizz. Serve with crackers, toast, and lettuce. Serves 4-6.
In the British mag they say serve with a glass of something chilled. Brilliant!
Lise thissounds lovely- especially if chilled drink is g&t….. and what kind of sea salt goes best in this? black truffle? Can’t say that I’ve ever had to wet a piece of bread and squeeze it dry for a recipe- but worth a try!
Hope your weekend is wild and wonderful-
Using stale bread for thickening is sort of a Spanish/Mediterranean thing. Never throw food out, is their motto! I don’t know if black truffle salt would be best… did you find some?? This is actually one of those recipes where anything goes! Hope your weekend is wonderful too.
I love the way they always say “good olive oil” as if they just know you’re the kind of slacker who’s going to try to slip by with some of the crummy stuff.