easy
tapenade
Olive tapenade is a seriously versatile condiment. In addition to
sitting atop crackers, tapenade can be used to perk up sandwiches
or scrambled eggs for brunch. It can also be thinned out with some
olive oil and balsamic vinegar as an easy pasta dressing, served
in a bread-bowl at a party, eaten with a spoon out of the jar…you
get the picture. Include a gift card around the jar indicating its
many uses and get the compliments later.
Ingredients
2 cans of black Kalamata olives (drained)
¼ cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp. mustard (Dijon is best)
2 Tbsps. capers (optional)
extra virgin olive oil
If you have a food processor, this is too easy. Simply pulse the
olives and add the olive oil, garlic, mustard and capers through
the feeder tube until you get a consistency of thick paste. Don't
worry if it looks a bit runny -- it firms up in the fridge. If you
don't have a food processor, it's still easy, but you'll have to
do some chopping and blend the mixture in batches. Chop up the
olives and capers (if using) and mince the garlic and place in a
large bowl. Add the olive oil and mustard and stir until well
combined. Place about half the mixture in a blender and blend
until you get a nice paste. Put the paste in a bowl or directly
into sterilized small jars or one big jar. This will last 3
months.
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Sterilizing
Jars (for
Easy Tapenade and Beer & Herb Mustard)
Sterilizing isn't that
difficult and for the Tapenade (left) and Beer-Herb Mustard
(next page) recipes, it's not something to get worried about; both have high
acidity and will keep just fine as long you store them in an
airtight container. However, when giving gifts that involve
foodstuffs it's always a good idea to be on the safe side. So
here's a quick primer in sterilizing jars.
Wash jars and lids with
soap in hot water and place on a cookie sheet in the oven heated
up to 200F. Keep in the oven for at least 20 minutes and then fill
them up, leaving about ½ inch space from the top of the jar
(before the threads). If you're going to be canning the proper
way, it's best to use new lids with jars like these
jelly jars,
but personally, I just reuse old jars and new lids and frankly,
nothing bad has ever happened. In order to bypass fussing with
separate lids, you can also use a jar like this
French terrine;
still, don't forget to do the sterilizing. |
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