Cassie’s Ruminations

Olive and Tomato Tapenade on Crostini

This is another wonderful recipe from my mother. She makes this as an appetizer when they have a friend or two over for dinner. It’s easy and wonderfully flavorful. There’s a lot going on, but all the flavors work well together.

For the crostini, I sliced a baguette into thin slices (about 1/2 inch thick), toasted it for about 7 minutes in a 400 degree F oven, and then rubbed each slice with a cut clove of garlic. It took about 3 cloves of garlic to do all 32 slices.

I then topped the slices with the tapenade. No occasion for us; I just wanted to try the recipe!

Olive and Tomato Tapenade
Makes about 2 cups

1/2 cup black olives, pitted
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted
1/4 cup manzanilla olives (green olives stuffed with pimento)
1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp black pepper
3 tbsp minced fresh basil
3 tbsp minced fresh parsley
2 tbsp fresh minced oregano
2 tsp lemon zest (about 1 small lemon’s worth)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
4 cloves roasted garlic, minced
3-4 small tomatoes, diced (about 1/2 lb)

Chop the olives into small pieces. Mix together all of the ingredients except for the tomatoes and refrigerate for about 1 hour to let the flavors meld. Just before serving, stir in the tomatoes. Spoon on top of crostini.