I went looking in my pantry for a couple staple ingredients to put together dinner last night. I could have sworn I had the ingredients, but I quickly found out I did not. Instead, I was forced to be creative with the (very limited) ingredients I found in there. I also got to add the chore of “grocery shopping” to my to-do list. Sigh.
I ended up settling on making a green olive tapenade to go with some pasta and chicken. Not the healthiest meal in the world, but it would do! Much to my surprise, the meal ended up being one of the tastiest I’ve made in a while.
Here’s what you need to do to make it for yourself!
Ingredients
10 oz. Spanish Manzanilla Olives stuffed with Pimentos (or another green olive of your choice)
6 oz. freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese
½ cup extra virgin olive oil (or enough until your tapenade reaches your desired consistency)
1 tsp garlic
½ tsp salt
½ tsp white pepper
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Using an immersion blender, take half of your olives and half of your olive oil and blend them together until they have a smooth consistency. This is the base for your tapenade. Freshly grate the cheese and mix it into your base. Roughly chop the rest of your olives and stir them into your tapenade base. Add garlic, salt, pepper, and the remainder of your olive oil. The tapenade should be chunky and moist, but not soupy. Mix the tapenade into your pasta, or serve it on some bread as an appetizer.
This recipe will make about 2 cups of tapenade. I only used half for my pasta, and I froze the second half for a future recipe!
The sharp cheese, salty olives, and spicy pepper make this tapenade a flavor bomb. It’s a quick and easy recipe that is sure to impress whoever eats it!
Did you try this recipe? Let me know what you thought in the comments below!
