Green Olive, Basil and Almond Tapenade

This is the third tapenade we make from David Lebovitz’s recipes in My Paris Kitchen with our friends at Cook-the-Book-Fridays. Years ago, we made artichoke tapenade, then the black olive tapenade. Now the third is the charm; here is the green olive, basil and almond tapenade. I have to say, my appreciation and taste for tapenade has grown over the years.

Tapenade is not only any kind of olive paste. It gets its name from tapeno, the word for capers in the Provencal language. That’s precisely what I like about tapenade: the salty flavor bomb that capers bring to the table. That big bottle of capers, which I constantly keep in the fridge, has helped me rescue many dull dishes.

Frequently, I make variations of a tapenade to go with fish or bread. These are some of our favorite things to eat. Process the tapenade, in the food processor, with olives, capers, some herbs, lemon, garlic and olive oil. That becomes our standby condiment for fish, especially a whole steamed fish. We don’t seem to ever tire of these tasty combinations.

The trouble this time is with the green olives. More to the point, the green olives have to be pitted one by one. Although, the saving grace is I only need to make half a recipe. So they go quickly.

Assemble one cup of pitted green olives, a handful of whole almonds, a small clove of garlic, 3/4 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1/4 cup fresh basil and 1/4 cup olive oil in the bowl of the food processor. Pulse briefly to break them up, but long enough to keep a little texture. In the end, you can still make out every individual ingredient in the mix. Moments later, I have a wonderful bowl of green olive tapenade to go with some homemade sourdough rye bread.