The other night we had a friend over and didn’t want to go crazy with a dinner, so we decided to use up some of the cheese we had in the fridge and I went to Jack’s 99 Cent Store and bought $1 crackers and a can of black olives (also $1, bringing our total to $28). I decided to make a simple tapenade with some sundried tomatoes we had lurking in the pantry (note to self: cleaning pantry can expose spices you thought forgotten). This tapenade tasted great on crackers, but could also work as a quick topping for pasta or as a dip for grilled or raw veggies or on some grilled bread with tomatoes. The possibilities are endless!
Tapenade w/Sundried Tomatoes
Ingredients:
- 1 medium can of black olives
- 3 or 4 sundried tomatoes, soaked in water for 10 minutes (reserve water)
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
- pepper
- chili pepper flakes
- olive oil
- juice of half a lemon and some of its zest
To Do:
- Place the olives, sundried tomatoes and garlic in food processor and pulse until it all comes together.
- Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the lemon juice, zest and pepper and chili pepper flakes to taste. I like mine a bit spicy, so I put more garlic and chili pepper flakes in the mix. Pulse until the mixture gets a little smoother, but still remains chunky.
- Add a bit of olive oil if you like (I used a tiny drizzle) and pulse again. If you think the mixture needs more liquid to bind it together, add some of the reserved sundried tomato soaking water.
- Serve with just about anything. Makes a little more than a cup and will last a good while in the fridge.
