Olive Tapenade

This has never been a go-to dish for me. However, one day last fall, I had a craving for it. This was easy and so good and went with the delicious foccacia bread I had just made. It was a great appetizer for a fall weekend get together. It’s from www.alexandracooks.com – her recipes taste gourmet, but you can still make them at home. After using recipes from her blog, our meals have started tasting better than going to a restaurant. I highly recommend visiting her site.

*This is DAIRY FREE and GLUTEN FREE*

Ingredients

• 2 cups pitted black olives
• grated zest and juice of 1/2 – 1 lemon
• a pinch of red pepper flakes
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled or 1 heaping teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons capers, drained
• 1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
• 2 cups parsley, divided into 1 cup portions
• 1/3 cup olive oil, plus more to taste

Directions

In a food processor, pulse about 20-30 times the olives, zest, 1/2 the lemon juice, red pepper flakes, garlic, capers, vinegar and half the parsley until a cause paste has formed. Remember, pulse, don’t puree.

Transfer mixture to a bowl.

Finely chop remaining parsley and add to mixture.

Stir in olive oil.

Taste and adjust seasonings as needed with lemon juice, olive oil or red pepper flakes. Alexandra normally uses the remaining half of the lemon and also recommends adding olive oil by the tablespoon until taste is right.

This stores well for 1 week in the refrigerator. You can add more parsley if it needs refreshing.