Olive and Sun-Dried Tomato Tapenade
Rich Mediterranean spread of olives, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, and herbs—elegant and intensely flavored
- 1 cupkalamata olives(pitted)
- 0.5 cupgreen olives(pitted, such as Castelvetrano)
- 0.5 cupsun-dried tomatoes(oil-packed, drained)
- 2 tbspcapers(drained)
- 2 clovesgarlic
- 2 tbspfresh basil(or 1 tsp dried)
- 1 tbspfresh thyme(or 0.5 tsp dried)
- 1 tbspfresh lemon juice
- 0.25 cupextra virgin olive oil
- 0.5 tspblack pepper(freshly ground)
- Crostini or crackers(for serving)
Tapenade keeps refrigerated up to 2 weeks. Bring to room temperature 30 minutes before serving for best flavor.
- 1Add olives, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, and garlic to food processor
- 2Pulse until coarsely chopped—do not puree, keep some texture
- 3Add basil, thyme, lemon juice, and black pepper
- 4Pulse a few more times to combine
- 5With processor running, drizzle in olive oil
- 6Taste and adjust seasoning—usually does not need salt due to olives and capers
- 7Transfer to serving bowl
- 8Drizzle with additional olive oil
- 9Serve at room temperature with crostini or crackers
Use a mix of olive varieties for complex flavor. Pulse carefully—tapenade should be chunky, not a paste. A splash of balsamic adds depth.
Tapenade is one of Provence's most celebrated preparations, and its name reveals its most essential ingredient: tapenade derives from tapeno, the Provençal word for capers. While olive-based spreads have been made in the Mediterranean for as long as olives have been cultivated — the olive tree's documented cultivation reaches back over six thousand years in the eastern Mediterranean — the formal culinary codification of tapenade as a composed preparation is attributed to chef Jean-Baptiste Reboul, who published the recipe in his 1897 cookbook La Cuisinière Provençale, one of the foundational texts of Provençal regional cooking. Reboul's recipe combined black olives, capers, anchovies, thyme, and olive oil, establishing a formula that remains essentially standard today. Olives have been central to Provençal life since Greek settlers established Massalia (modern Marseille) around 600 BCE and brought olive cultivation to Provence. Anchovies appear in Provençal cooking as a salting and umami element reaching back to the Roman period, when fermented fish sauce (garum) was produced throughout southern Gaul. Sun-dried tomatoes, a Sicilian and southern Italian preservation technique, are a later addition to the traditional formula, bringing sweetness and a concentrated tomato character that softens the spread's briny intensity and adds visual appeal with the deep red against the black olive base.