The tapenade at one our favourite local Italian restaurants, Il Terrazzo, is very good. It is served complimentary to all tables and accompanied with warm focaccia bread. The restaurant has an excellent mussels dish (think white wine and cream sauce with sun dried tomatoes, roasted garlic, banana peppers, red onions, cilantro, lime, and asiago). They are often busy; so, make a reservation if you plan to go. Or try to pull a fast one and see if there is room at the bar… Get a glass of wine, enjoy the tapenade with focaccia and tuck into those mussels.
We wanted to recreate the tapenade at home and were able to find the recipe from the food blog, Port & Finn. They emailed the manager at Il Terrazzo who replied back with the ingredients list (but not quantities - oh my!).
You shouldn’t care but my opinion is that you can add more or less of the ingredients you like. Anchovies are often in tapenade too and sometimes I like to add marinated artichokes.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup pitted Kalamata olives
- 1 cup pimento stuffed Manzanilla olives
- 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 Tbsp sun dried tomatoes
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 Tbsp capers
- 1 chipotle pepper in adobo
- Freshly ground pepper, to taste
Method:
To make the tapenade, place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until chopped into a coarse paste blend. Taste and adjust for seasoning as needed.