Most Delicious Olive Tapenade from Leslie Geller

Olives and Tapenades at the Cannes Market

 All the coverage of the Cannes Film Festival made me think of my own favorite Cannes happenings, and for me, tops on the list is the wonderful Marche Forville, the ultimate fruit and vegetable extravaganza.

We especially adored all the different olives and olive spreads (tapenades) that we bought from this wonderful young man, but you can capture all the salty deliciousness of the south of France by following this recipe by my friend Leslie Geller, who served it recently at a book group lunch. It was all I could do to keep from licking the bowl!

TWO OLIVE TAPENADE

2/3 c black olives (I used kalamata)

2/3 c green olives, spanish, not stuffed (I used a jar of Spanish olives with pimento)

1 garlic clove

12 flat fillets of anchovies, salt or oil packed, drained well and patted dry

1/4 c small capers drained

2 tsp tomato paste

2 tbls olive oil

You can do this in a food processor, but the author suggested hand chopping.  She also suggested keeping the black olives separate from the green, but I mixed everything together.   You chop up each item up to the tomato paste separately,  you put half of each with the green olives and the other half with the black and can serve them side by side.   After hand chopping, I couldn't see the need and just mixed it all up together.  I would suggest making twice as much as this as I use it on everything I eat until it runs out.