This Spicy Olive Tapenade makes for a tasty spread, condiment, or dip. Perfect with bread, crackers or served on top of any protein
Spicy Olive Tapenade
Who doesn’t love explosive flavours which enhance crisp, vegetables, protein or pasta? Yes, that’s the beauty of this Spicy Olive Tapenade. It goes with almost everything!
It’s also a dip that demands attention when placed on the table with crisps and crackers! ‘Oh, what’s that?’ some may ask, and some may say ‘Olive Tapenade sounds so fancy!’ But most of all, they’re going to be impressed with the party that’s happening in their mouth once they try the tapenade.
If you’re a fan of olives, you’re definitely going to love this condiment/dip. This is a spicy version of the classic Olive Tapenade.
Before we drizzle the olive oil into the food processor with the olives, it’s first infused in garlic, jalapeño, red chilli and anchovies. We do this by gently frying the spices and anchovies in the oil.
We then blend the fried garlic, chillies and anchovies with Kalamata olives, coriander and lime juice. To balance the acidity and give the tapenade more savoury goodness, we finish by mixing in some freshly grated parmesan cheese.
I love serving my tapenade as a dip with a Charcuterie Board with a selection of cheese, cured meat, vegetable sticks, dried fruits and crackers. In saying that, it’s not just a dip because it’s great served on top of grilled fish, and meats. It’s too easy to take dishes to the next level with this spicy tapenade.
For more tasty dips, try out these recipes:
Pumpkin Hummus with Prawns and Za’atar
This is coming from a person who hated olives and anchovies!
It’s true, when I was younger, I would remove every single olive from my pizza before I ate it. This was quite a tedious task, but I refused to eat any of those disgusting little black rings on my pizza.
Fast forward to the present. Just a few weeks ago, we ordered a few pizzas. When I opened the box, the olives were missing! I was so annoyed and yes, I won’t lie, angry too because we paid extra for olives. Regardless of this, we didn’t call the pizzeria to complain. We’re not the type to make a big fuss unless there was something significant like a half-eaten slice was in our box.
Anyway, here I am, from that girl that removed the olives to the one that’s paying extra for them. Something happened along the way and I fell in love with olives. The funny thing is I can’t pinpoint why.
It’s a different story with anchovies because I never liked them and I still don’t. If they were on my pizza, I would pick them out and give them to my husband, Tomasi. He is funny as he’s not a fan of seafood, but he LOVES anchovies.
I can’t stand eating anchovies as they are, however, I enjoy cooking with them. Anchovies give dishes that extra oomph by adding layers of savoury flavour. I love them in dips, pasta and you have to try these tasty ANCHOVY BREADCRUMBS!
So if you’re not a fan of anchovies like I am, they may pleasantly surprise you in this tapenade.
Ingredients for Spicy Olive Tapenade
Kalamata olives – They named Kalamata olives after a city in Greece. These brined olives are large and dark red-brownish. They’re available whole and pitted. For convenience, I bought mine pitted.
Olive oil – Using extra virgin olive oil sometimes brings out an unpleasant and bitter flavour after being blitzed in the food processor. That’s why I stick to mild or light olive oil, plus the taste is lighter, so it lets the other ingredients shine.
Anchovies – I used a jar of anchovies that was mixed with olive oil. Anchovies have a strong flavour that may be offputting to some. If you’re not a fan of anchovies, add just one or two fillets. I don’t recommend skipping them because they give this tapenade depth and savoury goodness.
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How to make Spicy Olive Tapenade
Step-by-step guide with photos
Drained as much brine from the olives to prevent the tapenade from being watery. Chop the garlic in halves, then roughly chop the jalapeño and the red chilli.
Heat oil in a small frying pan over medium-low heat. Place the garlic, anchovies, jalapeño and red chilli in the oil. Fry and stir regularly for a minute or until aromatic, but don’t let the spices burn or they’ll be bitter. Pour the hot oil over a heatproof strainer and into a bowl to separate the solids from the oil. Don’t worry if some chilli seeds or bits of anchovies fall into the oil. Set the oil and solids aside for later use.
In a food processor bowl, place the olives, coriander, lime juice, sugar and the solids from the oil (garlic, chillies and anchovies). Process on low speed until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. With the motor still running at low speed, slowly drizzle in the oil until combined.
Mix the parmesan cheese into the olives and have a taste, then add salt or pepper if needed.
Leftover – Transfer the tapenade into an airtight container and refrigerate. It’ll be good for up to 3 days.
A Third-Party Application calculated the calories and nutritional information. Please use this as an approximate guide only.
Cooking measurements are in Australian standard spoon and cup measurements.
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Cheers (I’ll drink to that) – Cat Tre
Spicy Olive Tapenade
Ingredients
- ¼ cup olive oil (light or mild) (NOTE 1)
- 3 cloves garlic (cut into halves)
- 3 anchovies fillets (NOTE 2)
- 1 jalapeno (chopped roughly)
- 1 large red chilli (chopped roughly)
- 1 cup Kalamata olives (brined and pitted) (NOTE 3)
- 1 tbsp finely chopped coriander (cilantro)
- 2 tsp fresh lime juice
- ½ tsp sugar
- 2 tbsp freshly grated parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Drained as much brine from the olives to prevent the tapenade from being watery. Chop the garlic in halves, then roughly chop the jalapeño and the red chilli.
- Heat oil in a small frying pan over medium-low heat. Place the garlic, anchovies, jalapeño and red chilli in the oil. Fry and stir regularly for a minute or until aromatic, but don't let the spices burn or they'll be bitter. Pour the hot oil over a heatproof strainer and into a bowl to separate the solids from the oil. Don't worry if some chilli seeds or bits of anchovies fall into the oil. Set the oil and solids aside for later use.
- In a food processor bowl, place the olives, coriander, lime juice, sugar and the solids from the oil (garlic, chillies and anchovies). Process on low speed until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. With the motor still running at low speed, slowly drizzle in the oil until combined.
- Mix the parmesan cheese into the olives and have a taste, then add salt or pepper if needed.
