Olive Tapenade

"Tapenade is a Provençal dish usually consisting of puréed or finely chopped
olives, capers, anchovies and olive oil. Its name comes from the provençal word
for capers, tapenas. It is a popular food in the south of France, where it is
generally eaten as an hors d’œuvre, spread on bread.
Tapenade's base
ingredient is olive. The olives (most commonly black olive) and capers are
finely chopped, crushed, or blended. Olive oil is then added until the mixture
becomes a paste. Tapenade is often flavored differently in varying regions with
other ingredients such as garlic, herbs, anchovies, lemon juice, or brandy."

-Wikipedia

You can't always trust wikipedia, but this sounded pretty right on to me. I had no idea what Tapenade was until a recipe I wanted to make a couple years ago called for it.
Keeping it short and sweet:
Olive tapenade is expensive and can be hard to find. Make your own! It's easy, and so very delicious!



Yield: about 13 ounces

You Will Need:

- 1 cup pitted kalamata olives, rough chopped
- 1/4 cup green olives, any filling removed (ie, pimentos or almonds) and rough chopped
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 Tablespoon anchovy paste
- 1 Tablespoon pine nuts
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until the mixture takes on the consistency pictured above.
Tapenade is a spread, perfect for bruschetta, or on THESE:
Tomato and Tapenade Tarts

Honey Garlic Salmon, and the baddest virgin in Texas! (9/27/2009)

Bleh. I had to work last night. This was sad for Jacob because he had to eat leftovers. This is sad for you because I had no recipe to post. It was sad for me because I hadn’t been called into work for two weeks, and I had gotten used to my life of luxury. I have to work again on Monday night, but do not fret my dears; I have a yummy pasta salad recipe for you that I will post.

Last Thanksgiving, as some of you may remember, I left Escalante with a little stow away. That stow away was a dirty little book called The Baddest Virgin In Texas. Who would have thought that in the Escalante senior center, where Jacob’s family has started hosting Thanksgiving dinner, so many exciting stories lay waiting for me to discover?! I had read all but the last 20 pages or so…until yesterday morning. Do you want a little taste? You want a little taste of it, don’t you?

“And Lash’s lips parted and his eyes widened and his Adam’s apple swelled and
receded again as he swallowed hard. His gaze moved slowly down the silky teddy,
back up again. He drew a shallow breath. ‘Mercy,’ he muttered, and she thought
maybe he meant it.
Too bad if he did. She wasn’t going to show him any mercy
tonight.”



And then I got to read in awkward, vivid detail everything that happened next. Whoo!

Then I ate brownies. No, that’s not an innuendo. I really needed a brownie after that.

What will I read next? I think Romance novels are my new thing…

Tonight I made honey garlic Salmon. It’s my favorite way to eat salmon, and the sauce tastes really yummy over rice. It is so easy to make, and it comes together in about fifteen minutes. Woo hoo! You could spent all afternoon reading smut, throw the salmon together right before your significant other comes home, and pretend you spent your afternoon in the kitchen! …I do a lot of pretending.

For the Salmon you will need:

-2 to 6 salmon steaks
-one cup honey
-3 cloves garlic, minced
-1 tablespoon soy sauce
(The sauce supposedly makes enough for six steaks, but I make that amount for two, and there is just enough sauce left to spoon over rice, so if you are cooking for more than two, I would consider doubling the recipe.)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the ingredients in a sauce pan and heat over medium high until honey and soy sauce are combined.

Place steaks in a single layer in a shallow, greased baking pan. Brush sauce over salmon steaks prior to baking. Cook salmon in oven for 15-20 minutes, depending on size of steaks.

Roast Salmon and Vegetables (9/18/2009)

I am so excited! Today I am posting my first recipe, and my blog already has one official follower. He happens to be a vegan, so... sorry Jon you'll probably never be able to eat any of the posted recipes. But thank you for being my first fan.

For this recipe you will need:

2 large fennel bulbs, frons removed

1 pint grape tomatoes

8 cloves garlic, minced

1 lemon thinly sliced

1/4 cup olive oil - (side note: if you refer to olive oil as "e.v.o.o." you are a huge dork.)

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

6 sprigs fresh thyme

4 6 oz. salmon fillets, skin removed if preferred

(I cut this recipe in half for Jacob and I, although I did use an entire lemon.)

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Cut each fennel bulb in half lengthwise, then cut each half into 6 wedges. In a roasting pan or large baking dish toss the fennel, tomatoes, garlic, lemon slices and olive oil with the salt, pepper and fresh thyme. Spread out the mixture into a single layer and roast until the fennel is tender, about 40 minutes. Season the Salmon with some of the kosher salt and pepper, and place on top of vegetable mixture. Return to the oven and roast until the salmon fillets are done (they will be the same color throughout and will flake easily). This should take about 12 minutes depending on the size of your fillets, mine took a little longer because they were huge. Discard the lemon before serving.

I hope you all love this salmon recipe. I served it with mashed potatoes that I had left over from earlier in the week, but you really could eat this on its own or with rice. The recipe is from an old issue of Real Simple Magazine, probably about 3 years old. Enjoy!!