OLIVE U

🫒♥️

**Green Olive Tapenade**

This green olive tapenade is salty, briny, herby, and rich, with green olives, capers, anchovies, basil, parsley, garlic, lemon zest, pine nuts, and olive oil. It takes only a few minutes, but the key is pulsing it correctly so it becomes a spread with texture, not a completely smooth paste (unless you enjoy olive baby food, but let’s not go there).

**Prep time:** 5 minutes
**Cook time:** 0 minutes
**Serves:** 8

**Ingredients**

2 cups pitted green olives, such as Castelvetrano, Cerignola, or Manzanilla
5–6 anchovy fillets
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup fresh parsley
1/4 cup capers, drained
1 medium garlic clove
Zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Flaky sea salt, for serving

**How to make it**

Add the green olives, anchovy fillets, pine nuts, basil, parsley, drained capers, garlic, and lemon zest to a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Pulse several times until everything is coarsely chopped and evenly mixed. Do not blend continuously yet, because you want to break everything down gradually and keep some texture.

Scrape down the sides of the food processor with a spatula so no big pieces of olive, garlic, or herbs stay stuck at the top. This small step helps the tapenade blend evenly instead of giving someone one random bite full of garlic (funny once, not funny twice).

Add the extra-virgin olive oil and kosher salt, then pulse again until the tapenade becomes spreadable. The texture should be thick and slightly rustic, not watery. If it looks too dry, add a little more olive oil, one spoonful at a time.

Taste before serving. Green olives, capers, and anchovies are already salty, so do not add extra salt too quickly. If the flavor feels too strong, a tiny bit more lemon zest or fresh herbs can brighten it without making it watery.

Spoon the tapenade into a bowl and let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes before serving if you have time. This helps the olive oil soften and lets the flavors blend together. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil, a few extra pine nuts, fresh basil, and a pinch of flaky sea salt.

Serve with toasted baguette slices, crackers, crudités, grilled bread, sandwiches, roasted fish, chicken, or as part of an antipasto board.

**Important tips**

Use pitted olives to save time and protect your food processor blade.

Do not overblend; tapenade should have texture.

Drain the capers before adding them.

Taste before adding more salt.

Let it sit at room temperature before serving for the best flavor.

For a vegetarian version, leave out the anchovies and add a few extra capers.

**Nutrition per serving**

Calories: 231
Carbohydrates: 3 g
Protein: 2 g
Fat: 25 g
Fiber: 2 g
Sugar: 1 g
Sodium: 973 mg

Would you serve this with toasted bread… or add it to sandwiches for extra flavor?