Mixed Olive and Pine Nut Tapenade with Olive Bread
Olives are a big part of my Mediterranean culture, and I thought this olive and pine nut tapenade would be the perfect appie for impressing my guests this New Year’s Eve especially when served with fresh baked olive bread. Yum!The mixed olive and pine nut tapenade is a quick and easy appetizer to make especially when you have a food processor (although you can make it without one like I did). This recipe also works great if you have extra olives lying around. If you are an olive lover like me, then this recipe will surely be a go-to. If you don’t love olive bread or if you don’t have time to make bread, you can use any flatbread or baguette to serve the tapenade with. This recipe has a wonderful Mediterranean taste and will leave you and your guests feeling full, satisfied and impressed.Tapenade RecipeFor an appetizer, the tapenade can be served in a dish with sliced bread on the side or you could make individual crostinis. To make crostini, toast the bread in the oven with a touch of olive oil drizzled on top. Finish by plating the tapenade onto the crostini and serving.Moroccan Olive Bread RecipeThis was my first attempt at making Olive Bread, which I had been craving for a while. Although I found it to be a bit challenging, and the dough is very sticky, it was worth it! Impress your guests with freshly baked bread that won’t require any machinery. Bonus, it doesn’t need to rest for too long.I found this recipe on youtube by Cooking with Thalia
Ingredients
For the tapenade:
- mixed olives pitted
- pine nuts roasted or pan-fried
- garlic minced, pan-fried or raw if you want a pungent flavour
- Parmesan cheese shredded
For the moroccan olive bread:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour keep extra flour on the side for kneading
- 1 ½ cups warm water
- 6 oz black olives cut into small pieces
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp thyme
- 1 tbsp dry yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
For the crostini
- prepared moroccan olive bread see recipe above; or use a store bought baguette
- prepared olive tapenade see recipe above
- extra virgin olive oil for brushing onto the bread
Instructions
For the tapenade:
- 1. In a food processor, pulse olives and pine nuts. I personally did not have a food processor at hand, so I minced it all manually.
- 2. Add garlic and parmesan cheese.
- 3. Serve with olive bread, either homemade with the following recipe or can be purchased from most bakeries. If short on time, any baguette would work.
For the moroccan olive bread:
- 1. Activating yeast: Dilute the dry yeast with the sugar and 3 tablespoons of warm water. Let the yeast mixture rest for 5 minutes. The yeast is active if the mixture expands and bubbles up.
- 2. Making the dough: (1) Add the water, olive oil, thyme, and salt to the yeast mixture. (2) Gradually add the flour to the mixture until the flour is completely diluted. You will end up with a sticky dough. (3) Add the olives to the dough. (4) Cover the dough and let it rest in a warm place for 30 minutes.
- 3. Kneading the dough: (1) After 30 minutes, the dough doubles in volume. Sprinkle generously flour on your working area and place the dough over it. (2) Sprinkle the dough with flour and knead for the next 10 minutes using the palm of your hand. Add flour to the dough when needed until you end up with a malleable non-sticky dough. (3) Shape your bread. You can make round bread by flattening a ball of dough the size of your fist. To make French Baguette, flatten the dough into a disk using a rolling pin, then wrap the disk into a roll. (4) Transfer the bread to a baking pan covered with parchment paper. (5) Cover the bread and let them rest in a warm place for 30 minutes.
- 4. Baking the bread: Preheat your oven to 420 F degrees. Place your baking pan in the lower third of the oven and let them bake for 30 minutes or until done.
For the crostini
- 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- 2. Arrange bread slices on baking sheet; brush with oil.
- 3. Bake until golden, 15 to 20 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through to cook evenly.
- 4. Place a spoonful of tapenade onto the crostini.
- 5. Serve on a platter.
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