My sis-in-law, Britanna, is doing a project for school and needs 100 recipes that she likes, and will make. So I’m gonna try to give her some. Yesterday after church, we had sourdough toast with mushroom and olive tapenade for lunch. I also had some leftover artichoke tapenade. I love them both. I don’t ever call anything “appetizers,” because after I’ve had as much as I want, I really don’t need anything else, except a great salad, of course. So this would be a good appetizer, but I use it as a part of the meal.

I have a mini food processor that came with my immersion blender. It works great for both of these. It couldn’t puree anything if it tried, so I don’t ever end up with smooth stuff. Which is good, of course! If you don’t have a food processor, you could just go crazy with a chopping knife and have a really rustically coarse tapenade. It will still be yummy.

Mushroom and Olive tapenade

1 pound button mushrooms, washed and coarsely chopped
20 kalamata olives, pitted OR black olives (Sooo much better with Kalamata)
1 T extra virgin olive oil
salt
pepper

In a non-stick saute pan, heat 1 t of the oil on medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and saute, stirring often, until they have released their juices and most of the juice has evaporated. In a food processor, put the mushrooms, olives, oil, about 1/2 t salt, and a few grinds of pepper. Pulse until it looks almost smooth, but is still a little chunky, scraping down the sides sometimes. If it doesn’t stick together at all, add a little more oil and pulse again. Check for salt and pepper. Serve with crackers or good bread.

Artichoke Heart Tapenade

20 artichoke heart pieces (I like the giant bottle of marinated artichoke hearts from Costco. )
8 Spanish olives without pimento
olive oil
pepper

Put everything in a food processor and pulse as above. Only add enough olive oil to bring the mixture together. Check for salt. Usually, marinated artichoke hearts are salty enough, and the olives add saltiness too, so you might not need to add salt. If the olives aren’t tasty enough, you might have to add more.

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