I had originally decided to do a fig and green olive tapenade, but the fates conspired against me as the market in Neomonde, my favorite Mediterranean place here, was out of dried figs temporarily. Dates seemed like the next best option, and I decided to use Kalamata olives to go with the slightly earthier character of dates. Apparently baking dates come puréed in ultra-convenient pouches, so there was no peeling or mashing to be done! I imagine if I looked harder, I could have found pitted olives, but I did it by hand, perfecting the score-and-squeeze method.
Small side note about convenience. Usually when I make things that require very small pieces, I end up chopping by hand. I don't own a food processor, and my blender is nonfunctional. I've used cheap food processors before and thought chopping by hand was actually easier and produced cleaner results, BUT! I borrowed my sister's awesome brand new food processor and it was amazing! My next big purchase will be one. It took all of a few seconds to get the olive bits to the right size, whereas I probably would have been chopping for at least half an hour.
As for seasoning, I decided to go for subtle but interesting flavor. There's only a tiny bit of Garam Masala (premixed from Penzey's), garlic powder, and black pepper. Oh, and a touch of excellent extra virgin-olive oil. Squish it all up and you've got yourself some tapenade!
Club Horizon Tapenade
Need:
1/2 package of baking dates (around 6 oz.)
1 (11 oz) jar Kalamata olives (in brine, pre-pit them)
1/4 tsp heaping Garam Masala
1/4 tsp garlic powder
drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil
chopped flat-leaf parsley for garnish
Do:
Pulse olives in food processor until minced. Combine with the rest of ingredients! Spread on crackers and top with parsley. Pair with Vigneron de Saumur's rosé or any other Cabernet Franc rosé!
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