Saturday Afternoon Platter - Kalamata Olive Tapenade

Saturday, 5pm, wine o'clock. The day is winding down, everyone is occupied and it is time for a lazy afternoon drink with a plate of nibbles.

I think I have mentioned my love of canapés before, and nibbles are down the straight street. Little morsels of yummy food that you can snack on whilst you sip ice cold sauvignon and watch the sun slip lower in the sky. How poetic am I tonight? Must be the glass of wine 😉 I have three great recipes for you this weekend. A wonderful tapenade, some crisp melba toast triangles and marinated feta cheese. All together they make a great nibble platter.

On Australia day this year, Always Fresh were doing a give away. You had to like and share their Instagram picture to be in with a chance of winning 6 products from their range. Well I always have something of theirs in the fridge/pantry so I shared away and guess what? I won!

My box of goodies arrived last week and I couldn't wait to crack open one of the jars and make a batch of tapenade.  Sadly one of the jars didn't make it, it was full of a wonderful red pepper relish when I put it in the fridge and then suddenly it was empty......no idea where it went 😉 but FYI the Always Fresh - Artisan Collection Red Pepper Relish, is really good with brie and crackers (or straight from the jar with a spoon).

This is not a sponsored post, I won these products, but I wanted to share as, well as they are tasty. I used the jar of kalamata olives to make this beautiful kalamata olive tapenade. I love the colour of kalamata olives, the deep dark purply black. In fact in my very first house I painted one wall of my living room a very dark aubergine colour, I loved it! That was a colourful house, I had a bright red dining room and a green kitchen! Although the bedroom was completely white! Anyway back to olives. You could (and I have) make this with green olives, it is just as tasty but not quite as aesthetically pleasing. And my crazy kids will only eat black tapenade so I stick with the beautiful kalamata olives.

This is a very strong and rich olive paste. In France it is eaten spread on thin slices of baguette as an hors d'œuvre. We had a lovely neighbour there who would always have Saturday drinks. Small glasses of pineau, slices of saucisson, bread with tapenade, nuts, dates and thin slices of carrot. Occasionally he would serve a cheese platter as well, but the tapenade and saucisson were the staples.

Weekends are the perfect time for those sorts of platters, and you can mix them up depending on what you have left from the week. Over the next few weeks I thought I would use Saturdays to share a selection of simple ideas for nibble platters. You just need to supply the wine.

Part One of my Saturday Afternoon Platter post. Read the other parts here and here.

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INGREDIENTS

• 200g pitted kalamata olives
• 4 anchovy fillets
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 tablespoon capers (well rinsed if they are the salt packed ones)
• 60ml (¼ cup) extra virgin olive oil

1. Drain the olives and put them into the bowl of a food processor.
2. Add the anchovy fillets, garlic clove and capers to the processor and whizz until everything is finely chopped.
3. Add half of the olive oil and start the processor going.
4. Once that is all combined pour the remaining oil down the feeder tube until you have a smooth paste.
5. Transfer the tapenade to an airtight container and cover the top with oil. Seal and store in the fridge until you need it.