I had to bite my tongue while Jody prepared this week’s Tomato Salad with Tuna Tapenade. The photographer in me was dying to speak up: Don’t you want to sneak a little preserved lemon into that? Some extra visual pop? Truth be told, my wife has always been a member of the “flavor first ” camp, with visual appeal a distant second. And we use preserved lemons in everything, so this week we’re giving tomatoes a turn, and tapenade. Is anything more summery than the crazy quilt of tomatoes just ripening in New England, along with an herby tapenade, basil and olive oil? If you’ve never sat down at a table with tapenade because you’re afraid it might once have dated an anchovy, then fear not. As Jody explains in her notes, this tuna tapenade’s for you.
Until the late 1980’s tapenade barely registered in the culinary sensibility of Americans. A quick search using the Times Chronicle tool shows that this chunky olive paste only showed up in a handful of New York Times articles before 1970, and even in the following decade, only a few annual blips on the oscilloscope, husbanding its resources until that glorious year 1996, when it appeared in a whopping 36 articles. Tapenade has long been elusive on menus, except as a kind of chunky alternative to the olive oil that some restaurants serve with bread, perhaps because it’s so easy to make at home restaurateurs clients won’t order it. Yet, judging by the tubs of green and black versions of it I’ve seen in every southern French market I’ve visited in the last couple of years, including one in Cahors a month ago, the French still consume it in quantity. In an age of candied pork belly tapenade can seem like a hayseed who wanders out of the olive grove into an alfresco candlelit dinner on his way to the barn. But we remain dedicated fans–it’s rich, it’s salty, it goes great with craft beer or anything else you care to drink outside and, God help me, it’s good for you. Our daughter swears by it in grilled cheese sandwiches. On top of perfect fresh tomatoes, well, I’d tell you how great they taste together, but tomatoes don’t need my help. In fact we should all stop talking about red you-know-whats right now before we suffocate in newsprint. 2014 NYT articles that use the word “tomatoes”: 435. And “tapenade?” Nine. So far, I like to think, so far. Enjoy. Ken
PanMass Challenge Update: Team Rialto-Trade’s intrepid cyclists raised over $128,000 from this year’s ride! Day 1 opened in Sturbridge with a 5:30 departure in the pouring rain that didn’t let up over the next 108 miles. Instead of our usual alfresco celebration that night on team member Marcy Jackson’s lawn, everyone huddled inside, eating off paper plates and drinking red wine, trying to dry out and stop shivering. Day 2 was much better–a further 86 miles on to Provincetown with some sun and only a few sprinkles. Many many thanks to everyone who donated. This brings the team total to over $375,000 in four years of riding to help the Dana Farber Jimmy Fund. Each year research advances and new innovations for the treatment of cancer are found because of the work of the Dana Farber. Donations will continue to be accepted here until the end of September. Thank you.
Tomato Salad with Tuna Tapenade
Ingredients:
- ¼ pound un-pitted oil-cured black olives
- ¼ pound un-pitted assorted olives
- 1 ounce capers, rinsed
- 1 ounce drained water-packed albacore tuna
- 3 garlic cloves, grated on a microplane
- ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup basil leaves
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- 1 tablespoon chopped thyme
- Grated zest of 1 lemon
- Juice of ½ lemon
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon sugar, if needed
- 2 pounds assorted tomatoes (heirlooms, cherry–whatever looks best; the large ones peeled)
- Loaf of crusty rustic bread
Directions:
- Arrange the olives in a single layer between paper towels or a dish towel you’re not concerned about staining. Bash the covered olives with a rolling pin or cast-iron skillet. Peel back the top layer of towel. The pits should easily come free. Combine the olives, capers, tuna and garlic in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to a rough paste while drizzling in ½ cup oil.
- Coarsely chop half the basil and add to the bowl, then add the parsley, thyme, lemon zest and juice. Pulse a few times. You are looking for a loose rough paste, not a puree. Transfer to a bowl and season with salt and pepper.
- Cut the large tomatoes into wedges and cut the small tomatoes in half or in quarters. Chop or tear the remaining basil leaves into two or three pieces and add to the tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper and toss gently. Taste. I added a little sugar to mine. It all depends on the intensity of the olives.
- Spoon the tapenade over the tomatoes and drizzle with the remaining olive oil.
- Serve with the bread.
Jody Notes:
I first made this tapenade on Cape Cod a few weeks ago when my mother spontaneously invited old friends over for a drink on the porch. We didn’t want to go into Hyannis to get hors d’oeuvres, so I opened the fridge to see what I could put together. She had everything I usually put into tapenade, except anchovies. I made it anyway, but since at least half the olives were oil-cured, the flavor was very intense. It needed something to soften the blow. Tuna. It worked. Some people just can’t get over the flavor, or the idea, of anchovies in tapenade. If you’re one of them, I think you’ll like this variation. My mother keeps a pot of herbs on the porch and they’re doing exceptionally well this summer so I plucked a handful and stirred them into the mix. If you make the tapenade a day or so ahead, wait to add the fresh herbs until just before you serve it.
Last Tuesday I demonstrated the recipe at the weekly Farmer’s Market that sits in the plaza between the Science Center and Sander’s Theater on the Harvard campus. It was lunch time and the plaza was filled with people just hanging out and enjoying the perfect summer day at the end of the super moon. In addition to farmers selling fruits and vegetables, there were food trucks, a vendor hawking tamales and grilled corn, and stalls for bakeries and cheese makers. I attracted a crowd, curious about what I’d be making. Some said “Oh yum, I love olives.” Others had never heard of tapenade and wanted a taste, but there was one sceptic. I didn’t have a food processor so I was chopping everything by hand. It really didn’t take very long. She frowned at the tuna, then shook her head and walked away when I added garlic. I smeared some bread with the tapenade, put a tomato slice on top and finished the whole thing with a delicious piece of Ruggles Hill goat cheese from the cheese makers just a few feet from me. Then I handed out samples. Lots of moans from the onlookers. When I closed my eyes and tasted, I was in the South of France. The crowd loved it and–surprise!–the garlic hater returned for her share.
The Garum Factory 
Oh, I’ll make this for sure!! What is that trick you photographed — for getting pits out of the olives?
Jody bashes them with molded lucite holder for reading glasses. But we’re not afraid of making a mess. The easiest thing to do is to put a single layer of olives between a few folded layers of paper towels or a kitchen towel you’re not worried about staining, then bash them with a rolling pin or cast-iron skillet. When you unfold the towels you can easily separate the pits from the olive flesh. I think you’ll enjoy this. Ken
Bashing things with a skillet? Wow, soulds perfect after a week of dealing with my insane M-I-L. Thanks for the terrific instruction! Love it.
Love the simplicity of this. My whole household adores tapenade but I have never actually made if from scratch before. Shame on me !! Another great recipe of yours for me to try. I like the way you won the garlic hater over Jody….I am definitely in the camp that you cannot pass judgement until you have had a sample. Best Torie
I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I also make tapenade when the number of containers of different varieties of leftover olives in our fridge begins to reach critical mass. I just a add olive oil, anchovies (or anchovy paste), and garlic. It’s great. On the other hand, there is obviously a French contingent for whom even this is too much trouble–they’re buying all the tapenade in the markets. Ken
That tapenade sounds delicious. I rarely eat tuna these days, but I might just make an exception!
But I’ll bet you eat anchovies, so you can happily stay with that combination! On the other hand… Ken
Excellent on a number of fronts.
1. You didn’t need the preserved lemon. Beautiful looking as is.
2. Tapenade is a fantastic treat, if one can get good olives. These look excellent.
3. Hero Jodie on the cycling.
Thanks, Conor. You’ll appreciate the fact that when I found myself with a little time on my hands in the rainy parking lot that was supposed to be the rendezvous point with our team riders at the end of the PMC’s first day I noticed a nearby liquor store. I went inside and bought a bottle of Oban–purely for medicinal purposes–to help everyone revive as they rolled into port. Ken
I am getting a mental picture of a soaked Ken (Oban soaked) staggering out to greet the soaked (rain soaked) participants. Is this accurate?
Er, maybe… I remember SOMEBODY was soaked. Ken
Stunning and yum. And you inspired me to preserve some lemons.
My initial comments notwithstanding, tapenade is great with preserved lemons. Then again, olives and preserved lemons are great in just about anything. Good luck. Ken
I love tapenade with anchovies but adding tuna instead is a great idea. And I am definitely going to try your daughter’s grilled cheese sandwich!
She tried talking me into taking a bite, but I was quite virtuously eating the tomato salad with a modest amount of tapenade on it at the time and I was afraid if I gave in there would be no stopping my greased slide to perdition. Ken
Heh, I would have been a pushover. Live dangerously! (And pay regular visits to your cardiologist.)
Great recipe! I am impressed with how beautiful your pictures look! Any advice??
Thanks. Without knowing your level of expertise I can’t say much, except to suggest you gain a basic mastery of shooting in manual, then take a course or workshop in food photography. An inexpensive way to get started is to purchase Matt Armendariz’s (of http://www.mattbites.com) book on food photography for bloggers (http://www.amazon.com/Focus-Food-Photography-Bloggers-Series/dp/0240823672/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408117965&sr=8-1&keywords=matt+armendariz). A slightly more expensive, but still cheap, option is to take an online food photography course with Ron Goldman at http://www.ppsop.com–lots of great feedback. Good luck. Ken
Thank you so much! ;)
Hey folks. First and foremost, WICKED BIG, HEARTY CONGRATS on completing the Pan Mass Extreme Challenge. Thanks for all you did. Thanks for the recipe as well. Just in time for company tonight.
Hey there,
Did I miss you in Rialto last night? I am ensconced in the kitchen these days so I have to be reminded to make my way out. If I did, I’m so sorry. xox Jody
No you did not. It must have been some other short fat bald guy. We all look alike.
Many years ago I made a tuna tapenade (I think from a Patricial Wells recipe) to take to a July 4th party at a friend’s. Perhaps because of the intensity of the olives, the hue of this tapenade was purple. It tasted fine, but was not a big hit. When it was time to retrieve my serving dish and leave the party, there was still lots of tapenade left over. Rather than pack it up and pretend to keep it, or pack it up and give it back to me, the host’s husband unceremoniously dumped it down the garbage disposal. In front of me. Perhaps this recipe will redeem me. I could leave it anonymously on their doorstep (we’re not really friends anymore).
That may be the most vivid example of inhospitable behavior (short of slaughtering and robbing the guests in their beds) I’ve ever read. That would be the sort of event that after which Jody and I would look at each other and ask, “Do you think he just has trouble reading social signals?” And after a moment, both of us saying in unison, “Nah, he’s just an a******.” And that would have been the last time we ever sat at a table with them. I don’t think you need to redeem yourself. By the way, I think it’s a measure of our times that tapenade is not necessarily seen as so intense now. Anybody walking about today with their mouth open in an urban environment has probably casually tasted way more intense food than was available 20 years ago, even to people who were deliberately seeking it out. Don’t waste a batch of tapenade on your (ex)friends. Ken
Actually, that’s pretty much exactly the exchange Jeff and I had afterwards and it was the last time we broke bread with this man (I still see his wife once in a blue moon, but always at a coffee shop). We still laugh about it now (14 years later). In that sense, the tapenade was a hit.
Wow this is beautiful. I love the way you pitted the olives. I had no idea it was that easy, actually. I really like the taste of everything in this and I think the tuna is an excellent substitution for those who don’t like fishy fish. I like the goat cheese idea too. Ken, these photos are stunning. Ever since I made preserved lemons, I see the need to put them in everything too :)
Thanks, Amanda. An easy treat for the height of summer. In a few more weeks we’ll all be moaning about how brief it was. Ken
Sigh, I know. But I love what you guys are doing with summer.
This looks fantastic – I’m going to give it go later on. In France at the moment with access to fabulous tomatoes….Love the pics in this one, you can almost taste them!
If I were in France right now I’d probably be sampling all of the stuff available in the markets–and trusting to the locals to show me how it’s done. Enjoy your stay. I just got back and I’m still jealous. Ken
So gorgeous & the photos are stunning!
It’s hard to take bad photos of ripe tomatoes. :-) Especially when you know how good they taste. But thank you nonetheless. Ken
Great post K&J! What is it with some people and anchovies, tuna and garlic? Matches made in Franco – Italian heaven! A no-brainer to any food lover. Yes, since our local heirlooms are now coming in fast and loose, will be working a variation of this up the coming weeks. Bravo and ciao!
Supertasters, David? People for taste/feel more intensely (painfullY?) than the rest of us? But more likely folks who just weren’t introduced to the joys of anchovies in the right context. Believe me, it makes a huge difference if you taste your first anchovy on beach somewhere in the Mediterranean. It’s all about context. :-) Ken
Dang those cooks who are always thinking about flavor first rather than how pretty it looks in a picture. Your pictures make the food look quite appetizing.
Such a beautiful tapenade. The tuna idea sounds wonderful, although I’m not one to be fearful of anchovies. But I know that those are pitted olives that you placed in your food processor…
Hmm… I assume you’re kidding about using pitted olives. But since others have asked how we do it, I clearly should have included more than one shot of olive-pitting (the green thing Jody is holding is her improvised olive smasher). We don’t use pitted olives. We pit them ourselves–that’s why the edges are so ragged. When Jody sends one winging onto the kitchen floor our pug immediately retrieves it. Ken
Mimi–I owe you an apology. I misunderstood your comment. I thought you meant we were starting up with pitted olives as an ingredients. In fact you meant that we show unpitted olives in the ingredients and then didn’t include the instruction to pit them. You’re absolutely right. Sigh… My brain just skips right over missing instructions… and so, apparantly, does my wife’s. The omission has been corrected. Thanks. Ken