Once you go Black Olive Tapenade you don't go back

         Black Olive Tapenade on a fresh Baguette with Chevre  

 In my experience even the biggest foodie has a few things they don't care for. With that being said I want to share a recipe I created to work around a few ingredients I don't care for. 

   When shopping in the grocery store you normally only see two kinds of Tapenades; Chopped green olive Tapenade and Kalamata Olive tapenade. This is a problem for me considering the only olives I like are Black olives or Black Cerignolas (A large black olive from Italy). Problem number two, 90%-100% of Tapenades contain Capers in which I also dislike. This left me with no choice but to create my own!

 Step one was to figure out how to mimic the flavor profile of your every day Tapenade and make it to be something I could enjoy and share with friends, family and guests. In general Tapenades are made of two major components; Savory and salty. Green olives have meaty and rich flavor as well as a salty brine, Capers add the bulk of that salty component as well as a slight peppery taste. Black olives still do a great job of bringing a similar flavor to the table as Green olives, step one check. The easy part was taken care of... now how to replace the Capers?. The Solution was a small cocktail pickle called a Dill Cornichon. This Fun little pickle also goes by the name Gherkin(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gherkin). I had my base flavors down which meant it was time to start the experimenting. To get a recipe that I was happy with it only took about two times of messing with amounts to get it to taste just how I wanted it to.

* Olive bars are your friend when you only need a few things *

   Black Olive Tapenade:

Ingredients:

• 1 4.25oz can of Chopped black olives
• 3-4 Medium to Large Dill Cornichons
• 2 large Pitted green olives (I used seasoned ones from an olive bar) 
• 4-6 Cloves of Roasted Garlic (I used Roasted and Marinated from an olive bar)
• Pepper to taste
• 1 Teaspoon Onion powered
• 1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

-Put Chopped Black olives into a small mixing bowl and set aside.

Chop the Cornichons and Green olives into like size pieces and mince the garlic.

- Combine the Cornichons, Green olives and Garlic into the bowl with the Black olives and mixed until well blended. Add the Pepper, onion powder and Olive oil into the bowl, Mix well.

*This recipe will Keep in the fridge for about a week.

 To complete this Appetizer I took a fresh French Baguette and sliced it to about half inch thick pieces.

Then spread a layer of Chevre (I used Laura Chenel ). If you are not a fan of Goat cheese you can also use a higher end Cream cheese. Also this may be the Cheese Monger in me but please do not use Philadelphia cream cheese if you go that route, the flavor and texture is all wrong.

This Wonderful Combo of Creamy and Tangy Chevre with salty Tapenade pairs wonderfully with a lighter red wine such as a Barbera or an Oaky Chardonnay.  If you are more of a beer drinker like myself, I paired this with a Sommer Brau. A light wheat style beer with just a hint of hops.

I Hope you Enjoy this recipe and if you have any questions I would love to hear from you.

As always Thank you,

Angel