
INGREDIENTS
- 5 bagels halved and toasted
- 6 ounces drained weight pitted green olives
- 4 ounces drained weight pitted black olives
- 3 ounces sun-dried tomatoes
- 3 anchovy fillets
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 3 tablespoons capers
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
INSTRUCTIONS
- Rehydrate the sun-dried tomatoes by soaking in boiling water until they soften, about 10 minutes.
- Thoroughly rinse the olives or else they may taste bitter.
- Add all ingredients except the bagels to a food processor. Process until the mixture becomes a coarse paste, about a minute, occasionally pausing to scrape down the sides of the food processor bowl.
- Slather the tapenade on toasted bagels and serve.
Tapenade is a coarse savory paste typically made from mixed olives, anchovy fillets, capers, garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil. These are literally Mr. Savory Tooth’s favorite ingredients, so I knew it would be a winner in his book. Tapenade, like most spreads, is very versatile; you can use it as a spread on focaccia bread, a topping for crackers and crostini, a sandwich spread, or as a topping for fish. I chose to use tapenade as a bagel spread, which makes for a mouthwateringly delicious breakfast bagel or snack
Tapenade was originally made via mortar and pestle back in the day, but nowadays you can just puree everything in a food processor. Super simple. You can tell that the resulting paste is going to abound with flavor by looking at the ingredients pictured above — capers, anchovies, green and black olives, basil, and more. I also added a sun-dried tomato twist by rehydrating store-bought sun-dried tomatoes and adding them to the mix here. The result is a richly flavorful and acidic spread that goes well with any toasted savory bagel.
Tapenade keeps well in the refrigerator, so you can make a big batch on Sunday and have plenty left over to enhance your meals throughout the week. I used leftover tapenade to breathe new life to old crusty bread and the end result tasted even better than when the bread was freshly baked.
I absolutely love this recipe. I had forgotten how much I love tapenade, and with sun dried tomatoes? Yum! I’ve got a bunch of bagels in my freezer that are going to get dressed up this weekend!