Orange & Green Olive Tapenade
The best thing about this recipe is it’s flexibility. Switch out the oil, herb, olive variety or citrus at your pleasure. I’m looking forward to trying kalamata olives with lemon and basil. Yum! You could totally skip the soaking step, if you wish. It just takes away some of the extra saltiness of the olive brine, the water in which the olives are packaged. If you can find an olive bar, you will bring home a tastier olive than the canned variety. It’s worth trying to locate one in your town/city. Kinda like having a good cheese shop. Buying the right stuff is half of what makes a good meal!
2 cups green olives, pitted without pimentos *
2 tsp orange zest
2 tbsp unrefined flax oil
1 tbsp fresh-squeezed orange juice **
1 tbsp chopped fresh marjoram, plus a few unchopped leaves for garnish
Soak the green olives in water for 30 minutes. Drain and rinse. Put olives and orange zest in the bowl of a food processor and pulse 10 times. Get your flax oil ready. Turn on the motor and pour the flax through the spout. Once the oil is added, turn off your motor. Check the texture. It should be grainy without any large chunks. If you have chunks, scrape down the sides and pulse a couple more times until consistently grainy. Refrigerate until you are ready to serve. (If you are serving immediately, proceed to the next step.) At service, stir in orange juice and chopped marjoram. Sprinkle 3-5 whole marjoram leaves on top for edible garnish.
* If you can’t find olives without pimentos, simply pull them out! It won’t take long…
** The orange zest and orange juice can come from the same orange. Just make sure you zest before you juice. It’s impossible vice versa!
