Crostini with Olivada
By America's Test KitchenPublished on June 23, 2009
Yield
Makes 20 crostini
Ingredients
Before You Begin
A puree of black olives, called olivada in Italy and tapenade in southern France, often appears spread on little toasts as an antipasto. The paste is similar to pesto, but black olives take the place of the basil. Olivada is rich and potent, so it is best used sparingly. Tiny crostini are the perfect way to enjoy these flavors. If you have any leftover olivada, toss it with linguine or spaghetti, the same way you might use pesto. We like to use our Crostini for this recipe, but you can also use another recipe or store-bought.
Instructions
- Place the olives, oil, capers, anchovies, basil, and rosemary in a food processor. Process, scraping down the sides of the bowl, until the mixture is finely minced and forms a chunky paste, about 1 minute. Transfer the olivada to a small bowl. (The paste can be refrigerated for 1 or 2 days or longer if covered with a film of oil.)
- When ready to serve, spread about 2 teaspoons olivada over each piece of crostini and serve immediately.
Yield
Makes 20 crostiniIngredients
Ingredients
Ingredients
Why This Recipe Works
Our olivada recipe contains a variety of assertive flavorings, but the kalamata olives, which are easy to pit and have powerful flavor, take center stage. As for the auxiliary flavorings, most olivada recipes include capers and anchovies and tasters liked both. Extra-virgin olive oil adds its characteristic flavor and helps tie the ingredients together, but we found it best to add oil sparingly. Too much oil made the puree too smooth and it soaked through the crostini on which it was dolloped. While some olivada recipes suggest hand chopping the ingredients or using a mortar and pestle, we thought a food processor made the best sense, since it processed the ingredients to the perfect coarse but uniform texture in just about one minute.
Before You Begin
A puree of black olives, called olivada in Italy and tapenade in southern France, often appears spread on little toasts as an antipasto. The paste is similar to pesto, but black olives take the place of the basil. Olivada is rich and potent, so it is best used sparingly. Tiny crostini are the perfect way to enjoy these flavors. If you have any leftover olivada, toss it with linguine or spaghetti, the same way you might use pesto. We like to use our Crostini for this recipe, but you can also use another recipe or store-bought.
Instructions
- Place the olives, oil, capers, anchovies, basil, and rosemary in a food processor. Process, scraping down the sides of the bowl, until the mixture is finely minced and forms a chunky paste, about 1 minute. Transfer the olivada to a small bowl. (The paste can be refrigerated for 1 or 2 days or longer if covered with a film of oil.)
- When ready to serve, spread about 2 teaspoons olivada over each piece of crostini and serve immediately.
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