This isn’t a tapenade in that there’s no anchovy and this is cream cheese based, unlike a tapenade which consists mostly of the puréed olives themselves and is consequently much more intense. But this milder alternative nevertheless is given a good whack of flavour by the addition of caperberries.

Ingredients

120 g pitted green olives

18 green manzanilla olives stuffed with red pepper paste (or similar)

250 g full fat cream cheese

250 g crème fraîche

3 or 4 plump caperberries, stems removed, chopped

Juice and finely grated zest of 1 lemon

½ tsp crushed dried garlic

Salt and white pepper to taste

Method

Remove the stems from the caperberries and chop the berries. Drain the olives into a small container so that you can refrigerate the brine for use in a marinade for chicken or lamb later. (Never throw out olive brine, it’s a wonder of a marinade or savoury sauce ingredient and can also be used in a salad dressing.)

Put the cream cheese and crème fraîche in a food processor (or in a bowl if using a handheld blender) and add all the olives. Chop the caperberries and add them too.

Add the juice and finely grated zest of a lemon and the crushed dried garlic, and season with salt and white pepper. (I prefer white pepper to black for pâtés, cream sauces and creamy soups.)

Blend until smooth and swirl in a presentation bowl as you would hummus. Wild garlic chive flowers are blooming at the moment, and they make a perfect garnish for this. Serve with crackers or crusty bread. DM/TGIFood

Tony Jackman is Galliova Food Champion 2021. His book, foodSTUFF, is available in the DM Shop. Buy it here. 

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