Tapenade 2

Ingredients

• About 2c pitted black olives
• About 2tbsp capers
• About 1tsp garlic powder
• about 2tsp anchovy paste
• 2tbsp olive oil
• about 1tbsp dried basil
• salt and pepper to taste

As you can tell, this is a very scientific recipe. I'm including it because it was slightly different from our previous tapenade, but just as successful. Anyway, just throw everything in a cuisinart and blend with olive oil drizzling in. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Thoughts: This was pretty great. Very successful. I don't have much to say about it.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Tapenade

Based off of Alton Brown's recipe.

The wild tapenade stalks the plate of toasted French bread.

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb pitted olives, rinsed (we used Peruvian olives, which are a lot like kalamata olives except that they're larger, they're purple, they're softer, and the taste is slightly more mild)
• 2 anchovy fillets (you can rinse them if you like -- it depends on what they're being kept in)
  
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1/8 cup torn basil leaves
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Once you've done all the rinsing you would like, put everything in a food processor and process it. Eat it.

Thoughts: This stuff is awesome. It was purple, of course, instead of black or green, which was a little weird but not enough to be off-putting. The flavors were perfect. I might go through and modify ratios of things just for fun, but this is like, restaurant quality.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Wheat Berry Salad with Tomato, Feta, Zucchini, and Olives

Based on a dish we had in Italy that originally uses farro instead of wheat berries. We couldn't find farro in our local Giant. Wheat berries worked just fine.

Ingredients

kalamata olives, as many as you'd like

chopped tomatoes, as many as you'd like

1/2 cup dried wheat berries

1.75 cups water

crumbled feta cheese, as much as you'd like

salt

pepper

basil (though mint would be even better)

olive oil, to drizzle on top

grilled zucchini, if you like that sort of thing.

The trickiest part of this recipe is making the wheat berries (i.e making sure you have the ratio of berries:water correct). We tried doing it on the stove, but you know what happens when you turn your back on stovetop wheat berries? They totally burn and ruin your new cookware (we actually salvaged the pot but we did start a fire and now our apartment is filled with the lingering scent of burned wheat berries. What does this smell like? PRAY YOU NEVER FIND OUT). We also tried cooking them in our new slow-cooker, which worked much better but which left a lot of water. If you do it on the stove, you will need to stir constantly. CONSTANTLY. SERIOUSLY. I would recommend using a slow-cooker, if you have one.
Once you have your wheat berries made, refrigerate them until they're cool (several hours).
Mix in your tomatoes, zucchini, feta, olives, basil/mint, salt/pepper, and olive oil. Toss. Eat.

Thoughts: Oh my goodness this is so good. It's like, taking all of the most savory things from the Mediterranean and putting them together and then eating them. It's exactly like that. The only thing we're missing is anchovies...we'll have to experiment with this. The first time we made this (on the stove) the wheat berries were not quite soft enough, but the second time we made them (in the slow-cooker) they were perfect. Seriously, I could eat this all day and it's hella easy. It's a really nice summer dish.

Disaster Index: 1/10