Tag: Tapenade

SOME FOOD SHOTS in New York City and Radish Carpaccio

Life is just a bowl of cherries.

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I have been meaning to write a post from NYC during the last two weeks but have had no time to do this – too much to do, friends to see, many art galleries to visit and so much good food to eat. We ate at many good restaurants and for those that do not like to cook, there was so much good prepared food to buy (not in all neighbourhoods).

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I have decided that posting some photos may tell the story.

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Bistecca Fiorentina was very good at one of the restaurants.

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Some magnificent salumerie (small goods shops) were  a delight to see.

Salumeria at Eataly

These providores also sold a wide range of raw food as well as high quality take a way food.

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You could also eat it there.

Zucchini at Eataly

You will recognise these vegetables.

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Good looking already prepared meat.

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There was a variety of ready to eat fish.

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Prepared dips and the antipasto selection. Caponata is one of the selections.

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Seafood – fresh and sustainable at one of the many Farmers Markets.

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A salad of grilled soya beans and heirloom carrots in one of the many organic, vegetarian restaurants.

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A radish carpaccio as a starter in another restaurant.

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A variety of oysters from many places around NYC (not just Long Island) were one of the many the highlights in this fish restaurant.

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Of course we shopped and ate at Eataly.

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We saw many sea urchins at several seafood markets; they were relatively inexpensive and full of roe.We also had pasta and sea urchins in one of the restaurants.

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I took very few photos in restaurants but I ate well. Bunches of broccoli de rave (cime di rape) and kale were very common in super markets and on on restaurant menus.

Recipe for Spaghetti Chi Ricci – Spaghetti con Ricci di Mare (Spaghetti with Sea Urchins)

Recipe for Radish Carpaccio

Slice radish length wise.
Salt them lightly and  leave them for about 60 minutes in a colander to remove some of their juice. Cover with a little black olive Tapenade and serve.

Recipe for Caponata.

Next Mitchigan.

OLIVE PASTES AND OLIVE JAMS

Olive pastes have been around for a long time and probably Tapanade is the one we know best. This is made of puréed or finely chopped olives, capers, anchovy fillets, and olive oil with the addition of many variations such as mustard, garlic, and being a Provençal dish any of the following herbs common in the South of France – basil, thyme, rosemary and parsley. Olive oil (good quality, extra virgin) is essential.

Some add lemon juice, some brandy. Although it is most commonly made with black olives, green olives also make a good paste, very different in taste of course.

Below, Tapanade made with green olives and caper berries.

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Clifford A Wright (Food Historian and author) offers a plausible explanation for why it is called Tapenade:

The caper plant was known as tapeneï in Provençal, and the flower buds, the part of the caper used for culinary purposes, was the tapeno, which were preserved in amphora filled with olive oil since vinegar was not used at that time. The capers became mushed together in the amphoras to form a kind of pâté of crushed tapeno, the ancestor of the modern tapenade. This is why it is today known by the word for caper rather than olives, which is actually, in volume, the greater constituent ingredient. In the second century A.D., vinegar came to be used more in preserving and so too garlic, the great universal medication in the medieval period when the Greek physician Galen’s medical theories were prevalent.

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I have written about Tapenade once before and there is a recipe for tapenade on my blog:

Tapenade and Cauliflower, travelling in the south-west of France

Italians, Spaniards and Greeks also have versions of olive pastes – usually the pastes made in these countries only contain very few ingredients apart from olives and good olive oil, with maybe some herbs or garlic.

Now what about Olive jam?

I think Italians would find this hilarious and as an Italian food purist I was very skeptical. Yet it is no different from having a fruit chutney or a dab of a strong-tasting, thick paste. It is called Camilo Olive Jam.

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It was the sweetness that made me wonder, but the paste still definitely tastes of olives. The ingredients are black olives, salt, apples, Camilo honey, lemons and chilli, sugar (22.8g per 100g).

I am finding the Olive Jam quite pleasant ( with cheese, meat and fish) especially when I add fresh lemon juice to it.  I have offered it to friends and they too are as surprisingly delighted.

Mount Zero also makes one and unfortunately this is far too sweet for my liking, but then again, I do not have a sweet tooth!

Who would have thought!!!

And for one of my recipes for one way to use Olive Paste with fish:

FISH BALLS IN SALSA – POLPETTE DI PESCE (PURPETTI in Sicilian)

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TAPENADE and cauliflower-Travelling in the South West of France

I had Tapenade at the restaurant recommended in Stephanie Alexander’s Cooking & Travelling in the South-West France.  I stayed with my partner and two friends in the same converted barn – La Vieille Grange in Mercadiol , a small hamlet in the South West of France.

And all this to tell you about olive Tapenade which I love to eat with steamed cauliflower.

Tapenade made from black olives, mustard, anchovies, capers (some use brandy) comes from Languedoc, further south than the Lot, but the olive tapenade I prefer is from Provence. It is fresh and light and very summery. In the Occitan region in the south of France (Occitan –romance language spoken in southern France), the word for capers is tapéno, hence the name for this popular spread.

I present tapenade with bread (fresh or as crostini) but sometimes I accompany it with some vegetable crudities. Raw or steamed cauliflower flowerets are a pleasant addition.

But Tapenade also comes in very handy as a sauce or condiment for simply cooked fish or vegetables and as I have already stated, especially steamed cauliflower.

Tapenade is a pesto and traditionally made with a mortar and pestle. I cut my herbs by hand (otherwise they can taste grassy) and then add them to the olives that I have chopped in the food processor.

I also need to give credit to my friend Liz who introduced me to Tapenade as made in Provence, many years ago.

I do not weigh/measure ingredients when I make this but the following works.

INGREDIENTS
pitted olives, 2 cups (I use Kalamata because I like their strong taste)
capers, 2 tablespoons
garlic, 2 cloves crushed
extra virgin olive oil, 1 cup
lemon juice, 1 lemon
freshly ground pepper, to taste
fresh herbs, cut by hand, 1 cup of each: Italian parsley, thyme, basil (sometimes, I have added marjoram or fresh oregano and even young rosemary)
PROCESSES
Place olives crushed garlic in a food processor and chop to a medium grind (I do not like it too smooth).
Cut all the herbs and add them to the olives, add oil, lemon juice and pepper.
Blend again for 5 seconds to mix the ingredients.

Place the tapenade in a sterile jar and cover it with a thin layer of olive oil – keep it in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

It comes in very handy!!

RADICCHIO, TUNA AND BORLOTTI SALAD and BRAISED FENNEL WITH TAPENADE

River Ouysse
Bridge destroyed in 1966 (can see this from restaurant)