Olive and Sundried Tomato Tapenade

Taken from Love and Olive Oil.

Calories: 1200 (hard to estimate +-200)

Ingredients

• 2 cups pitted olives (mix of Nicoise, Picoline, black, etc)
• 1/4 C sundried tomatoes
• 1 T capers
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 anchovy fillet (or 1/2 T anchovy paste)
• 1/4 C olive oil
• 1/2 T fresh basil
• 1/2 t thyme, dried
• 1/2 t parsley, dried
• 1/4 t oregano, dried

Preparation

1. Pulse everything in a food processor until reasonably smooth, or reasonably not smooth, whatever you like, adding oil as you go (start dry).  Refrigerate and enjoy over the course of a week, or an hour.

Chicken panino with Sicilian Caponata

I’ll republish this with a caponata recipe next time I make it.  Seeing as I wasn’t exactly in the mood to cook yesterday, I went with Trader Joe’s store-bought Caponata (not bad–all the ingredients are actually food, but it’s sweetened with sugar, which I didn’t notice while shopping) boosted with a tablespoon of Classico Pesto (honestly quite good and cheap, if a little salty).

Calorie Estimate: 800

Ingredients

• Toasted focaccia bread (or other suitable soft bread)
• 4 T-ish caponata (eggplant, celery, tomatoes, oil, onions, olives, capers, wine vinegar, salt)
• 1 T pesto
• 2 oz “fresh” (store-bought, soft) mozzarella
• 3 oz poached/grilled/baked chicken

Preparation

1. Cook chicken in a suitable manner.  I went with poached in salted water for about 15 minutes because I didn’t need to add much flavor or oil directly to the chicken since there’d be plenty of flavor in the caponata and focaccia.
2. Mix caponata and pesto together.  Heat in the microwave.
3. Make a sandwich.  Err, umm, make an open-faced sandwich if your bread is too thick like mine.

Half a puttanesca

This is a quick, satisfying recipe that mixes salty, tangy pasta with cool, creamy ricotta.  A little fresh (well, it’s Seattle, supermarket fresh) mozzarella and prosciutto on the side and perhaps a glass of red wine, and you’re a happy man.

Estimated calories per my serving: 750

Ingredients

• pasta
• capers
• anchovy paste
• olive oil
• garlic and parsley (dried mixed)
• italian seasoning mix (red pepper, oregano, basil, salt, etc)
• dollop of ricotta
• mozzarella ball
• prosciutto

Preparation

1. boil the pasta, drain when al dente
2. warm a splash of olive oil in a skillet, add garlic and simmer.
3. Dump in pasta, add seasonings, anchovy paste, and capers to taste.  Toss well and plate.
4. Drop a hearty dollop of ricotta cheese in the center.