One of the easiest and most flavorful appetizers you can make is olive tapenade. The olive tapenade that is common on appetizer menus today does not often reflect the classic Provencal dish from which the name applies. Tapenade comes from the word tapeno, which is French for caper. Besides olives, classic tapenade contains anchovies, capers and lemon juice and it is served as a spread for toasted baguette slices.   In America, most people think of olive tapenade as a puree of strongly flavored kalamata olives, olive oil, garlic and herbs.  Regardless of its translation, tapenade is now a word that is attached to many dips that don’t contain capers or even olives.  Whichever recipe you choose to make, olive tapenade is great for entertaining in hot weather  since it doesn’t require cooking and since olives are jarred, olive tapenade is a great year-round dip to make. It’s great for sandwiches, used as a pizza sauce or simply as a dip for a veggie tray.

Here is a list of four tapenade recipes we like on Foodista.

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