La Tapenade

In Provence, where I live, we've got a lot of typical dishes.

I made two of them the last week-end, while we had friends for dinner.

Today, I would like to share with you one of those two recipes :  la Tapenade.
This word comes from "tapeno", in Provençal, who means "caper".

Tapenade is a dish consisting of finely chopped black olives, capers, anchovies, and olive oil.

We use to serve it for drink time. But I like to serve it for dinner, when it's too hot to cook.

Generally, I increase fourfold the basics doses. First, because people like it and eat it a lot. Second, because if people don't eat all the dish, you can keep it for one week in the fridge.
Oil is a natural preservative.

It's a very easy recipe.

My husband makes the second dish, that we call "Anchoïade" (anchovy paste). I'll post it tomorrow.

So here what you'll need :

• 200 grammes of black olives without pits.
• 5 anchovies fillets well rinsed (let the water fall ! It can be too salted).
• 8 capers
• 1 glove of garlic
• 4 tablespoon of olive oil.

 No need salt or pepper !

I want to comfort people who don't like anchovies : in this recipe, you won't taste them.

As you can see, in the picture, there are more than 200 grammes of black olives. All the doses are multiplied by 4.

Step 1 :
Rinse very carefully the olives.

Step 2 :
Add the capers, the anchovies and the garlic that you have cut in small pieces or better : with a garlic press.

Step 3 :
Pour the olive oil. I say "4 tablespoon", but you can pour as much as you want. This is not a light dish. But you'll eat it with crudités.

Step 4 : Take your new best friend, the blender and blend all that !

Here is the final mixture.

Serve it, with crudités and little piece of bread.

Here's an example of what we eat with.

 My daughter helped me to prepare the crudités ;)

 Cauliflower (crude, of course)

Carrots

Cucumbers 

Mushrooms

Cherry tomatoes.

Tomorrow, l'Anchoïade !

Yogurt cake

Someone asked me if I had the yogurt cake's recipe. This is the most popular and easiest cake french mums do !

This is a recipe you can easily cook with your children.

You have to use the yogurt jar as a measure.
No matter the size of the yogurt. It will serve for all the other ingredients.

Here, I give you the basics ingredients, with the basic recipe :
You'll need :

• 1 neutral yogurt (125 grammes)
• 1 measure (yogurt pot) of sugar
• 1 measure of neutral oil
• 3 measures of flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder. 

You stir all together and you have the basic yogurt cake's recipe. The operation's details are under.

Now, I use to add a lot of thing to the basic : lemon (I'll make it for my son's birthday, in middle september), candied fruits, chocolate chips, apples, peaches ...etc...

You can also cook it nature, and at the end, you cut it by the middle and put some nutella or jam...

Today, as my husband likes it, I cooked it with candied fruits.

You need the same than before, plus : 

• 1 neutral yogurt 
• 1 measure (yogurt pot) of sugar
• 1 measure of neutral oil
• 3 measures of flour
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoon of vanilla liquid
• 1 teaspoon of rum (Honestly, I use it in a lot of dessert's recipes. It add a sweet perfume, without the alcohol)
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 200 grammes of candied fruits (you can use 300 grammes, if you like it a lot. 

As always, my chicken brain ... I forgot the eggs on the pictures ! 

Your oven must be preheated at 240°C (Th 9 / 464°F).

When you'll put the mixture in the oven, reduce the heat at 180°C (Th 6 / 356°F).

Step 1 :

Stir together eggs and yogurt : 

tep 2 :

Add the sugar, 

And add the flour, with the baking powder...

Finally, add the oil. 

In the original recipe, you need one entire yogurt jar of oil. I use the 3/4. It happened too that I used the 1/2 of the jar. That's good the same.

Add the vanilla, 

And the rum.

Finally, mix all together.

Step 3 : 

Use some flour and pour it on the candied fruits. It will prevent them to fall in the cake's bottom, when it will cook.

Stir them gently.

Step 4 : 

Pour them in the preparation and mix slowly.

Step 5 : Butter and flour the cake pan, and pour the mixture in it.

And in the oven (180°C / Th 6 / 356°F) for 30, 35 minutes (it depends of the oven).

If you want to know if your cake is cooked, knock a knife in the cake.

The strip must be take off, dry.

It will depend of mhat you put inside. If the fixings are "wet", you'll need to cook it a little bit longer.

That what happens with candied fruits. After 35 minutes in my oven : 

You can do this cake (that's what I do, usually) in muffins pans. 

For this, change 2 things :

• 1teaspoon of baking powder,
• 25 minutes in the oven.