Easy Olive Caper Tapenade for the Trail

Are there times in the backcountry when you wish your meal had more fresh zing? Well, here’s a great option – an olive caper tapenade guaranteed to give your food some new life! I like to eat it on anything with salmon in it, or as a topping for eggs, or spread on plantain crackers. I got the base for this recipe from The Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook by Mickey Trescott, and adjusted the preparation process for the backcountry. Mickey’s blog is a great source for AIP recipes and information!

This tapenade can be quite salty, depending on what kind of capers you use, so there’s no added salt in the recipe. I like the saltiness on the trail, when I’m burning more water and salts out of my body than at home. Make sure you use Kalamata olives (not green or other black olives) for a nice balanced taste! I prefer Kalamatas found in the fresh olive bar at the grocery, or in a glass jar in brine. I’m not fond of canned Kalamatas, and I don’t think they’d be very good here. But each to their own – if you choose to use something other than Kalamatas from the olive bar or in glass, let me know how it came out!

It’s super simple – you blend up and dehydrate everything except the oil, then in camp, you rehydrate the mix, add the oil and serve! You could even rehydrate the tapenade for dinner, and save some overnight to have the next day with eggs at breakfast or at lunch with dried salmon on plantain crackers. In fact, this tapenade is fabulous on my Smoked Salmon Scramble with Sweet Potato Hash Browns!

measure, blend, pack it up!

Olive Caper Tapenade

NOTE: Makes roughly 1 cup of tapenade once rehydrated. Adjust and package accordingly for the needs of your trip. Don’t forget to adjust the oil you pack in to camp!

Ingredients:

1 cup olives, pitted and drained
2 Tbs capers, drained
2 T olive or coconut oil (melted once in camp)
2 cloves garlic
¼ cup fresh parsley, washed and drained well
NOTE: Olive oil lends a smoother, more traditional tapenade taste. Coconut oil really brings out the salt in the capers. You decide!

Instructions:

1. Put the olives, capers, garlic and parsley in a blender or food processor and blend until the pieces are very small.
2. Place a sheet of parchment paper or a Paraflexx sheet on a dehydrator tray, spread the mix out very thin, and place the tray in your dehydrator. It will be a bit chunky.
3. Dry at 135°F for 6-10 hours (depending on how moist your olives and capers were), until dry and crumbly. During drying, move the mix around once or twice and crumble any lumps you come across, to make sure it dries evenly. If your olives had oil in the brine, the mix may come out with a slightly oily finish on it. Just make sure it’s not actually residual water.
4. Let cool completely.
5. Package in an airtight container (plastic bag or jar) and store in a dark, cool place until use. If you need long term storage, keep in the fridge or freezer.
IMPORTANT TIP: If you’re making this for a trip down the line, be sure to make note somewhere that you need to bring the oil in your kitchen bag for the trail!

To Prepare in Camp:

I suggest copying down the following campsite preparation instructions, so you get it just right in camp. At the bottom of this page is a handy set of print-out directions. Just place the piece of paper in the bag of tapenade mix or in your trail kitchen bag for handy reference.

1. Place dried mix in a cup or small bowl.
2. Add 4 Tbs filtered water and let sit for 10 minutes. Stir it occasionally to make sure all pieces get equal exposure to the water; it likely won’t totally cover the mix, and you don’t want to over-hydrate by adding more water.
3. Add the olive oil or coconut oil (which you’ve just melted), mix and let sit for another 5 minutes.
4. Serve and enjoy!

this tapenade is so good, i eat it with a spoon at home!