Tapenade/olive dip

[CathyA]

I've been trying to think of Vegan dips to take to my daughter's master recital reception. I'm making the usual spinach dip with vegan stuff, hummus, veggies, but I wanted one more. I found a recipe for Tapenade on the internet with good reviews. It has black and green olives (I know Tapenade usually only has black), capers, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil.
Do you think I could make this a day ahead, or would it be one of those things that forms liquid in it if it sits too long?
Do you think crackers and pita chips are okay with this, or should I provide little bread slices?
Thanks.

[treehugger]

I definitely think you could make that the day ahead, if any liquid surfaces, just stir it back in. Re: bread slices, from a serving perspective, I would avoiding them. They dry out pretty quickly, so aren't ideal to prep ahead and set out at large gatherings. Crackers and pita chips hold up much better and are just fine.

Have fun at the reception!

Kara

[CathyA]

Thanks Kara!

[Gina]

I also think tapenade would hold well. It would probably improve in flavor.

If you want to use bread, treehugger is right - fresh would dry quickly if pre-sliced. (unless you kept it in a plastic bag) Another option would be to intentionally dry it into uniformly nice dry, crispy rounds. Sort of like swieback (sp?). Get a small diameter bagette, slice it thinly on a slant, then lay the pieces onto racks, put into oven at about 325, leave in a very few minutes, then turn off the oven and without opening the door, let the bread totally dry in the decreasing heat of the oven for several hours, or overnight.

The times and temps are just a guess, but I've dried bread this way in the past by winging it, and it's wonderful. LOL, but pita chips/crackers would be a lot easier. :)

[CathyA]

Thanks Gina!

[CathyA]

I just made a little sample for myself to try, since I'd never had it before. WOW......VERY salty. But what did I expect, with black and green olives? I think I'll add fewer green ones and more black ones. I don't know if anyone will even like it. I'm just trying to think "Vegan". I'm making half Vegan stuff and half non Vegan stuff. (only a couple of these people are Vegan). DD doesn't want me to label anything. She thinks everyone should be happy with Vegan stuff. I think she's a little wrong. :)
For the non Vegans I'm making a ranch dip for the veggies and a cracker/cheese/summer sausage tray. She's making guacamole. I have an assortment of Vegan and non Vegan cookies. But there again.......who will know which is which? She acts like labeling things is like putting a big red "A" on her. haha

[Gina]

WOW......VERY salty.

If you want to remove some of the salt from olives, soak them in cold, plain water a few hours, or for even less, overnight in the fridge. It's amazing how bland they taste without all that salt. Maybe removing just some would be the best.

If I went to a gathering with only vegan foods, I guess I'd consider it a 'culinary experience'. ;)

[Kat]

Oh, I love tapenade. It is kind of salty, though, since it has so many olives in it. I used to make a lovely sandwich with tapenade on a baguette with goat cheese and roasted peppers and egglplant. Yum! I guess the goat cheese wouldn't appeal to you, though.

One of my favorite ways to eat olives is 1 block of cream cheese, 20 green olives, and 3-5 cloves of garlic (depending on how big the cloves are and how much you like garlic). Chop the garlice and olives and mix in the softened cream cheese. Serve with crackers (we like Ritz). Easy and good! If there is a vegan replacement for cream cheese, maybe you could try it sometime.

I think people will appreciate the dishes you are bringing!

[CathyA]

Thanks Gina and Kat,
I LOVE goat cheese.......but its not Vegan. :( This particular recipe has half black olives and half green, so maybe I should just not include the green ones. I think alot of people don't like the green ones......what do you think?
There is a recipe I found that has black olives, soy cream cheese substitute, garlic, roasted red peppers. I'm a little hesitant with the soy cream cheese though. It can have a funky aftertaste.
I really shouldn't be trying new things for a gathering though, without testing them first.
I'm making the usual Knorr spinach dip with Vegan sour cream and veganaise. Its almost as good as using real sour cream and mayo......but not quite.

I did see an interesting recipe that required 24 ounces of green olives (wow!) and vegan cream cheese and veganaise, onion, chili powder and garlic. Maybe it would taste something like your recipe Kat?
I always drive myself crazy for these receptions. I've done enough of them, you'd think I'd have it all figured out by now. But this Vegan thing as thrown a wrench into my culinary works. haha Plus.....these Vegan things are really expensive!
I always make too much stuff, but have this fear of running out and people standing there, looking at empty dishes on a table with sad looks on their faces!!
haha

[CathyA]

Well, I grew weary of trying to figure this out. The sample of the tapenade I made this morning was just too strong, and so I'm not going to make it. I did buy a bunch of grapes on sale.....and those are Vegan! haha
I'm also making another dish for the meat-eaters........its a real simple crab dip. I wanted to make another vegan dish, but I didn't want to take something I never tried before and I don't have the time to keep trying different recipes, and buying expensive Vegan ingredients that I might not use. I'm not a social person and just going there is stressful enough........but there's all this food too.
I'm glad DD is thinking about what she eats and the impact it has on animals and the world, but dang, it makes preparing for events hard.
Thanks for all your suggestions!