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You'll love this sweet twist on traditional olive tapenade and the sweet 'n' spicy topper to the Camembert cheese. These appetizers are incredibly easy to make and oh-so-delicious!
All it takes to assemble this tapenade is a quick spin in the food processor, and the Camembert is even easier to prepare
In our home, December has been the time of year when we’ve finally get around to having friends over for dinner, and starting dinner with a few appetizers is a nice way give the chef plenty of time to sit down and catch up before needing run off and prepare dinner (at least I need to divert most of my attention to preparing dinner).
I’ve made olive tapenade before but this recipe from The Lesley Stowe Fine Foods Cookbook caught my eye with its addition of figs. I love sweet and salty so I thought the figs and olives would be a great pairing, and indeed they were! I’ve made this recipe a few times already and it’s definitely going on my list of easy entertaining go-tos.
Even easier is the warm apricot and chili Camembert I’ve been serving with the tapenade and bread – I’m often running late and slightly frazzled when company is on the way so I don’t even bother making crostini any more, I just have my lovely sous chef (my husband) slice the bread and arrange it on our big, wooden cutting board.
All you do for the cheese is put a dollop of apricot jam on a wheel of Camembert, sprinkle with a pinch of chili flakes, and pop in the oven or microwave until warm and just starting to get oozy.
I heated it for too long the first time I made it and not long enough the second time, but have finally figured out it needs about 5 minutes in a 350F oven or about 20 seconds in the microwave (the oven is always better – who knows what’s really happening to our food when we zap it – but in a pinch the microwave works, too).
While I usually try to buy local wines, I got the Chilean bug after attending the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival Chile 2012 media preview and selected a few of my favourites from the tasting to serve with the appetizers: Carmen’s Gran Reserva Carmenere ($21.99), Vina Montes’ Limited Selection Cabernet Carmenere ($19.99), and Santa Rita’s Medalla Real Cabernet Sauvignon ($22.99).
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Instructions