Corzetti pasta with olive tapenade is one of those “back pocket” recipes that we love making for a quick and delicious weeknight meal. Simultaneously light and full of flavor, tapenade is a rich, tasty Mediterranean sauce made with olives (you can use either black or green olives, but in our family we always use black olives as we are huge Taggiasca olives fans), anchovies and capers. All the ingredients are blended together with extra-virgin olive oil until they form a dense olive paste that can be smooth and creamy or coarse and grainy. We find that a silky olive tapenade works better with corzetti pasta. Add some fresh cherry tomatoes for some extra freshness.
Corzetti Pasta with Olive Tapenade and Cherry Tomatoes
Serves 4:
200 gr black olives, pitted
2 anchovy fillets, rinsed
1 tablespoon capers
fresh basil leaves
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
cherry tomatoes
Place the olives, the anchovies, the capers, some basil leaves and the extra-virgin olive oil in the bowl of a food processor. Process to combine. If the paste is too coarse add some extra-virgin olive oil and process a few seconds more, until the olive tapenade is creamy and smooth.
Cook the corzetti pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain the pasta and add to the tapenade. Add some cherry tomatoes and serve immediately.