My mother gave me this lovely book simply called Charcuterie, published in 2014. “How to enjoy, serve and cook with cured meats.”
For the blog I’ve already made an eye catching and incredibly tasting salad – chorizo and red cabbage.
This little book is full of surprisingly unique recipes using charcuterie, making charcuterie, or for charcuterie.
Case in point, puttanesca relish caught my attention. Being that pasta puttanesca is my favorite pasta dish, I could easily imagine all of the puttanesca flavors together, served as a relish.
From the book, “This relish is quite like tapenade, but it’s lighter and not as rich. It can be used to add to sandwiches and recipes, but it’s also lovely served with a charcuterie board and spooned onto the meats.”
I couldn’t wait to make it. It’s as easy as making a tapenade, because you can use your food processor.
Puttanesca Relish
Slightly adapted
2 ounces pitted Kalamata olives
2 anchovy fillets, drained
2 teaspoons capers, drained
Big pinch of fresh chopped parsley
1 garlic clove
2 tablespoons olive oil
7 ounces canned San Marzano tomatoes, seeded, drained
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Sprinkle of cayenne pepper flakes
Place the first six ingredients into a food processor and whizz until the pieces are nice and small and the texture is relatively smooth.
Add remaining ingredients. Leave some small chunks, don’t let it become a purée.
Transfer the mixture to a small sterilized jar or an airtight container and cover, if not using immediately.
I served the relish with soft bread, Parmesan, and soprasetta. It is outstanding.
This relish will keep for a week in the refrigerator, and is suitable for freezing.
If you freeze it, make sure to test the relish. It might need a boost in flavor.
I will definitely be making this again and again.
I used a new product for this recipe – capers in olive oil. Excellent.
