Tapenade and my Vitamix

[bonkboo]

I tried to make tapenade in my vitamix this weekend to less than favorable results. The mixture continually found itself deep in the corners away from the blades. Required numerous stoppages to push the mixture down. Any thoughts? Abandon the vitamix for the food processor? Use the dry ingredient mixer?

[mkayahara]

I guess it depends on what kind of texture you're looking for from your tapenade. If you add more liquid, it'll spin more easily, but you're basically going to end up with a puree. When I make tapenade to eat at home, I prefer to chop it by hand; when I've done it at work, I use the Robot Coupe.

[pastrygirl]

Use the food processor. Blenders usually need more liquid to keep thing moving and are better for purees, processors are better for chopping drier components.

[Shel_B]

Another  vote for the food processor.  Worked great for the times I've made tapenades.

[Lisa Shock]

I just use a knife at home. I can cut up enough for multiple servings pretty quickly, and then just have the knife and board to wash -pretty simple. I also like a chunky texture.

[Katie Meadow]

Made a great tapenade today in the food processor. It is fairly easy to control how coarse the end result is when you pulse it. The recipe was an adaptation of a David Tanis recipe subbing Castelvetrano olives for the black olives and adding parsley. Really good. Seems to me that the type of olive used partly determines whether or not the texture is coarse. An oil cured of softer black olive is more likely to make a pastier spread than a crisper green olive, no?