Kalamata Olive Tapenade

A close up of some sandwiches on a blue napkin

This is the first time I have repeated a recipe (see Kalamata Olive Tapenade and Osteria Mozza), but I want to talk about another interesting aspect of blogging that I find really fascinating and frequently amusing. My content management system is WordPress and every day on my dashboard it tells me what search engine terms people used to find my blog. 99% of the queries come through Google, a few Yahoo and very infrequently Bing. The most queried item on my blog is kalamata olive tapenade, and I can’t believe how many ways people can arrange words to say that. For instance:

mozza restaurant crostini recipe
kalamata olive tapenade recipe
recipe for kalamata olive appetizers
mario black olive tapenade recipe
mario olive tapenade
“tapenade recipe” campanile
batali tapenade
crostini mozza restaurant recipe

If you google best kalamata olive tapenade recipe, my post, named above, is the first one out of 37,600 results. This really amazes me and I want to thank Google for this honor.

So people have searched for kalamata olive tapenade, but they’re still deciding to make it or not:

is olive tapenade good for you

one tablespoon of tapenade – I’m not sure if they want to make 1 TBSP or they only have 1 TBSP left and want to find a recipe that uses that small amount.

picture of live tapenade – is that opposed to dead tapenade? Or a typo

what to do with Kalamata olive tapenade – I hope they printed out my recipe.

So now people have printed out the recipe and made the tapenade, but they have questions, such as:

what do you eat with tapenade

kalamata olive spread, how to eat

do you refrigerate Kalamata olives

And finally they have put their leftovers in the frig and:

how long does tapenade last

how long does olive tapenade keep

when is kalamata tapenade bad

what do Kalamata olives look like when they go bad

Oh oh –

By now I have figured out that Google sends every query regarding kalamata olives to my website , because someone looking for a Kalamata olives tour was directed here.

Since I’m writing about search engine terms that brought people to my blog, here are some that have made me smile:

2 day photography workshops are way too much money

too much mint in my cucumber soup

I went to some 1 day workshop for that

Why isn’t my red pepper turning red

1 slice of beet root and 2 stems of asparagus

I attend cooking class because

big bowl of potato salad recipes

I have shrimp, chicken and veggie

potato salad with goats

gooey cheese food

the use of chili to feed goats

Have you had some interesting search engine terms that directed people to your blog?

A plate of food with meat, avocado and oranges.


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Kalamata Olive Tapenade Crostini

Makes about 1 cup

1 1/4 cup black Kalamata olives with pits, yielding 1 packed cup of olive meat
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2-3 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest from 1 lemon
1-2 garlic cloves, pressed
4 large leaves basil, minced (1 tablespoon)
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon orange zest (optional)

whole milk ricotta cheese
sour dough baguette, preferably La Brea Bakery
basil chiffonade

1. Remove pits from olives.

2. Place all ingredients in a mini food processor and process until a paste is formed.

3. Transfer to a clean container and refrigerate until needed. Will keep three to four weeks.

4. Slice the baguette diagonally into ¼-inch slices.

5. Top each slice with about 1 tablespoon of ricotta, making a small depression in the middle in which to place the tapenade.

6. Scoop about a tablespoon of tapenade on the blade of a knife. Push the mixture down the knife with a finger to form a ball shape and place it in the depression. Top with basil.

10 Comments

  1. Monet on 08/19/2010 at 4:23 am

    I haven’t even looked! I’m going to have to do some analysis now. But I must say that I can see why this brings people to your site…there may be nothing better than thin slices of bread and olives on top!

  2. Andrea @ Fork Fingers Chopsticks on 08/19/2010 at 5:05 am

    I missed the tapenade post – so glad I saw this one. So now you’re the queen of tapenade? The orange zest is an interesting twist.

  3. polwig on 08/19/2010 at 9:43 am

    This is the only funny one I got so far “i am looking for a good pasta vegetarian dish that i can make for dinner tonight that does not require a long time to make”. Made me laugh – who puts that in a search engine? And least they did not add Please 😉

  4. Grapefruit on 08/19/2010 at 11:45 am

    Loved the read!
    Let’s see now – you made me look and here what I got today:

    ‘baking fruit slims’ (???)
    ‘monkey things’ (!!!)
    ‘kidney bean seeds’ (this is funniest of all)

  5. Lentil Breakdown on 08/19/2010 at 8:01 pm

    Well, I actually read the first post and planned to make it, so I am really really planning to make it now! And after this, I’m going to try your potato salad with goats.

  6. nuts about food on 08/19/2010 at 8:34 pm

    Still too new a blogger to be analysing how people visit me, I still get excited about one new comment. But the funny truth is I discovered this blog and have been following it since I found a picture of your quiche with kelemata tapenade on foodgawker, or was it tastespotting? It looked so delicious, I had to discover who made it immediately. And have not stopped reading since.

  7. Juliana on 08/19/2010 at 8:38 pm

    These crostine look amazing…so tasty and so nice presented…lovely pictures!

  8. Julie Anne Rhodes on 08/20/2010 at 5:25 am

    Well I don’t know what two day photography workshop they went to, but I’d love to take one with you! Your food photography is stunning!

  9. Mika on 08/21/2010 at 7:31 am

    Nope, nothing that can make smile…
    But I have to try your kalamata tapenade now, finally I found kalamata olives and I love tapenade…

  10. Carolyn Jung on 08/25/2010 at 10:14 pm

    I always get amused by seeing the keyword searches that get people to my blog, too. I think some of the funniest have been “Eric Ripert wife photo” and “can you eat jook cold.” Too hilarious. 😉

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A woman with glasses smiling for the camera.Hello! My name is Lynne Hemer, and I am a woman obsessed with food and cooking, in search of new, unusual, exotic, and sublime ingredients and recipes. I love reading cookbooks, taking cooking classes, going to restaurants, photographing food, and blogging about it all! I hope you enjoy my website as much as I enjoyed creating it.

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