Spaghetti with green olive tapenade

This is the pasta to make when the cupboard looks bare: a quick green-olive tapenade of olives, garlic, capers and anchovy, loosened with good oil and tossed through spaghetti with fresh tomatoes. Ready in the time the pasta cooks.

Tapenade — the Provencal paste of olives, capers, anchovy and oil — is usually black and served on toast. Made with green olives it turns brighter and sharper, and it becomes a brilliant, instant pasta sauce. There is no cooking to the sauce at all: you blitz it while the spaghetti boils, then loosen it with a little starchy pasta water so it coats every strand. Almost everything comes from the cupboard, which is exactly why it belongs in every cook’s back pocket.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 500g spaghetti
• 1 cup green olives, pitted
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 4 anchovy fillets, rinsed and patted dry
• 1 tbsp capers, rinsed
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus more to finish
• 250g cherry tomatoes, halved
• A handful of small basil leaves
• Black pepper

Method

1. Cook the spaghetti in a large pan of well-salted boiling water until just tender, and reserve a mugful of the cooking water before draining.
2. Meanwhile, blitz the olives, garlic, anchovies, capers, vinegar and oil to a coarse, thick paste in a food processor. Do not over-process — a little texture is good.
3. Return the drained pasta to the warm pan. Add the tapenade, the halved tomatoes and the basil.
4. Toss over low heat, loosening with a splash of the reserved pasta water until the sauce is glossy and clings to the spaghetti.
5. Season with pepper — it will need little or no salt — finish with a thread of good oil, and serve.

Go easy on the salt

The one thing to watch is salt, because three of the ingredients bring plenty of their own: olives, capers and anchovies are all cured in it. Taste before you reach for the salt cellar — you will almost never need it, and the pasta cooking water adds more still. If your olives are especially fierce, a squeeze of the anchovy back into milk for a few minutes, or a quick rinse of the capers, tames the edge. This is a dish you balance by tasting, not by following numbers.

The pasta-water trick

The move that turns a dry paste into a proper sauce is the starchy cooking water. A ladle of it, tossed through off the heat or over a low flame, emulsifies with the oil in the tapenade and turns it glossy, so it clings to the spaghetti instead of sitting in a clump at the bottom of the bowl. Always save a cup before you drain — it is the single most useful habit in pasta cookery, and it costs nothing. Keep a little extra virgin back to finish, too, for a fresh, fruity lift the blitzing knocks out.

Element	Do	Avoid
Salt	Taste first; likely none needed	Salting before tasting
Texture	Coarse, with some bite	Over-processed to a puree
Sauce	Loosen with pasta water	A dry, clumping paste
Olives	Firm green, pitted	Soft or bitter black
Finish	A thread of raw good oil	No fresh oil at the end

Cook’s notes

• Save a cup of pasta water before draining — it makes the sauce cling.
• Taste before salting; olives, capers and anchovy bring plenty.
• Keep the tapenade coarse, not a smooth puree.
• Finish with a thread of raw good oil for freshness.

Green olive tapenade pasta: common questions

Do I need to add salt?

Almost never. Olives, capers and anchovies are all salty, and the pasta water adds more. Always taste before reaching for the salt.

Can I make it without anchovies?

Yes, though they add a savoury depth rather than a fishy taste. Leave them out for a vegetarian version and add a few more capers for punch.

Why save the pasta water?

Its starch emulsifies with the oil in the tapenade to make a glossy sauce that clings to the spaghetti instead of clumping. It is the key step.

Green or black olives?

Green here, for their brighter, sharper flavour and firmer texture. Black tapenade is richer and works too, but makes a darker, mellower dish.

Can I make the tapenade ahead?

Yes — it keeps for several days in the fridge under a film of oil, and doubles as a spread for toast or a dip. Bring it to room temperature before tossing through hot pasta.

An original house recipe in the Provencal tapenade tradition.