This is a dish that I have made a few times that seems to get better each time I make it. While I typically use my purple basil on top, I find that sticking with the green pairs well with the green tomatoes that are mingled in with the red tomatoes. Plus, I have been told that the purple basil on top looks "wilted" since it is so dark in color. Oh well! (Side note here: I had to pick off several of my late tomatoes while they were still green to save them from a January frost AND if I wait till my tomatoes are completely ripe, the birds pilfer them first!). I used several different tomatoes in this dish from my garden that I had planted during late summer and fall, and due to the region where I live having such a temperate climate most of the year, still had plenty of tomatoes up until about a week ago till Jack Frost finally showed up.
This shows the before and after baking... and underneath the layer of tomatoes there is a layer of black olive tapenade that you can see peeking out in some of the photos... I like to make mine from scratch since it is harder to find it in stores where I live. AND, since I already took the easy route this time by using pre-made pastry dough I figure it's a fair trade-off to make the tapenade myself.
I start the black olive tapenade by using black oil-cured or (Nicoise olives). The jar I had contained pits, so these had to be removed before putting the olives in the blender of course. :) I then added garlic cloves, capers, lemon juice and olive oil and gave it a whirl in the blender to form a nice thick paste.
I put the fresh basil on top after baking so that it still keeps fresh and then drizzle on some basil-infused olive oil. While you may choose to sprinkle some salt on after, the black olive tapenade is quite salty on its own. Freshly cracked black pepper is a nice finishing touch to add.
One can always tell when something I make is "home-made" by the little imperfections or "features" as my husband so generously calls them. I accidentally greased the baking dish too much and the pastry slipped down the sides, hehe! Oh well, it still tasted delicious!
