This Italian Tuna Is the Star of Ina Garten's Go-to Party Appetizer & It's Available on Amazon
It’s always nice to serve your dinner guests something to nibble on while you finish up the main course, and Ina Garten has just the savory treat to keep them satisfied before dinner hits the table. It’s a tuna tapenade served on crostini and you can actually get the Italian canned tuna that stars in this recipe on Amazon.
“When I’m having a party, I almost never actually make something to serve with drinks,” Garten said in a clip from Barefoot Contessa shared on the Food Network YouTube page. “But when something is as easy and delicious as tuna tapenade, I make an exception.”
Garten “turns up the volume” on a classic tapenade, which is actually an olive paste from the south of France, by adding A’s Do Mar canned tuna, sourced from Italy. She likes Italian tuna because it’s packed in olive oil and “it has so much more flavor than American tuna, with all due respect to American tuna.”
She flakes the canned tuna into a food processor and adds anchovy paste, fresh thyme, parsley, garlic, and lemon zest. When everything is finely chopped, Garten then adds fresh lemon juice, olive oil, and mascarpone cheese to give the tapenade some creaminess.
Finally, the olives are added to the mix. Garten uses pitted Kalamata olives — “I think they have a really great, sort of, winey flavor” — as well as a few capers and some salt and pepper to pump up the flavor. Whir everything together so the tapenade is nicely blended and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours to meld together.
You can pick up a 12-pack of A’s Do Mar canned tuna on Amazon for around $80. You can, of course, use any canned tuna of your choice, but this is a Garten-approved brand.
A's Do Mar Tuna Fish, 12 Count
Next, it’s time to make the crostini to serve the tapenade on, which “is about as easy as it gets,” Garten said.
She slices a French baguette on the diagonal and places each slice on a sheet pan and coats them with a layer of olive oil. Then pop them into the oven and toast them until they just start to brown. And that’s it — your crostini is done!
It’s finally time to serve this appetizer. Spread your tapenade on the slices of crostini and serve them on a platter, ready for nibbling. Garten suggests serving with rosé, but any wine or light cocktail of your choice pairs well.
Grab the full recipe here and taste this delicious savory tapenade for yourself. Your guests will be so impressed.
Before you go, check out Garten’s best dinner recipes below: