Spider Caviar

I have a real fear of spiders. Spiders creep me out. I squeal like a little girl when surprised by them. My nightmares are usually about spiders. When I was younger, in my 30's, I used to have a recurring nightmare about tons of spiders coming down all around me while I slept at night. I'd sit up in bed, yelling and swatting the spiders away...I seemed awake, but I was still very much asleep. This came much to the surprise of my husband when we first started dating. The first time it happened, he leap up out of bed, flipped on the light, ready to kill the spiders I was pointing at. As I woke up from my nightmare looking at my 'then' boyfriend in attack-ready sleepy confusion with a flashlight and a flat-soled shoe in hand. I was relieved as I realized it was a dream. I rolled over and said, "Sorry, I was just dreaming."  
He was so not happy to be standing and not sleeping. The good news is that he eventually got used to being startled awake by his arachnophobic girlfriend and he still married me. And luckily for me, I don't have that recurring spider dream anymore.

Knowing I hate spiders, I'm a little surprised that the three things I've purchased this year for Halloween are all spiders. I got this cute little dish pictured above from Ross Dress For Less. Then, I bought three wrought-iron spiders and a pair of spider earrings from Roger's Gardens Halloween Boutique. I like to think of it as therapy really. I'm desensitizing myself through retail therapy. Yeah, that's it. 

Anyway, my husband called this dish, Spider Caviar after he saw how I plated it and it stuck!  He said, "It looks like spider eggs...what's that fancy fish eggs stuff called?"  
It's super easy to make and super delicious with a garlicky olive flavor. It can be made any time of year not just for Halloween. Enjoy!

Spider Caviar (Mixed Olive Tapenade)

Makes ~1 cup

2 cups olives (I used a mix of black and green olives)
2 T capers
2 T sun dried tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup basil, fresh
1 t oregano, dried
1 t lemon juice
fresh ground pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

Sliced Bread Points

Add all ingredients to a food processor and puree. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Serve with fresh baguette slices.

I made this tapenade originally to roll it into some fun Halloween inspired tortilla roll-ups or pinwheels using extra large orange tortillas. My idea was to add the black (tapenade) and some orange colored veggies and roll it up for a really cool looking Halloween colored appetizer. The roll ups I ended up making were so delicious with the tapenade, prosciutto, cream cheese, roasted red peppers, basil and crunchy red cabbage that they ended up looking more like a rainbow than my original idea of a black and orange pinwheels. And the photos turned out so gorgeous that I wasn't sure if the pinwheels were Halloween-ish enough...So instead of making these roll-ups it's own blog, I've included them below as a bonus recipe to the tapenade. Enjoy!

Halloween Roll-ups

Makes 14-16 slices

2 extra large orange tortillas
1 package cream cheese
8 slices of prosciutto
12-14 fresh basil leaves
2 T Roasted Red Peppers, thinly sliced
Red Cabbage, thinly sliced
1 T Spider Caviar (Mixed Olive Tapenade)  
  
Using a butter knife, spread about 1/8" layer of cream cheese to the tortilla, make sure to cover the whole tortilla up to the edges. Starting on one side of the tortilla, place a thin row of red cabbage. Leave about a half an inch of space between each ingredient. Next place 6-7 leaves of basil in a line next to the cabbage. Then add 4 slices of prosciutto followed by the bell peppers and then add a narrow line of the tapenade. Now you're ready to roll...Starting at the tapenade side, begin rolling tortilla until tightly rolled. Use additional cream cheese to secure the end of the tortilla to the roll as needed. Cut into 8 slices and serve. Repeat with the other tortilla. Enjoy!

Other Halloween dishes to try: click here