Think tapenade, but with sun-dried tomatoes added in.  I’m a huge fan of tapenade, the salty/sour/slightly bitter spread is just begging for some fresh baguette.  When I saw a new-to-me spread called tomanade in the grocery store, I had to check it out.  Much to my disappointment, it was literally puréed sun-dried tomatoes with absolutely no other ingredients.  Talk about overly tart, and not part of my vision of tomato and olive blended goodness.  Uggh.  Well no matter, why don’t I just throw something together that is more of what I had in mind when I first found out about the existence of tomanade?

I added together my favorite elements, tasted, added a little more of this, tasted again, added a little more of that, and voilà, I had tomanade exactly as I had imagined.  Unfortunately for you, this means that I don’t have an exact recipe.  I’m totally guessing at these volumes here and I could be completely wrong.

Alright, it’s not that big of a deal. I know, I know what you’re thinking, “Not that big of a deal?!!! How can I expect to make this tomanade that you’re raving about??” That’s because I want you to play.  Taste the ingredients, see how each contributes to the overall dimension of the spread.  When does one component come on too strong?   Can you taste all the individual elements or do they become a blurred blend, a synergy of flavor overlapping indistinguishably like a the rainbow colors of a sunset sky?

If you haven’t guessed, I love sunsets.

One of the best ways to find freedom in the kitchen is to play.  This is a perfect food for this exercise, because there is really only one step – blend it all in the food processor.  If you add too much of something, you can just compensate with something else.  No matter what, you can’t ruin this recipe, only alter the balance of the flavors.  You’ll find the balance right for you, I promise.  Just make little changes at a time, tuning the colors to match your palate.  I’d give you some wise words of encouragement here to guide you on your way, but I already know you can do it.

Have fun and enjoy this spread, particularly on some tasty GF baguette!

Also submitted to – Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays and Gluten Free Wednesdays