One of my favorite snack spreads used to be olive and garlic paste, but since my wife can’t stand the sight or smell of olives I’ve had to make the choice; give it up or substitute. My theory when it comes to cooking is if you don’t have the ingredient look further, imagine, smell, and either you will find a great substitute or have to go back to the drawing board. In this case the first try was a charm. This spread works great on crackers, bread, or in the upcoming pizza roll recipe.

Ingredients:

1 TBL Nonpareil capers
1 tsp of liquid from capers
8 medium size cloves of garlic quartered
1 TBL of sun dried cherry tomatoes, or any sun dried tomatoes.
3 TBL of pure olive oil

How you make it:

Bring 2 TBL of olive oil up to medium heat in a non stick frying pan, the oil should slightly spatter when you toss a drop of water in. Throw your quartered garlic cloves in the oil and fry until browned all over. Set the pan aside on a cooling rack.

Add the rest of the olive oil and all other ingridients to a food processor or blender, and add the cooled fried garlic and the oil used for frying to the blender. Process until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for atleast 1 hour, and serve.