Tapenade aux Oeufs Durs

In the south, alongside the barrels of olives in brine, superb capers are often available. Buy whatever you can afford or carry and store them in their own brine in a lidded jar in the refrigerator. In Provence there is a particularly fine variety known as ‘non-pareil’ and, if possible, these are the best for tapenade, whose name comes from the Provençal tapena for caper. Tapenade is also very good served with bread alone.