Olive and Caper Spread

Tapenade (from the Provençal word tapeno, meaning caper) is one of the most versatile and delicious of Southern French condiments, and apart from the necessity of pitting a bunch of olives, it is also one of the easiest. I suppose to be authentic it should be made with niçoise olives, but because niçoise olives are so small that pitting them takes forever, I use larger black olives from other parts of France, such as Nyons olives from the Drôme and the Vaucluse, or Gaeta olives from Italy,