La Bomba recipe

Charleston Dave

OK, y'all have been talking about this relish like it's a pretty amazing Nectar-of-the-Gods-level condiment.

And I haven't ever tasted it.

So I says to myself, "Self, what's in this stuff?"

And I use this newfangled Google thingy to learn that the importer, San Remo, has kindly listed the ingredients here as "MUSHROOMS, EGGPLANTS, OLIVES, PEPPERS, ARTICHOKES, CARROTS, HOT PEPPERS, NATURAL FLAVOURS."

So I says to myself, "Self, this is just a simple eggplant tapenade." Not tricky, just a lot of knife work (or, if you're lazy or not too picky, pulses in a food processor).

So looking a bit further on this Internets thingy, I run across the following here:

Eggplant and Hot Pepper Antipasto Sauce
© TPH & llizard aka ejm 2000,2001,2002

We are absolutely addicted to "La Bomba" hot antipasto sauce made by Allessia. But it isn't always available, so we looked at the ingredient list and came up with a reasonable facsimile.

Ingredients
¼ c. olive oil (more or less)
10 mushrooms, chopped finely
1 red pepper, chopped finely
1 banana pepper, chopped finely
1 carrot, coarsely grated
1 asian eggplant, chopped finely
1 Tbsp chili flakes (more or less)
6 canned artichoke hearts, chopped
10 sundried black olives, chopped finely
5 cocktail olives, chopped finely
juice of 1 lemon
salt & pepper

Preparation
Heat oil in a skillet. Sauté mushrooms, peppers, carrots, eggplant til soft and all the water has gone from mushrooms.

Add chili flakes, artichoke hearts (get good quality ones), olives and heat through.

Add lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Pour into a clean glass jar. Pour a little olive oil to cover. Allow the sauce to meld in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before serving. It can be stored in refrigerator for up to a month.

This is a wonderful accompaniment to pizza. It is also very good slathered on thick slices of crusty bread.
(recipe ends here)

I would add the caveat that it probably makes sense to thoroughly rinse any canned ingredients, to prevent metallic flavor in the final product. Also, for bonus points you could BGE-smoke any of the soft veggies (mushrooms, peppers, eggplant, artichoke hearts), although the French and Italians don't.

So, is this pretty much what you guys were drooling over? :unsure:

Mainegg

Don't you just LOVE Google? I am going to have to try this out. Maybe that is how I will spend Eggtoberfest weekend up here in Maine!Not sure how I learned anything before Google. If you told kids that we had to go to the library to find anything out they would think we were nuts. How do they sneak out to see boyfriends now?? LOL

Rascal

It is amazing how the wonderful world of information has opened up to us. Often times I'll do a search to learn more about something I'm only vaguely familiar with. If you can't Google it, it probably doesn't exist!

mikeb6109

if you were looking for ingredients all you had to do was ask.....to me it is to runny to be a tapenade.
here are pics of the whole jar showing ingredients,imported by... and the front of the jar!!
to get the stuff most time all you need to do is ask a friend.

Charleston Dave

if you were looking for ingredients all you had to do was ask.....to me it is to runny to be a tapenade.
here are pics of the whole jar showing ingredients,imported by... and the front of the jar!!
to get the stuff most time all you need to do is ask a friend.

Ah, MikeB, as a fellow Egger I surely consider you a friend, but the ingredient list that I found online from the manufacturer was provided with a few clicks of my mouse. The manufacturer's photographs—for both bottle sizes, the 3L and the 314 mL—and ingredient list are at the citation I gave above. While I appreciate your thoughtful offer, I would not pester a friend to go take pictures of something I can so easily find online. I suspect that having the UPC code, easily readable on your photographs, however, might be of help if I were asking a local specialty retailer to order it for me, so many thanks to you for that.

As far as texture, if you want it soupier, then
[ul]cook it longer,
cut the pieces finer,
blend it more,
add more oil.[/ul]
Or do it in a mortar and pestle, like a real Provençal tapenade.

I will defer to those with more sophisticated pepper palates than my own as to which varieties of "hot peppers" commonly available stateside would best reproduce the taste. Does this recipe come close? I suspect that if you make it at home and find a seasoning balance you like, the extra freshness will make it even more flavorful than the imported variety. But, I've not tasted the real thing, so I lack the "gold standard" for comparison!

Little Steven

Charleston Dave,

The first ingredient is mushroom. Bomba is, as you point out, more of a relish than a tapenade. We have access in the Toronto area to many versions of prepared Bomba varieties. The Allesia is my favourite and the importer is five minutes from my office. I have done some experimenting as well and have not been able to recreate the flavour. One thing I notice with your recipe is that it cals for chili flakes and the bomba uses italian hot peppers. You are not going to go wrong with any recipe using these ingredients but true Bomba does not taste hot, but believe me it is.

Steve

Mr. & Mrs Potatohead

I’ve got my board and French knife ready…Just need to get the ingredients.
I love relishes, salsas, sauces, chutneys and the such! I need to give this a try!
Thanks!!