Tapenades With a Twist

Keep these tapenades on hand when you need a quick appetizer. Tasters in The Times’ Test Kitchen suggested serving the fig and roasted shallot with Sherry tapenade with goat cheese and a fresh baguette. Or serve them alongside meat, chicken and fish. Other flavors are Mediterranean with olives, capers and Merlot; and shiitake mushroom with Asian spices.

Tulogay’s tapenades, 9-ounce jars, $7.99 each from the Great Indoors in Burbank, (818) 260-8000; Irvine, (949) 340-6000; and Chino Hills, (909) 972-6000.

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A Set for Many Cheeses

Who doesn’t need a cheese board these days? This 15 1/2-inch marble board is good for casual entertaining. Set it out along with this set of cheese knives. Each knife is shaped for serving a particular type of cheese, from hard Parmesan to soft Brie.

Marble cheese board, $29; set of five cheese knives, $20, from select Pottery Barn stores.

Donna Deane