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The Olive Connection: Which are your faves?

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The Olive Connection: Which are your faves?

Postby Alexandria » Tue Feb 06, 2018 12:10 pm

The Olive Connection ..

The Greeks float the on Winter bean soups and prepare tapenades. The Moroccans make a pungent salad by combining them with lemons. The Italians gobble them down in Pasta Puttanesca and dozens of other popular dishes. The Spanish eat olives as a staple tapa. The French Provençal prepare Salad Niçoise amongst other dishes .. The Sicilians, sword fish with olives, tomato and garlic .. In Lebanon, Jordan and Israel they are widely eaten in numerous dishes and as an aperitf ..

What do you do with olives and which are your fave types ?

For me:

Pasta Puttanesca
Salad Niçoise
Greek Kalamata Tapenade
Oven baked sea bass or grouper with Kalamata, roasted red peppers, fresh minced parsley, anchovies, drained capers, garlic, Evoo a drizzle of Evoo and fresh squeezed Lemon Juice.
Tapas / Aperitif .. with cheese or charcuterie ..
Hors d´oeuvres ..
Antipasto ..
Greek Salad ..
With Feta, Evoo and Pita ..


My faves:

Italian Gaetas
Greek Kalamata
Brine cured in oak barrels Spanish Olives
Nyons and Niçoise Olives
Atalanti - Greece
Arbequinas - Spain
Moroccan Picholines
Greek Amfissas

Have a lovely day .. :thumbsup :thumbsup
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Re: The Olive Connection: Which are your faves?

Postby WhitefieldFoodie » Tue Feb 06, 2018 2:08 pm

Hi Alexandria,

I have recently started to enjoy Olives after years of torture forcing myself to eat them. I do not, however have any knowledge, so will be watching this thread with interst.

My favourites? Big juicy, green ones in garlic and chilli :lol:

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Re: The Olive Connection: Which are your faves?

Postby Sakkarin » Tue Feb 06, 2018 2:40 pm

If you've come to terms with olives WF, try tapenade, it is one of the most fabulous things on the planet. It's got anchovies in it too though, so for some it is tackling a double dose of hated ingredients. I used to hate them both. I base mine on an old Anthony Worral-Thompson recipe (from his 1994 book "Modern Bistrot Cookery"), anyone remember him?

EDIT: P.S. This makes a huge quantity, so suggest you scale it down drastically! I'm going for a third of all the amounts for today's tapenade.

Capers - 75 g
Anchovy - 50 g
Dijon Mustard - 1 dsp
Basil - 12 leaves
Olive Oil - 120 ml
Pitted Black Olives - 450 g
Aged Red Wine Vinegar - 1 tbs
Parsley - 3 tbs
Sun-Dried Tomatoes - 3 tbs
Black Pepper - 1 tsp (sorry, added later coz I missed it off)

All mulched up into a coarse paste.

Second suggestion, Elizabeth David's Pasta Sicilienne. Top shelf whoar. Again, olives AND anchovy. There's a pic of my plateful above the recipe.
http://www.carta.co.uk/foodforum/viewto ... 6493#p6493

And I'm with Alexandria on that Salad Nicoise, again the whoar factor. A few years back I filled my freezer with frozen tuna steaks that Tesco had sold off at 10p a pack, I seem to recall that much of it went into Nicoise salads. I see I did a cheat version here using smoked mackerel instead of tuna/anchovies...
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2235&p=26691#p26691

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Re: The Olive Connection: Which are your faves?

Postby Badger's Mate » Tue Feb 06, 2018 2:59 pm

I love 'em, Mrs B can't stand the things.

I eat them as they are, enjoying them whole, or stuffed with all sorts of fillings. Have tried and love all the suggestions above. Am not familiar with all the different named varieties although there are more sorts available in the UK than ever before. I once tried an olive off the tree in a Spanish churchyard one December, thinking 'it must be ripe by now'. :shock:

I cook with them less often than I used to, because of Mrs B's aversion, but often have them as a side with a dish that might normally contain them. I eat more tinned fish than Mrs B and that's when the puttanesca or Niçoise gets made. With Greek salad, I leave the olives out of one portion.

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Re: The Olive Connection: Which are your faves?

Postby karadekoolaid » Tue Feb 06, 2018 3:47 pm

I have a chef friend in New York who studied in Provence - and then wrote two books about the experience.
When I first started making tapenade, some 20 years ago, she told me that the classic tapenade never used anchovies; only tapena (which I understand is "capers" in Provençale), olives, garlic, black pepper and olive oil.
Categorical statements like that often make me want to experiment, so I tried it with anchovies. Delish! Then I made one with sundried tomatoes - equally delish!

My favourite olives, in no particular order:

Ascolana ( the ones you can stuff) and Cerignola, from Italy. Spiced, cracked olives from Lebanon. Kalamata from Greece. Gordal from Spain and those wrinkled, dried, prune-like olives from Morocco.

Salàde Niçoise and Salsa Puttanesca are staples in my house. Any leftover niçoise becomes pan bagnat the following day.
A few plates of mezze in my local Lebanese, with some of those wonderful salty pickles, and a bowl of cracked olives - just the very best.
And a local chef, Federico, from Italy, makes the most moreish stuffed olives All´Ascolana, using his own homemade salami to fill them with.
Another simple, yet delicious dish is a Greek-style salad, with chunks of cucumber, tomato, red onion, Feta cheese and kalamatas, drizzled with fresh lemon juice and olive oil.

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Re: The Olive Connection: Which are your faves?

Postby Renée » Tue Feb 06, 2018 4:24 pm

WhitefieldFoodie wrote:Hi Alexandria,

I have recently started to enjoy Olives after years of torture forcing myself to eat them. I do not, however have any knowledge, so will be watching this thread with interst.

My favourites? Big juicy, green ones in garlic and chilli :lol:


Hi Alexandria, my post would be exactly the same as WF's above! I have started to eat them in a restaurant but never buy them, so I have a lot to learn. I always buy Greek Kalamata olive oil, so I'll watch out for those olives to start with.

Thanks for the very interesting thread!

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Re: The Olive Connection: Which are your faves?

Postby Joanbunting » Tue Feb 06, 2018 4:25 pm

karadekoolaid wrote:I have a chef friend in New York who studied in Provence - and then wrote two books about the experience.
When I first started making tapenade, some 20 years ago, she told me that the classic tapenade never used anchovies; only tapena (which I understand is "capers" in Provençale), olives, garlic, black pepper and olive oil.
Categorical statements like that often make me want to experiment, so I tried it with anchovies. Delish! Then I made one with sundried tomatoes - equally delish.


Clive she was quite right the name does indeed come from the capers. In the older olden days even anchovies were not available in interior Provence after all they tend to arrive from the Languedoc coast, the other side of the Rhone.
They did do other sorts of dips/sauces etc like poor man's pate which is made from almonds, pois chichade made with chick peas and the lovely aubergine caviar, one of my favourites.

My favourites are also Nicoise and Nyons.
Picholine
I love the cracked ones from Les Baux, especially when mixed with garlic and basil
The other favourites are ripe black ones with piment
Anchovy stuffed picholines - yum!

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Re: The Olive Connection: Which are your faves?

Postby Stokey Sue » Tue Feb 06, 2018 4:58 pm

I often just eat olives as they come, but they also go into salads, pasta dishes, fish dishes, tagines and of course on pizza. Some of the brine can also be used to season salad dressings

The best olives I've ever had may well be South African Kalamata, the same variety as the Greek ones, but they grow bigger, sweeter, and more tender down there

My local pub does a tapa of fried stuffed Ascolana olives. These are the huge, juicy, green olives, stoned, filled with a forcemeat (something like sausage meat), wrapped in more forcemeat, crumbed and depp fried. They look like baby Scotch eggs and are wonderful

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Re: The Olive Connection: Which are your faves?

Postby Lusciouslush » Tue Feb 06, 2018 6:59 pm

Olives and a glass of Manzanilla - match made in heaven..................!

Every time.......................... :thumbsup

I am very partial to them stuffed with lemon, also anchovy!

All of the usual recipies mentioned above that include them - they are good simply baked too with garlic - much more mellow.

I've had those SA Kalamata's - have to be on top of the list!

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Re: The Olive Connection: Which are your faves?

Postby strictlysalsaclare » Tue Feb 06, 2018 7:09 pm

Mr Strictly and I needed to get ourselves into olives and anchovies before we went on holiday to Italy about 10 years ago. We both felt it was necessary. After several baby steps, we now love both, although I have always loved the pickled anchovies famed in Spanish tapas bars! Italian/French ones were a bit of a struggle for me. We both love olives and anchovies now though. My favourite ways of eating both are

Pasta Puttanesca
Spanish style chicken
my fish pate made with tinned tuna and tinned sardines in tomato sauce
Anything Mediterranean, e.g. panzanella, pasta with lemon and tinned tuna

I'm no olive expert, but we like both the green and black ones. Kalamata are also lovely

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Re: The Olive Connection: Which are your faves?

Postby Pampy » Tue Feb 06, 2018 7:54 pm

I'm with Mrs. B - can't stand the things :vomit . Strangely though, I love olive oil.

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Re: The Olive Connection: Which are your faves?

Postby Sakkarin » Tue Feb 06, 2018 8:29 pm

Tonight's ingredients for Pasta Sicilienne, using up some old bocconcini pasta. Would usually use linguine...

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Re: The Olive Connection: Which are your faves?

Postby Alexandria » Wed Feb 07, 2018 12:26 am

To All : thumbsup :thumbsup ,

Wow .. Some gorgeous recipes with links or posted, ideas and feedback ..

Yes, I am a grand fan of Pasta, so Sakkarin, your recipe is on my Bucket List for the weekend ..

Yes, Koolaide and Joan, Tapenade is simply scrumptuous with or without anchovies but on a personal note, "anchovies float my boat" ..

Sue: Sounds amazing .. Yes, deep fried stuffed olives are quite common in Olive growing regions of Jaén and Cordoba .. I had this tapa several years ago on a trip to the autonomous región of Jaén, The Capital Jaén, Baieza, Ubeda, Cazorla National Park amongst other stops en route .. Málaga is another autonomous región well known for this tapa ..

Renée: Just a wonderful fruit with so many varieties and so many recipes ..

Whitefield: Thank you .. Big fan of most olives that have been aged in brine in oak barrels and / or marinated in Evvo ..

Thank you all once again ..
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Re: The Olive Connection: Which are your faves?

Postby karadekoolaid » Wed Feb 07, 2018 3:53 am

My local pub does a tapa of fried stuffed Ascolana olives. These are the huge, juicy, green olives, stoned, filled with a forcemeat (something like sausage meat), wrapped in more forcemeat, crumbed and depp fried. They look like baby Scotch eggs and are wonderful


They´re delicious, aren´t they, Sue?
I did try to make them myself once.
3 hours and half a dozen wasted olives later, I gave up. Far too much fuss - I´ll just go to Federico´s!

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Re: The Olive Connection: Which are your faves?

Postby WhitefieldFoodie » Wed Feb 07, 2018 11:09 am

Sakks - Thanks for the hint on tapenade. I had it at a friends over Xmas and it was delicious.

I will give that a go when I have my house warming party on the 31st March. will add it to my pick 'n' mix platter.

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Re: The Olive Connection: Which are your faves?

Postby Alexandria » Wed Feb 07, 2018 11:38 am

Here are a few more Olive Ideas:

Moroccan Fish Tagine with Olives, Saffron, Tumeric, Tomato and Peppers ..

Black Olive Bread ..

Sicilian Caponata ..

Port of Call Caesarea, Israeli Cooked Olive Salad Relish ..

:wino :wino :thumbsup :thumbsup
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Re: The Olive Connection: Which are your faves?

Postby karadekoolaid » Wed Feb 07, 2018 1:22 pm

Ooff, you just reminded me of Caponata, Alexandria!

KKA Caponata

500 gms aubergine, cut into squares
1 courgette, cut into squares (well, slightly rounded squares :lol: )
3 tbsps olive oil
1 large red onion
2 celery sticks
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
150 gms ripe red tomatoes
40 gms capers
40 gms black olives
40 gms golden raisins
1 Tbsp sugar
150 mls passata
100 mls red wine vinegar
1 tbsp grated dark chocolate (60 - 70% cacao)
Basil leaves, torn.
Salt to taste

Heat the oil and saute the aubergine and the courgette for two or three minutes. Dice the onion and the celery finely, and add to the pan. Cook for 2 or 3 minutes. (You do not want the vegetables to brown) Cut the tomatoes into quarters, then quarters again and add to the pan, along with the chilli flakes. Stir until the tomatoes begin to "melt". Now add all the other ingredients ( except the basil) and simmer the mixture for another 10 minutes, approximately. You want to aim for a homogenous, unctuous mixture, where you can taste the sweetness of the sugar and raisins, the slight bitterness of the chocolate, the salty vegetables (which should melt in your mouth) and the acidity of the wine vinegar.

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Re: The Olive Connection: Which are your faves?

Postby Sakkarin » Wed Feb 07, 2018 2:59 pm

That sounds interesting. Is the chocolate your tweak?

Here's the ingredients for my tapenade, it looks so much more appetising BEFORE it's mulched!

Am baking some fresh crusty rolls to go with it.

P.S. Morrisons trip yesterday, their fresh herbs are so much better than the Tesco ones I'm used to.

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Re: The Olive Connection: Which are your faves?

Postby Lusciouslush » Wed Feb 07, 2018 3:20 pm

Goodlooking zingy ingredients there Saks - just how many olives did you munch before the remainder hit the plate.....?!?!

You've just reminded me of a savoury cake I used to make with olives & reblochon - must resurrect it soon I think, it was good with a glass of red!

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Re: The Olive Connection: Which are your faves?

Postby WhitefieldFoodie » Wed Feb 07, 2018 6:20 pm

Sakkarin wrote:That sounds interesting. Is the chocolate your tweak?

Here's the ingredients for my tapenade, it looks so much more appetising BEFORE it's mulched!

Am baking some fresh crusty rolls to go with it.

P.S. Morrisons trip yesterday, their fresh herbs are so much better than the Tesco ones I'm used to.



Sakks, I am guessing you can sub in green olives? I am not a fan of black olives thus far.

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