Recipe Kalmata Black Olive Tapenade / What are your fave olives ?

[Francesca]

Since time immemorial, the Greeks have been floating olives on Winter bean soups. The Moroccans prepare a pungent salad by combining them with preserved lemons, and the Italians and the Spanish gobble them down. The Southern Italians prepare Pasta Puttanesca and The French, southern French Cuisine Niçoise. They turn up for breakfast in many Mid Eastern countries as well. What do you do with olives and which are your faves ?
Here is a tiny treasure ..

Photo Copyright: Francesca Guillamet.

Kalmata Black Olive Tapenade

Ingredients
1 1/3 cups of pitted black brine cured Kalmata olives or similar
9 Tablesp of Spanish, Greek, Italian or Greek Bio/organic green or gold olive oil ..
A pinch of dried Oregano or Rosemary or fresh (1 1/2 teaspoons)
For those who enjoy a touch of heat, 1 tiny dried red chili pepper crumbled
1/8 tsp light fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 anchovy packed in Evoo patted dry .. (clean top layer gently of tiny hairy boney structures ) and mash into the de-pitted olives ..

Method

1. Drain the olives thoroughly from the brine .. I buy mine in brine from an oak barrel at the main Market..
2. After you de-pit the precious black fruits, and add the anchovy & place them in a Food Processor or with a Standup Mixer, purée and gently drizzle in the evoo.
3. Serve with canapé bread slices or crackers of choice.
4. It is lovely with a Greek Rosé or Rosé Prosecco or Rosé Cava or Sparkling wine of choice.

Enjoy... we prefer our´s thick.

 

[Morning Glory]

I'm a black olive fan a particularly like Greek style black olives which are slightly wrinkled and tightly packed in a little oil (not swimming in brine or oil). Puttanesca is a top dish! I also use the big green queen olives in cooking - great for appearance and taste. They appear in this dish alongside black olives
Sicilian Swordfish (Pesce spada alla Siciliana)

 

[Francesca]

@morning glory

Yes, me too. I adore Greek Kalamata and Pasta Puttanesca, with white wine & linguini ..

Yes, I recall your Sicilian Swordifsh recipe .. Wonderful !!

Have a lovely evening ..

 

[Frizz1974]

I love olives & so does my daughter. She has eaten them since she was a tiny baby.

Giant green olives stuffed with fetta, anchovies or crushed almonds & parmesan cheese are popular here from a local market and we eat a lot of supermarket purchased kalamata in pastas but its hard to pass up a good tapenade. When I get to Sydney I almost always buy the wrinkled black olives to nibble on when I drink wine though they are really good with ice cold beer in summer too.

 

[Francesca]

@Frizz1974

Yes, it is hard to pass up a good black olive tapenade ..

I like a wide variety of dishes with olives as well as nibbling on them of course !

They pair fabulously with cheese and anchovies as well as charcuterie .. And I adore them in salads too, like the Niçoise ..

Thanks for participating and have a lovely weekend ..

 

[Morning Glory]

I love olives & so does my daughter. She has eaten them since she was a tiny baby

That is quite unusual - babies usually pul one of those faces when tasting olives.

 

[Francesca]

That is quite unusual - babies usually pul one of those faces when tasting olives.

@morning glory & @Frizz1974,

I hope they were "de-pitted " ..

Olive pits could be dangerous for very very young children ..

Have a lovely evening ..

 

[Frizz1974]

She's 17 now...

A family friend peeled a strip of flesh off a giant kalamata & handed to her when she was about 15 months old. Possibly younger. She proceeded to eat 2 olives & 2 crackers smeared with blue cheese over the course of the evening.

She's loved them ever since. Loves anchovy too. The only thing in this line she's ever not liked is capers. Though she knows I add them tapenade & some mayonnaise.

 

[Francesca]

@Frizz1974,

More or less most parents give their babies a taste of " grown up food " .. And of course, kids either like or dislike ..

Have a lovely day ..