I was noting the other day how frequently we use olives as an ingredient. Is that something lots of people do? I don’t know. But I thought maybe people who like olives might enjoy these ways to use them. Mr pixxer and I have a running theme that a lot of things we use as ingredients are just very flavorful versions of salt, and olives are among these - as are capers, anchovies, and of course many cheeses (parmigiano, anyone?)
All the olives we use are brine- or oil-packed. None is salt-cured, a treatment I find too harsh for my taste. In many cases, you can change which olive you use, and of course will have a different-tasting dish, which is fun. We have an outstanding olive bar at my fantastic grocery, but I’ve even seen a good one at Safeway recently, so I think olive sources are becoming more common.
tl;dr summary:
- Marinating olives for party food (quick, easy!)
- Spaghetti alla Puttanesca (quick, easy!)
- Three tapenades and three ways to use them (pasta, pizza, pizza)
- A simple salad I made up (quick! easy!)
- Links to olivey things I’ve blogged on WFD before