this picture is taken in pre-oven-roasted status. sadly, the post-oven-roasted photo op just never happened, and now these olives are long gone – brought to a dinner party and set down beside some mighty fine cheeses and bread – and then there was all that wine… i meant to remember and i just didn’t. anyway, it kind of looked – well, just like this but the fennel was cooked. but. that all being said… these olives were so totally wonderful that it was worth posting about because you, dear readers, deserve to know such things despite the fact that i slacked on the ‘after’ shot. simply roast the finest green olives (with pits) that you can find, along with some olive oil, lots of orange zest, lots of rosemary, some peeled garlic, minced hot peppers and sliced fennel – about 45 minutes at 350f. serve warm – not hot – and be sure to warn your guests about the pits to avoid any potential law suits. one would think pitted olives might be the way to go, but unless you’re buying them from an incredibly fresh source – usually meaning that you live on the north west coast, or italy, or spain or southern france or greece or all the very many places that are not tennessee (i think we may have wineries here too but the thought is just too scary…) i think the pit holds the flavor in the olive longer. i could be wrong here, so choose your olives at your own risk.
this dish is brought to you by ‘i’m mad and i eat‘, a longtime favorite food blog of mine, who consistently taunts me with her northern californian locavore ways including a plethura of painfully perfect produce and meats – regularly regaling me by righteously rubbing my face in her very own garden of fresh vegetables and heavily laden backyard fruit bearing trees – on a constant basis. And. I. Quote:
"Let me tell you about a personal favorite flavorizer this time of year. Orange rind. I gots the oranges (and so does the food bank; we’re taking two huge boxes of oranges tomorrow). This simple dish of roasted green olives took a little bath in olive oil mixed with orange zest, some peeled garlic, and sliced hot peppers. No salt needed; the olives are salty. These are soft cured, velvety, buttery green olives from the farmers market."
ummm, Go Titans?
25 responses so far ↓
1 Jennifer Hess // Apr 7, 2008 at 1:16 pm
You’re certainly doing your part to help me regain my appetite.
I’m going to have to try this, with lemon zest instead of the allergy-inducing orange.
2 Mary Coleman // Apr 7, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Fabulous Fabulous.
Do this please please please when we meet next!!
3 Donald // Apr 7, 2008 at 2:28 pm
I love olives, but sadly rarely get to have them, cause the wife hates them.
Sad, I know.
4 Robert // Apr 7, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Fret,
I fear this one. Especially with bread. Who could remember to not chew and swallow the seeds? It will be the pitted “safety” version here……..
5 michelle @ TNS // Apr 7, 2008 at 2:46 pm
i love the flavor of olives, but i hate the olives themselves…some kinda weird texture thing. but brian *loves* him some olives, and i think if i made these i could get him to do anything i want.
okay, he maybe already does that. but if i made him these, he would do it *faster*.
also, you live in tennessee: ha. you made your own bed.
6 Diana // Apr 7, 2008 at 4:05 pm
We need to start a Picky Spouse Club ’round here. I have a few tips to share.
7 robin // Apr 7, 2008 at 7:36 pm
I never really got into olives, but this recipe sounds seriously tempting. And orange and fennel might be the perfect way to get me to like them.
8 lauren // Apr 7, 2008 at 8:11 pm
shhhh. don’t tell anyone. i just licked my screen. i’m a newer olive fan, but i can just imagine how the oven roasting made that irresistable. feed me, please feed me.
9 Peter // Apr 7, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Cookiecrumb is all about the taunting and gloating. She’s mean that way.
And why are you hating on TN wine? I once had a Johnson City Merlot with notes of tobacco, diesel fuel, and heartbreak that’d make you write a tender, twangy ballad about your pickup truck. Château Nooga, I think it was called; look for the bottle with the red neck.
10 democommie // Apr 7, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Peter:
This winery,:
http://www.rogueshollowwine.com/main.html
is in the Finger Lakes of NY. The tasting room looks like a bayou shack and the wines are all sweet. It’s not my taste, but I did like one of their marketing ideas. Instead of the ubiquitous oyster crackers (unsalted), to clear one’s palate between glugs, the proprieters provide salted-in-the-shell peanuts. I told them they should sell barbecue–I’ll bet the wine would fly off the shelves.
I’m a dry reds guy most of the time, but I almost tried those wines.
I will definitely try those olives.
11 kudzu // Apr 7, 2008 at 11:00 pm
You’re right about the olives. They tend to sort of sog up and collapse after a while, once pitted. I like your concotion, which is very much like one I do in winter and serve warm, with fennel seeds instead of fresh fennel. Yum.
12 evil chef mom // Apr 8, 2008 at 9:33 am
I could eat that picture right now. Why didn’t I think of that? *slapping my forehead
13 claudia // Apr 8, 2008 at 9:50 am
peter – absofuckinhilarious. you win the best comment ever perhaps in the history of ceF.
michelle – well, that is true. BUT… there are some major advantages too. nashville has it’s own kinda cool factor that is working for me. plus the equivalent of my house in nyc/long island/westchester would be about $5 million…
it’s all a trade-off. which for me means subpar olives… and this is how i appease myself by not living in nyc where i belong.
14 cookiecrumb // Apr 8, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Yumster! I love your addition of fennel. I’ll do that myself, next time.
(Peter — howl! Snort! Hoot! Noogies for you.)
15 Jessica // Apr 8, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Those olives look delicious!
16 michael // Apr 9, 2008 at 6:13 am
Speaking as a northern kind of guy, where fresh olives are as scarce as a good mole sause —- not question buy with pits!!! or taste will be the pits … and I too love I’m Mad and IEat!
17 mari // Apr 9, 2008 at 9:15 am
Love olives and I know that oranges and fennel go great together, so this must be a winner!
18 giz // Apr 9, 2008 at 4:37 pm
My first visit here and don’t I just start drooling over those olives. What a great shot and so colourful. I love it.
19 Simply...Gluten-free // Apr 9, 2008 at 6:06 pm
I never thought of roasting olives – Brilliant!
20 Carrington // Apr 9, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Memories…misty olive-colored memories? I think I was present at the creation–or at least the ingestion–of this beautiful melange, was I not? I was so taken with the aforementioned cheese I almost forgot about it. Thank you for posting the recipe.
21 Meg // Apr 9, 2008 at 9:48 pm
I think I could have this for dinner with a tiny piece of cheese. I think I will as soon as I have the ingredients (which, given current levels of chore-list, may not be for a couple of days). These look amazing.
22 Michelle // Apr 10, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Delicious heavenly looking olives! I just found your blog and am enjoying your recipes and your writing. As far as Tennessee goes…I can barely spell it not to mention fathom what it is like to live there. When my mom lived in Texas I know she had my grandma ship her food from New York.
23 Ethel // Apr 10, 2008 at 6:01 pm
I adore olives and can taste the ingredients.
I’m spoiled with Zabar’s and Fairway’s olive barrels in NYC. which I pick at all the time.
I never knew pitted olives had a better taste.
Live and learn.
Enjoy your writing skills as much as your culinary skills.
24 Kim // Apr 10, 2008 at 6:59 pm
This is one of the most intriguing recipes I’ve seen. Great photo also. I want this dish, and now. It looks that good.
25 Rebecca // Apr 13, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Having escaped Tennessee (at least you are in Nashville! Try Knoxville and you may actually feel lucky– by comparison, I mean), I completely sympathize with your food plight. I love your blog, both for your food (trying this one tonight!) and for the fact that it reminds me of how to stay strong when my mother pleads me to come back to God’s Country (go Titans, indeed)…
Rebecca in Ann Arbor (home of Zingerman’s and some excellent Amish-stocked farmer’s markets — not to taunt you or anything…), editor of tinyplanetyum.com
Leave a Comment