Warmed Marinated Olives
My friend Vivian and I had a girls’ nite one night at a place here that served Warmed Marinated Olives.
We are both huge foodies and since the place specialized in some delicious small plates, we ordered several things.
I tell you, I cannot remember what else we ordered.
Oh wait…there were gourmet pigs-n-a-blanket and they were fantastic too. How dare I forget about those! Speaking of, have you tried MY kicked-up Jalapeno Popper Pigs-In-a-Blanket?
But these warmed olives were life-changing and I dreamed about them for weeks.
I L-O-V-E olives. As in, I can clean out a can of black olives all by myself (I’m not even kidding), and those olive bars at the fancier supermarkets? I can get a tub of them and eat them on the way home in the car.
Mr. Wonderful, not so much but I’m working on him! when he pops a green olive in his mouth, he typically makes a face like the swallowed the sourest lemon in the whole wide world.
Also, a dry aged cheese with a bite of olive? That’s my kryptonite.
I finally buckled down and started nailing down a recipe for them, because my life just wasn’t going to be complete until I did.
I love to put a fondue pot of these on my charcuterie table at parties with a tea light under them to keep them warm because that is when they are at their best.
Make sure you get good quality olives like Cerignola or Kalamata, not the pimento ones that you see everywhere at the store.
P.S. Save that olive oil for bread dipping! It’s like gold!
- 2 cups assorted olives rinsed and drained
- 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2-4 garlic cloves sliced thinly
- 2 to 3 thin strips orange or lemon zest
- ¼ t. fresh rosemary, thyme, sage or whatever you love (I like rosemary)
- ⅛ t. crushed red pepper flakes
- sprinkle of salt and pepper
- In a medium saucepan, combine the oil with the lemon or orange zest, rosemary and garlic, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper (everything but the olives) and cook over moderate heat but don't allow the garlic to brown about 6 minutes.
- Add in the olives and let barely simmer 3-4 minutes
- Remove from heat and let stand for at least 10 minutes before serving.
