Best Way To Ease Into Enjoying Olives
When it comes to olives; people either love or hate them. Even though they provide a unique and delicious flavour, olives are not everyone’s cup of tea. However, there are certain ways you can slowly introduce someone to the incredible flavoursome world of olives without overloading them.
Whether you are using plain olives or marinated varieties such as organic lemon and pepper olives, here are the best ways to slowly ease your olive hating friend into enjoying olives:
Make a tapenade
A tapenade is a great way to ease someone into trying olives who either doesn’t enjoy the taste or haven’t tried olives before. It is a flavour-packed spread made from finely chopped or pureed capers, anchovies, olives and garlic. It is perfect for spreading on sandwiches for an extra hit of flavour, eat it with crackers, or you can get a bit more creative and stuff it into portobello mushrooms!
Make pasta alla puttanesca
Olives and Italian food go together like peanut butter and jelly; and who doesn’t love Italian food!? Originating from Naples in the West Coast of Italy, it is a simple pasta sauce made using garlic, olive oil, chilli flakes, capers, tomatoes, black olives, fresh parsley and oregano. This dish is perfect for hiding the powerful taste of olives by chopping them up and adding them into the sauce.
Make a panzanella salad
Back in the 1500s, peasants and farmers living in Tuscany would take day-old bread, soak it in water, squeeze out the water to let it dry, then mix bits of the bread with the vegetables they would grow in their garden. This delicious dish is called panzanella and is another great way to introduce someone to olives.
This dish is typically served with basil, cucumbers, chopped salad, tomatoes, red onions and is dressed with vinegar and organic extra virgin olive oil. However, you can add in some delicious organic lemon and pepper olives with some shaved fennel, salami and some chopped radicchio!
Make a roast chicken
Olives are perfect for complementing the flavours of a juicy roast chicken resting over a plate of roasted potatoes garnished with chopped fresh parsley leaves and some lemon zest. You can add some chopped up Kalamata olives or Mediterranean olives to help balance the salty flavour from the roast chicken juices.
Make a platter
Another option is for them to just simply try the olive on its own. You can make a platter spread with various types of cheese, dips or a tapenade, sliced salami, carrot sticks, marinated artichoke hearts and crackers. You can also include different types of organic olives such as organic fennel and lemon black olives, organic garlic olives, organic lemon and pepper olives and organic Mediterranean olives.
As you can see, there are some simple yet delicious ways you can introduce someone to trying olives without overloading them with intense flavour or subjecting them to processed canned olives with a rubbery texture.