Tag: Olives

beets

asparagus

eggs

halibut

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When I find myself with a refrigerator full of beautiful Alaskan produce (and sometimes, some fresh seafood), I often prepare this salad to make a big dent in it. Just pick several of the vegetables to prepare. I usually make a huge salad and invite friends over to help eat it, since it’s so beautiful—I just have to share it! It’s a meal in itself if you add plenty of vegetables and serve it with toasted whole wheat bread dunked in olive oil!
lemony vinaigrette

2 garlic cloves, minced
1 small red onion, minced fine
juice of one lemon
¼ cup white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard (if you have grainy mustard too, you can use 1 tablespoon of each)
1 tablespoon honey
½ to 1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
¼ teaspoon cracked pepper
½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Whisk together all the vinaigrette ingredients, except the oil, in a small bowl. Slowly drizzle in the oil while whisking. Season with salt and honey to taste, then set aside.

vegetables (pick 5 or 6 of the following to prepare)

2 pounds garlic-roasted potatoes (see following recipe)
1 pound green beans, blanched in salted water until just tender. Drain the beans and immediately spread them out on a baking sheet spread with a dishtowel. (This allows extra water to evaporate, and the beans stop cooking almost immediately.)
1 pound roasted beets (see following recipe), peeled, sliced into wedges, and tossed with some of the lemony vinaigrette
1 pint cherry tomatoes or several slow-roasted tomatoes (see “tomatoes” section)
4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and quartered (See perfectly cooked hard-boiled eggs in the “sandwiches and things to eat on toast” section.)
1 pound grilled asparagus (see “asparagus” section)
4 roasted red peppers (see following recipe)
1 large cucumber, sliced thin and tossed with some of the lemony vinaigrette
3 large carrots, grated and tossed with some of the lemony vinaigrette

optional fish (pick one if you’d like to include fish in your salad)

fresh Alaskan scallops, threaded on skewers, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and grilled on a clean, oiled rack just until done
kippered salmon, flaked
fresh salmon, seasoned with salt and pepper or lemon pepper, and grilled
fresh halibut, seasoned with salt and pepper or lemon pepper, and grilled

salad

½ cup kalamata olives, pitted
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and drained
12 cups of assorted salad greens
cracked pepper

Compose this salad on a large serving platter. Toss the salad greens with some of the lemony vinaigrette, and make a bed of lettuce on the platter. Attractively group each vegetable on the lettuce. Have fun with all those colors! Drizzle vinaigrette over all the vegetables. Scatter the olives and capers over all, and sprinkle cracked pepper over the top. Enjoy!!

garlic-roasted potatoes

2 pounds small Butterball potatoes (or other yellow, waxy potato)
garlic oil (recipe in Step 1.)
sea salt or kosher salt and freshly-ground pepper

1. Make garlic oil: Mash or mince 3 or 4 garlic cloves and cover with ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil. Let steep for 30 minutes if you have time. Strain out the garlic and store the oil in the refrigerator.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the potatoes into halves or quarters. Toss them in a bowl with a few spoonfuls of garlic oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss again.
3. Lightly oil a large baking dish or sheet pan, and transfer the potatoes onto it, making sure that a cut side of each potato is touching the pan. (The side touching the pan will brown nicely). Roast the potatoes until tender and browned, 35 to 40 minutes.

roasted beets
1. Put the beets (unpeeled) in a baking dish and put ¼” of water in the dish. Cover with foil, and bake them until tender when stabbed with a paring knife. Usually they take 40 minutes or longer, but young beets might be quicker, depending on how big they are. In the fall, when the beets are bigger, they may take much longer—up to an hour and a half. Remove from the oven and let cool until you can pick them up without burning yourself.
2. When the beets are cool enough to handle, slip their skins off. Cut in halves lengthwise and then crosswise into ¼-inch thick slices, or in wedges—as you prefer.

roasted red peppers
1. Preheat your grill or broiler. Roast the red peppers, turning them as each side gets blackened.
2. When they are blackened all the way around, place them in a big bowl and cover it with a lid or a plate until the peppers are fairly cool (this steams and cooks the peppers the rest of the way).
3. Peel the skins from the peppers and remove the seeds, but don’t rinse the peppers—just rinse your fingers as you peel the skins off. Slice the peppers into ½” wide pieces.

roasted broccoli with tomatoes, olives and capers

broccoli

tomatoes

roasted vegetables

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This is a recipe based on one from an Eating Well magazine, and it’s got great lemony-briny flavors to go with the rich, roasted broccoli. I didn’t have as many cherry tomatoes as the recipe called for, but it was fine even with just a few… Those Alaskan cherry tomatoes are so sweet and good, I tend to eat them up raw before I ever get a chance to use in them in a recipe. It’s a great accompaniment to any kind of pizza.

1 pound broccoli
1 cup cherry tomatoes (OK to omit if you don’t have any hanging around)
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest (I love my Microplane zester for this task)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
10 kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons capers, rinsed and drained

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Peel the broccoli stalks if the skin is tough, starting from the bottom of the stem, using a paring knife—the thick skin will peel away from the stalk. Then slice the stalks into coins less than ¼” thick. Cut the florets into bite-sized pieces.
3. Coat 1 or 2 large baking sheets with non-stick spray or oil. (This makes clean-up a lot easier.)
4. Toss broccoli, tomatoes, oil, garlic and salt in a large bowl until evenly coated with oil. Roast until the broccoli is tender and is beginning to brown, about 10-15 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, combine lemon zest, juice, olives, oregano, and capers in a large bowl. Add the roasted vegetables and stir to combine. Serve warm or at room temperature.

broccoli salad with roasted peppers, capers, and olives

broccoli

roasted vegetables

red peppers

roasted red peppers

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This salad is a variation on one in Deborah Madison’s The Greens Cook Book. I make this salad so often, all year long, since it’s usually pretty easy to find decent broccoli. But using fresh, local broccoli (even out of the freezer in the winter) makes this salad just amazing! Make a double batch of this salad if you want, for great leftovers, but don’t add the vinegar to the portion of the salad you’ll be saving for the following day—it fades the green of the broccoli.

I often make this salad when I don’t have all the ingredients. Just so you know, it’s great without the red peppers, parsley, and scallions (just mince up some red or yellow onion), so just leap in and make it. Serve this salad with baked sweet potatoes for a colorful and nutritious dinner, or the warm red cabbage salad for a fall taste sensation (this is especially easy if you have leftover cabbage salad from the day before), or as a great side dish with the very simple hidden treasures pasta.

2 pounds broccoli
2 roasted red peppers (see the “red peppers” section)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped or pressed
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (or less, if you like)
1 tablespoon capers, rinsed and drained
12 kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
3 scallions, finely sliced (including the greens)
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons or more balsamic vinegar, to taste
sea salt or kosher salt and freshly-ground pepper

1. Peel the bottom part of the stems of broccoli if the skins are tough, and slice the stems into 1/4-inch pieces. Cut the top of the broccoli into bite-sized florets. Keep them separate. Put about an inch of water in the bottom of a pot that you can put a steamer basket in. Cover the pot and bring the water to a boil. When the water boils, put the broccoli stems in the steamer basket and steam for 4-6 minutes until barely tender. Check them every minute after 4 minutes, poking with a sharp paring knife.
2. Remove the stems, shake excess water off, and immediately spread them out in a single layer on a baking sheet spread with a dishtowel. (This cools the broccoli quickly and allows it to dry out.)
3. Put the florets in the steamer, and steam for 3-5 minutes until barely tender, keeping a close eye on them. Remove the florets and spread them out on a dishtowel as with the stems.
4. Slice the roasted peppers into strips ½-inch wide and mix them in a large bowl with the garlic, olive oil, juice from the peppers, capers, olives, scallions, parsley, and red pepper flakes, and, if you’ll serve the entire salad right away, the balsamic vinegar. Only add the vinegar to the portion of salad you’ll be serving immediately, since it fades the color of the broccoli. Season the mixture with salt.
5. Combine the broccoli and stems with the rest of the ingredients and toss them together. If you’re making enough for leftovers, take tomorrow’s portion out now and put it in the ‘fridge. Then, with your remaining salad, taste for salt, and add the balsamic vinegar and more oil and more vinegar as needed. Add a grinding of pepper, to taste.

green cauliflower with parsley and green olives

cauliflower

parsley

green olives

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Have you seen the green cauliflower at the market? This recipe is especially fun and beautiful with the green heads, but it’s good with the white kind, too. The photo shows a combination of white and green. It’s a variation on Deborah Madison’s recipe in Local Flavors. Serve this with any kind of a sandwich or toast, like sautéed tomatoes on garlic-rubbed toast.

1 large or 2 medium green cauliflowers
1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, stems removed, leaves finely chopped
½ cup thinly sliced Spanish green olives
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and drained
1 tablespoon olive oil
sea salt and freshly-ground pepper

1. Cut the cauliflower into small florets; peel and dice the stems. Put the parsley, olives, and capers in a bowl.
2. Steam the cauliflower over boiling water until tender, about 5 minutes. Dump it into the bowl and toss well with the other ingredients. Add olive oil and ½ teaspoon salt and season with pepper. Toss again. Taste for salt and serve.

wilted spinach salad with olives & garlic-balsamic vinaigrette

onion

mint

spinach

feta

pine nuts

salad greens

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This is a great recipe any time of year. It makes a meal with just the addition of a couple of slices of bread—and I have to say that I’m quite fond of our kalamata olive bread with this salad, echoing the olives in the salad. If you want to heat the whole loaf up (rather than just toasting individual pieces), put the unwrapped loaf in the oven at about 350 degrees for 15 minutes or so, and you’ll have a crusty crust and a hot, moist interior, even if the bread’s been thawed from the freezer.

So, about the salad--you can heat up the vinaigrette and toss the spinach in it right before serving, so the spinach is wilted just enough to soften the leaves a bit. This is great for spinach that is fairly robust. But if you have very tender little spinach leaves, you don’t need to heat the dressing--just use it cold, and it’ll wilt the leaves anyway. There are several ingredients that I feel are optional in this salad—it’s great even if you’re missing lots of them. Although this salad is fantastic if you have mint, it’s still great without it. I also generally omit the feta. I think that the salad is rich and crunchy enough without the pine nuts (because of the red peppers), although it’s very yummy with the nuts, as well. I’ve also made the salad without the red peppers—just with the red onions and olives, and it’s still tasty! The photo at right is of the salad with the mint, olives, and onions, and I used toasted almonds instead of pine nuts! So just go with whatever you have, and be fearless about buying large quantities of spinach!

I make a pretty large batch of this vinaigrette because I like to use it for a couple of meals, but if you think it’ll be too much, you can halve the recipe. The recipe is based on one from rebar modern food.

vinaigrette

6 garlic cloves, chopped coarsely
½ cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1-2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
½ teaspoon cracked pepper
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil

In a blender jar, combine all the ingredients except the oil. Puree until completely smooth. Slowly add the oil while the blender is running. Taste, and add salt, honey, and/or mustard to taste.

salad

1 pound spinach leaves, washed and stemmed
¼ cup kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
1 red pepper, seeded and julienned
½ red onion, halved and cut into very thin half-moon slices
¼ cup chopped mint (optional, but very nice if you have it)
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted in a skillet (optional)
½ cup crumbled feta cheese (optional)

1. Put the sliced onions in a small bowl, and pour a cup or so of boiling water over them. Let them sit for about 30 seconds, then drain the water off. (This takes some of the spicy acid edge off the onions, but will still leave them crunchy and flavorful.)
2. Combine the spinach, olives, peppers, and onions in a large salad bowl.
3. Just before serving, if your spinach leaves are fairly thick and a little bit tough, heat ½ to ¾ cup of the dressing—as much as you think you’ll need—over medium heat in a small skillet. When it begins to simmer, remove from the heat and drizzle over the salad, then toss well to combine and wilt the spinach slightly. Heat and add more if you like it saucier. If your spinach is very tender, just use the dressing cold or at room temperature.
4. Gently mix in the fresh mint, and if you’re using the nuts and feta cheese, sprinkle them over the top. Serve immediately with slices of bread or toast, if you like.

spaghetti with grape tomatoes, olives, capers, & pine nuts

tomatoes

pasta

spaghetti

oregano

pine nuts

cherry tomatoes

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When the kalamata olive bread is on our baking schedule for the week, we like to make this pasta dish. The olives in the bread are great with the olives and capers in the pasta! If you want to heat a whole loaf of bread to eat with dinner, you can heat it, unwrapped, for 15 minutes in a 350 degree oven just before serving dinner.

Dan likes to call this recipe his signature dish, because he’s the only one who has the patience to cut all the grape tomatoes in half before roasting them. I think if you just left them whole (and let them burst in the oven) they’d be just fine—maybe the dish wouldn’t be as pretty, but it would still taste great!!

In the summer, we love to make this recipe with local cherry tomatoes, but we make this recipe all year ‘round with big boxes of grape tomatoes from Costco. The original recipe (from Cooks Illustrated) called for this amount of sauce for a whole pound of pasta, but we like twice as many tomatoes for our pasta—so please note that the recipe below only calls for a half-pound of pasta. We always make a double batch to have plenty of leftovers, so we buy two of those giant boxes of grape tomatoes at a time. While you’re at Costco, you can pick up a giant jar of capers, a bag of pine nuts, a mesh bag of garlic, a huge jug of olive oil, a big wedge of Parmesan cheese, and a jar of kalamata olives… Then you’re set up to make this dish whenever you get a hankering!

2 pounds grape tomatoes, halved pole to pole
2 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt or kosher salt
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 large cloves garlic, sliced thin
¼ cup rinsed and drained capers
½ pound spaghetti (I like whole-wheat, especially DeCecco or Ronzoni)
½ cup pitted and sliced kalamata olives
¼ cup chopped flat-leaved parsley
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted (optional)
2 ounces grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, gently toss tomatoes with oil, ½ teaspoon salt, pepper flakes, pepper, garlic, and capers. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with non-stick spray or oil. Spread tomatoes in an even layer on baking sheet and roast until tomato skins are slightly shriveled (tomatoes should retain their shape), 35 to 40 minutes. Do not stir tomatoes during roasting. Remove from the oven and cool 5 to 10 minutes.
2. While tomatoes cook, bring a large pot of water to boil. Just before removing tomatoes from the oven, stir 1 tablespoon salt and pasta into boiling water and cook until al dente. Drain pasta and return to pot. Scrape tomatoes into pot on top of pasta, add olives and parsley; toss to combine. Serve immediately, sprinkling pine nuts and optional cheese over individual bowls.

chopped greek salad with garlicky croutons

tomatoes

bread

lemon

croutons

arugula

vinaigrette

cucumbers

salad greens

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This recipe reminds me of a salade nicoise (the recipe for my salade nicoise is in the farmers market cookbook, and on the web), but it’s inspired by Greek flavors, and it’s a lot easier to do, since you don’t have to cook the green beans and roast the potatoes. It’s inspired by a recent recipe in Fine Cooking.

It goes without saying that I like to make my croutons out of Rise & Shine Bakery whole-grain sourdough bread! They make such flavorful little morsels—crunchy and delicious. You can leave the anchovies and/or feta cheese out for a vegetarian or dairy-free meal!

garlicky whole-grain croutons

5 slices hearty whole-grain bread
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed in a garlic press
¼ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mash the garlic with the salt in the bottom of a medium-sized bowl. Stir in the olive oil. Cut the slices of bread into ½” cubes and toss them in the garlicky oil until the oil is thoroughly absorbed and distributed.
2. Spread the bread cubes out on a baking sheet and bake for 15-25 minutes, until the croutons are crispy and golden-brown.

dressing

¼ cup minced shallots
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
¼ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
½ teaspoon dried oregano, or 1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
¼ cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice, or white wine vinegar
½ tin of oil packed anchovies, chopped and mashed (about 4 fillets)—optional
----------------------------------
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1. In a bowl, whisk together all the vinaigrette ingredients except the oil. Continue whisking while slowly drizzling in the oil.
2. Correct seasoning to taste—if it’s too sharp and lemony, add a bit more salt and/or oil.

salad

6-8 cups of young arugula, washed and dried (or substitute any salad greens)
2 cups fresh tomatoes, diced into ½-inch pieces
1 English cucumber, seeded and diced into ½-inch pieces
½ cup Kalamata olives, pitted and quartered
½ cup feta cheese, diced into ½-inch pieces—optional

1. Compose this salad on a large serving platter. Toss the arugula or salad greens with a couple of spoonfuls of the dressing, and make a bed of lettuce on the platter. Then toss the cucumber with a little more of the dressing. Attractively group each component on top of the greens. Drizzle a little more vinaigrette over all the vegetables, if you like. Sprinkle cracked pepper over the top, and enjoy!!
2. When you’re ready to sit down and eat, drizzle some of the dressing over the leaves and toss, adding more dressing as needed until all the leaves are lightly coated. Sprinkle with the optional Parmesan cheese, toss again to mix, and then toss in the croutons. Sprinkle with pepper and serve right away, before the lettuce wilts.

chickpea salad with kalamata olives

olives

beans

chickpeas

chickpea

kalamata olives

garbanzo beans

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I love this recipe! It’s based on one in Patricia Wells’ Bistro Cooking. It’s so easy (once you cook the chickpeas—and that’s just letting them simmer for a while on the stove), and so delicious! I haven’t tried it with canned chickpeas—let me know if it tastes good, if you try it! You can make a lot of chickpeas at once and then freeze them, ready to make salads. Or you can make this salad and then freeze the leftovers! It makes quite a bit, but it keeps well in the ‘fridge and freezes nicely. You can always halve the recipe if you don’t want to make so much—but why? It’s hardly any more bother to make the big batch and have it for later!

This is a great salad in which to use the really good olive oil you’ve been saving for a special occasion. If you don’t already have some really good stuff, they sure have a nice variety at Summit Spice & Tea Co., at 1120 E. Huffman Road.

for the chickpeas

3 cups dried chickpeas, soaked at least 4 hours or overnight
1 onion, quartered
4 garlic cloves, peeled
2 bay leaves

1. Drain the chickpeas. Put them in a pot, cover with fresh water by about an inch, and add the onion quarters and garlic and bay leaves. Make sure the water covers the onions. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the chickpeas are completely tender. This could be as short as an hour, or as long as an hour and a half or two. The peas should be quite soft—soft enough to easily mash between your tongue and the roof of your mouth. If you have time, let the chickpeas sit in their cooking liquid and cool—they will absorb more of the flavorful broth and have a creamier texture.
2. Pick out the onions and garlic and bay leaves and discard. Strain the chickpeas, reserving the broth. You won’t need any of the broth for the salad, but it makes fantastic vegetable stock to make soups or stews—freeze it until you’re ready to use it!

for the salad

¼ cup red wine vinegar
10 garlic cloves, finely minced
¼ cup finely chopped minced fresh herbs, such as rosemary, thyme, and parsley (just use whatever you have)
sea salt or kosher salt
freshly-ground pepper
¼ to ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil (to your taste)
1 cup pitted Kalamata olives (or you can use black oil-cured olives, if you can find them)
2 medium onions, finely minced

1. Prepare the vinaigrette: Combine the vinegar, garlic, herbs and a teaspoon of salt. Mix, and slowly whisk in the oil. Season to taste with pepper and more salt, if desired.
2. When the beans are cooked and drained, and while they are still warm (just reheat them if you’ve let them cool), add the olives, onion, and the vinaigrette; toss. Season to taste (they will probably need quite a bit more salt), add more olive oil if you like, and serve. You can serve this salad warm, or at room temperature.

Sicilian cauliflower salad

cauliflower

garlic

parsley

lemon

kalamata olives

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This is yet another variation on the “cauliflower with capers & lemon” theme… I love those flavors--I bet you will, too. It’s based on a recipe in James Peterson’s Vegetables. If you can get green cauliflower, it makes the salad even prettier than usual! I can sit down and just eat a big bowl of this for lunch.

If you don’t prefer the anchovies, just leave them out—the kalamata olives and capers are nice and briny even without them.

½ cup kalamata olives
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and drained
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 anchovy filets (optional), rinsed and coarsely chopped
1 small bunch flat-leaved parsley, leaves chopped
1-2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
sea salt or kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 large head cauliflower, trimmed and cut into small florets

1. Put a large pot of water on to boil.
2. While the water heats, make the sauce. Chop the olives and combine them in a big bowl with the capers, garlic, anchovies and parsley. Add the olive oil and lemon juice.
3. When the water boils, add a couple of tablespoons of salt to the pot. Cook the cauliflower florets in the pot for about 4 or 5 minutes, just until tender (taste often!). Drain (don’t rinse), and toss the cauliflower into the bowl with the sauce.
4. Taste the salad and add salt, lemon, oil, and pepper to taste. Serve warm or at room temperature.

hash browns, plain and fancy

potatoes

garlic