From north to south there are many dishes that can be prepared with olives, from pasta sauces to meat, from focaccia to salads. Here are five recipes and some advice
Whether green or black, olives as well as being an excellent base for an aperitif, can become a real ingredient to cook fish, meat, pasta or vegetable or cereal salads. Not all of them are the same, however: each dish corresponds to a type of olive that is specific, in brine or in oil, which is sweeter or tastier. Here then five recipes all to try.
Pantelleria salad
For this quick and easy to prepare salad you need tasty black olives. Boil 3 potatoes and cut them into slices. In a bowl, add the potatoes, the sliced salad tomatoes, a red Tropea onion, a few basil leaves, the chopped olives, a spoonful of desalted capers and 4 drained mackerel fillets. Season everything with extra virgin olive oil, oregano and salt.
Spaghetti with tomatoes, olives and golden breadcrumbs
A typical dish of the Sicilian tradition, made with cherry tomatoes and the addition of breadcrumbs which are browned with a little oil and a clove of garlic. Start by frying the tomatoes in oil and garlic, add the stoned black olives cut into small pieces, cook for ten minutes and then add the breadcrumbs that you have browned in a little oil and a clove of garlic. Cook the spaghetti in plenty of salted water and shortly before they are cooked, drain them and place them in the pan with the tomatoes and finish cooking them together with the sauce. Serve with chopped basil.
Focaccia, scarola and black olives
This focaccia is part of the southern tradition and can be prepared with 00 flour or, even better, with a wholemeal or at least less refined than 00. Prepare the focaccia in the usual way, mixing 500 g of flour with 10 g of yeast, two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, a pinch of salt, 400 ml of water. Let the dough rise overnight. In the meantime, prepare the filling: clean and cut the endive, sauté in a pan with oil, a clove of garlic and a desalted anchovy fillet. Pay attention that all the water left by the salad is dried, add the pitted Taggiasche olives and turn off. Now roll out the dough into two discs, one slightly larger than the other, and line the latter with a previously oiled baking pan. Stuffed with the escarole filling, close with the other disc of dough and brush the surface with a little oil. Bake at 200 degrees for about twenty minutes and then serve.
Ligurian sea bream
For this dish are essential Taggiasche olives, originating from the Imperia area. The recipe is also suitable for other types of fish, such as sea bass, snapper or turbot. Place the fish fillet in a baking pan lined with special paper, add the sliced potatoes, half the cherry tomatoes, a few pine nuts, the olives and bake at 180 ° for about 20 minutes. Before serving season with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Spelled salad with aubergines, olives and peppers
A fresh proposal, which can also be made with other cereals, such as barley or quinoa, for gluten intolerant. It is prepared in a few minutes and is a tasty and very nutritious dish. Boil the spelled in plenty of salted water, drain it and rinse it in cold water. Separately, in a saucepan, brown in three tablespoons of garlic oil, add the aubergine and the pepper cut into small pieces and cook until the vegetables are wilted. At this point add the sliced almonds and the olives, green or black, as you prefer, the important thing is that they are sweet and not acidulous. Season with salt, garnish with lots of basil leaves and add the spelled vegetables. Serve the salad warm or cold.
