Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Simple olive spread

I love salty snacks. I think it's kind of odd because in general I cook with very little salt and don't add much at the table. But I love pickles, olives, potato chips, French fries, tortilla chips, etc. Olive spread is great for my salt tooth. The Greek restaurant I loved in Waco had a similar spread, and it was addictive. I make mine with a mixture of black olives and kalamata olives to cut cost and amount of time you have to spend pitting olives. You can always add more kalamatas than I did. The pine nuts are just for texture. I've substituted peanuts before with no ill effects. You don't really need much olive oil. Just put a splash in there, and if it isn't processing well, add a little more.

Simple olive spread (adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home)
1 jar pitted black olives, drained (probably 15 oz jar or so)
20 kalamata olives, pitted
1 clove garlic, peeled
2 tbsp pine nuts
1-2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil

Put everything in a food processor. Process it until fairly smooth. Eat it on pita, matzah, or whatever. It would probably be good on a vegetable sandwich with eggplant, roasted peppers, and cheese, but I haven't tried it. I kind of want to now, but I ate it all already.

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