Simply Lovely

Ah, another Monday of cooking...  As my loyal readers (hi dad!) probably know by now, I start the day with my Mediterranean diet class. Today we focused on two pretty simple (but very important!!!) recipe: The first, a "pasta di olive", or a black olive paste, aka tapenade.  I'm thinking I want to spice up this blog a bit, and make you guys a little more excited to read, so I will include the recipes!!! (using the ones given to us in class, to give proper credit) REJOICE!

So the following calls for the best quality brine-cured olives you can find, such as nicoise or gaeta olives. You should avoid using canned Spanish or California black olives- however, we ended up using precisely that in class because they were the only ones the teacher could find. The tapenade was still tasty!

Some high-quality, extra-virgin olive oil is a must!

Ingredients:
1 pound of pitted black olives
1/2 cup drained capers (I used less because I'm not crazy about them.)
1 clove of garlic, coarsely chopped
7 ounces (or 100 grams) salted anchovy, rinsed, boned, and finely minced
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, or more to taste (holy moly, I know)
a few drops of fresh lemon juice

The rest is really very simple- just put all the ingredients in a blender/food processor and blend very briefly (you don't want to to be TOO paste-y, it should be a rather coarse texture.) You can make this up to a week in advance to your special potluck party (hehe) and store in the fridge with a thin layer of olive oil poured over it, making sure to bring it to room temp and stir before serving, since olive oil kinda solidifies when it is too cold.

Taste and modify the above ingredients to taste... more lemon, less anchovy- w/e you want. Cooking is all about trial and error! We served it on crackers and with some julianne-cut veggies. Enjoy!

The first dish made- olive tapenade!

hmmmm wafting smells of olives!!

The next recipe was just as simple but essential to Italian life- Bruschetta! (and yes, it IS pronounces BRUS-KE-TA). If anyone is unfamiliar, this is an Italian garlic bread, and a "very good example of how the simplest food is often the best". To serve, you should use either Tuscan bread (which is hard and salt free), Pugliese bread, or  any other bread you find which as similar characteristics to those.

Ingredients:
1 large loaf of italian country white bread
4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
olive oil (of course)
2 cups whole fresh tomatoes, cut in small, yet coarse pieces
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp finely chopped fresh basil

Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Slice the bread 1/2 -inch thick and grill both sides until golden and crispy (Don't burn it!!). This should probably take about 4 minutes on each side. While that's cookin, mix the tomatoes with 1 tbsp olive oil (or mooooore), salt to taste, the basil, and the oregano. Let the mixture stand for a few minutes.
Brush the warm bread with olive oil on one side and gently rub that side with garlic- don't overdo it because the bread cab turn bitter tasting. Finally, spread the tomato mix on the slices. Serve warm and Viola!!

yummers

The enthusiasts will know that after this class, I have my chocolate class. However, I will have to regale the tales of that adventure tomorrow. Till then!