I never liked the taste of olives; it was something about their taste I didn’t enjoy. It wasn’t until recent years I developed a liking for them, now I can gobble a bowl up in no time and enjoy them as a healthy snack. Olive it was created to celebrate all things olives, coming up with recipes and competitions to promote it. Some time ago I even attended the finals for the competition they ran for young cooks.
Why olives?
- Olives are healthy, they are a key ingredient in the Mediterranean diet
- The variety of olives are endless
- They can be mixed with anything, desserts, cheese you name it
- Versatile flavour
- In around 100 grams it only contains 150kcal
The people over at Olive it invited me down to 52 Cookery School for an intimate cooking class with Jose Pizarro. I wrote how I met Jose at an event and visiting his restaurant in Bermondsey Street Jose.
We started off with making a simple entry dish. Olives with a simple lemon and olive oil dressing, letting it sit until the rest of the evening to absorb the flavours.
Next we prepare the chicken stew, there were many stages involved. First dicing up the onions, slicing up the chicken pieces. Slowing adding the stock, deepening the flavours with wine and adding olives. I couldn’t believe how easy, simple the dish was with simple ingredients, and tasted like something I ate at Jose restaurant.
Another main was prepared a white fish stuffed with olives and chopped garlic wrapped with parma ham. Frying it first in the pan then chucked in the oven.
We enjoyed our meal with sliced bread, and good wine, chatting amongst ourselves.
I love the versatility of olives, a great ingredient for anything, natural saltiness. If you have a read about the Olive it competition, the fig and olives ice cream was to die for.