Black Olive Pateportuguese Recipes

OLIVE PATE

Steps:

• Chop garlic.
• Squeeze lemon.
• Add rest of ingredients.
• I use just a wee bit of anchovies.
• Process to desired consistancy.

BLACK OLIVE PATE(PORTUGUESE)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
• Spread the olives out on several thickness of paper towels, top with several more thicknesses of paper towels, then roll up tight, and set aside (to rid the olives of as much moisture as possible so that the pate won't be soupy).
• Slice off the top part of the head of garlic, exposing the cloves. Drizzle the head with olive oil. Wrap the whole head of garlic in a double thickness of aluminum foil, and then twist each loose end sealing in the garlic. Place in the oven and roast until the garlic is quite tender, about 1 hour. Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature. Take out all cloves of garlic and put into a blender or food processor fitted with a metal chopping blade; add the olives and pepper, and puree by processing 15 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the blender or work bowl with a rubber spatula, process for another 15 seconds, then scoop all into a small bowl. Cover tightly. Store in a refrigerator until about 30 minutes before serving.
• Mound into a small decorative bowl and serve as a cocktail spread on crisp crackers.

BLACK OLIVES WITH HARISSA

Steps:

• In a colander rinse olives under cold water 1 minute and in a large bowl cover with cold water. Soak olives 4 hours to remove excess salt and drain well. To make the harissa: In a mortar with a pestle, an electric spice grinder, or a cleaned coffee grinder, grind seeds fine. If using mortar and pestle, add chiles, garlic, and salt and pound, to taste. If using a spice or coffee grinder, transfer seeds to a small food processor and add chiles, garlic, and salt. Grind mixture to a paste. Add pepper and oil and pound or puree to a coarse paste. In a large bowl stir together the harissa and olives and marinate, covered and chilled, at least 6 hours or overnight. Olives may be prepared 1 week ahead and kept chilled, covered. Serve olives at room temperature.
• Roasted Peppers: Using a long-handled fork, char peppers over an open flame or on a rack set over an electric burner, turning, until skins are blackened, 4 to 6 minutes. (Or to broil peppers on rack of a broiler pan under a preheated broiler about 2 inches from heat, turning every 5 minutes, 15 to 20 minutes, or until skins are blistered and charred.) Transfer peppers to a bowl and let stand, covered, until cool enough to handle. Keeping peppers whole, peel them, starting at blossom end. Cut off pepper tops and discard seeds and ribs.

ROASTED GARLIC, BRIE & BLACK OLIVE PATE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F Wrap unpeeled garlic cloves tightly in aluminum foil. Bake 30 minutes. Remove from oven, open foil & let garlic cloves rest about 10 min till cool enough to handle.
• When cool, pinch ea clove from the root end & squeeze the garlic pulp into a sml bowl. Set aside.
• While garlic cloves are cooling, melt Brie or Fontina cheese in a double-boiler over simmering (not boiling) water, stirring till smooth.
• Using a food proc or heavy-duty blender, puree olives, garlic & olive oil about 15 seconds. Add melted cheese & pulse about 10 more seconds till combined.
• Place mixture in a bowl lined w/plastic wrap & cover w/plastic wrap touching the top of the spread. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.
• To Serve - Turn out the pate on a serving platter & surround w/crusty bread, zucchini rounds & assorted crackers. Can also be plastic-wrapped in a log shape as desired.

BLACK OLIVE PASTE

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine the ingredients and blend with a fork. If using a food processor, be very careful not to over-process; a chunky texture is better. Store in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator for up to one month.
• To use the olive paste as a marinade, slather chicken, fish, beef or veal well and marinate for up to 6 hours before cooking. The mixture can also be used as a sauce by spooning over meat, poultry or fish in the last five minutes of cooking.

BLACK OLIVE PASTE

Steps:

• To pit the olives, you can use a cherry/olive pitter, but I've found that the olives frequently slip through the holes instead of just the pits.
• Another way to pit olives is to put them inside a folded kitchen towel and then bang on them with a mallet, cutting board, small frying pan, or whatever suits your fancy.
• Sure the olives get bruised, but what do you think is going to happen in the food processor?.
• Mixing raw garlic and olive oil provides an ideal breeding ground for the anaerobic bacteria which cause botulism.
• If I'm going to keep the paste around for a number of days, which I usually do, I'll mince the garlic, add it to the oil and then heat both in the microwave.
• I try not to cook the garlic too much in this manner- you just need to heat the oil and garlic up to 140 or 150 degrees for a while.
• Mix all of the ingredients in food processor.