Black Olive and Parsnip Salad

Simple dish with whole black olives (destoned), spiralised parsnip, and a crunchy lettuce salad in a spoonful of mayonnaise. If you don't have a spiraliser, grating the parsnip would do just as well.
 

Chorizo and Black Olive Omelette

 Excellent breakfast omelette made with diced mushrooms and chorizo sausage, plus halved stoned black olives. 

The chorizo was cooking first in a skillet, and most of the oil in the cooking came from the sausage. Cooked for at least twenty minutes at a middling heat. Then I added the mushroom and the halved olives. The omelette mixture (beaten egg with a little water) was added after another fifteen minutes and cooked until the surface of the omelette became firm. 

Slid out of the skillet onto the plate. Delicious!

Napoli Salami Salad

Sometimes it is amazing what you can find in the local Co-op in midwinter. Delicious Napoli Salami slices, served with a baby leaf salad, grated carrot, black olives, and a little Dijon mustard, which could be mixed through the grated carrot. Three minutes to put this dish together.

https://salumeriamalta.com/salami-napolitano/ 

Chicken Mayo with Roasted Chips and Salad

 Diced chicken breast in mayonnaise, infused with coriander leaf and a small pinch of oregano. Served with oven grilled chips drizzled with sunflower oil. The chips were originally parboiled for fifteen minutes. 

Served with a baby leaf salad and stoned black olives. Dressed with a little American mustard. 

Baby Plum Tomato and Mustard Salad, with Carrot and Olives

Good to have occasional salads during winter (both vegetable and fruit varieties).Halved baby plum tomatoes, diced red pepper and garlic, in a mustard sauce of either American or German yellow mustard. I was looking for a courser Dijon mustard at first, but I settled on American mustard. The tomatoes were drizzled in Olive Oil before the mustard was added, along with a little salt and some basil. Allowed to stand for at least half an hour. 

A single carrot was batonned, and then blitzed for ten seconds in a Kenwood mini-chopper, along with coriander leaf and some tarragon. Served with stoned black olives, preserved in brine.  

Black Olive Salad

 Another summery salad for a grim winter in the UK. Made with black pitted olives, half of a diced red onion, diced red pepper, shredded carrot, red cabbage, and lettuce leaves. Dressed in olive oil. No herbs, no salt. You could add oregano or coriander leaf. Or even salt. Served in a pasta dish.

Fabulously simple, and nutritious!

Stilton Cheese Salad with Black Olives

Sometimes, in the depths of mid-winter, it is good to have a summery salad, to remind you of other times. The weather here at the moment alternates between miserable, and dangerous. We are looking forward to the spring.

This is a very simple salad, which can be prepared in just a few minutes. About 100g of Stilton cheese, diced into pieces, plus about twenty pitted black olives, strips of red pepper, and diagonally diced spring onion.

No herbs, no seasoning required. Just raw and delicious!

The dish could also be dressed with olive oil, or served with lettuce leaves, or with diced coriander leaves.

Black Olive Salad

Two colours of lettuce, with chopped red onion, a quarter of a red pepper, and a chopped carrot, dressed in olive oil, salt, and vinegar. Mixed in a bowl, and allowed to stand for ten minutes or so. Then decant to the serving plate.

Add around twenty black destoned olives.  Cut ten cherry or baby plum tomatoes in two, and serve with the ensemble.

 Serve with black pepper.

White bean Mediterranean Salad

A delicious salad made with cannellini beans, stoned black olives, cherry tomatoes, orange pepper, spring onion, garlic, and dressed in olive oil and vinegar, with a small drizzle of lemon juice.

The dried beans were allowed to soak overnight before being boiled for twenty five minutes, allowed to cool, and then drained.

All the vegetables (minus the olives and the lettuce salad) were diced and mixed together in a bowl with the oil and vinegar, the lemon juice, and then dusted with some coriander leaf and paprika.

Served on the bed of baby leaf salad, with a little black pepper. 

Black Olive and Chickpea Salad

About 100g of dried chickpeas were soaked overnight in cold unsalted water, along with a diced clove of garlic.

The chickpeas were boiled the following morning for fifteen minutes, and then drained and allowed to cool.

Added to a bowl with diced white onion, plus finely chopped coriander leaf and some oregano. Plus a dash of olive oil, malt vinegar, and white pepper. Stir together thoroughly.

Put the bowl into the fridge for an hour.

Quarter half a dozen cherry tomatoes and place in a bowl. Add a squirt of tomato ketchup, some diced garlic, some basil and coriander leaf.

Take the chickpea and onion mixture from the fridge, and add a chopped babyleaf salad (a handful), plus some stoned black olives. Mix together. Serve as illustrated above!

Chorizo Salad with Black Olives and Green Pepper

A chorizo salad, made with black olives, diced onion and spring onion, boiled potato cubes boiled with a little turmeric, one green pepper cut into strips, one deseeded and diced red chilli, diced vine tomato, and a dessert spoonful of olive oil.

Plus a bistro salad of green and purple lettuce as the base of the dish. Drizzle with a little lime juice.

Serve dressed with freshly ground black pepper.

Spanish Rice, Beans and Olives

A casserole oven-cooked dish, which is essentially a paella, but not cooked in a paella pan.

The onion was diced, the chillies were deseeded and diced, and placed in a little olive oil in the casserole dish, along with a third of a cup of American long grain rice. I added the olives and some minced garlic. Plus some turmeric and tomato passata.

The beans had been soaking since the preceding evening, so they were ready to be added also. The oven was preheated to 190 deg C. A cupful of hot water was added.

Like paella, the dish is ready when most of the moisture has been absorbed by the rice, but it should not be dry. I cooked this with the lid on for half an hour, and then I checked its progress. The dish went back into the oven, but this time without the lid. In another twenty minutes it was ready to serve.

I added no herbs or vegetable stock.A delicious and simple dish to prepare.

Goats Cheese and Black Olive Salad

Potato, green pepper, tomato, onion, black olive, grilled pepper, goats cheese, black pepper, capers.

Dressed in olive oil, with a dash of lemon juice.

Served with a 68 gram roundel of goat's cheese.

Very easy to prepare, and delicious!

Mustard Ham Salad with Black Olives

A delicious and quick salad, made with mustard ham, baby leaf salad (rocket, chard, purple lettuce, spinach), pitted black olives (in brine), shredded salad tomato, and sliced red pepper.

Wash the baby leaf salad, and dress in a little olive oil and freshly ground black pepper. Add the shredded tomato, sliced red pepper, and the black olives, and stir together.

The delicately flavoured mustard breaded ham came from Aldi's. Serve with two slices.

This combination is adaptable to almost any variety of ham or roast pork. I chose not to add any herbs, but basil and oregano would be good choices.

Silverside Beef with Root Vegetables, and a Black Olive Sidesalad

A joint of Scottish prime silverside beef, slow roasted in the oven for two hours, at 180 deg C. Cooked on a bed of root vegetables - 2 carrots, 2 onions, one large carrot, and a chopped stick of celery (celeriac can be used instead). Sea salt was rubbed into the top of the joint, along with freshly ground black pepper. Roasted in a large casserole dish, with half a pint of beef stock.

The joint was allowed to cool overnight. It was cut into slices the following day, following the grain of the meat, rather than across it.

The gravy was made by liquidising half of the root vegetables and the stock from the roast. The rest of the root vegetables became part of the dish, along with the gravy.

The beef and the vegetables were reheated for 20 minutes in a pre-heated steamer, decanted onto a plate, and dressed with black pepper.

The side salad comprised black olives, a four leaf salad (red lettuce, chard, rocket, and spinach), dressed in fresh lemon juice.

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Egg and celery salad

Chopped celery, thinly sliced boiled egg, spring onion, black olive halves, sliced cucumber, yellow pepper, quartered cherry tomatoes, and some fresh Greek Basil leaves. Served with black pepper. Delicious, with lots of crunch. I actually prefer it without the tomato.

This recipe dates from 2012, when a number were posted on Facebook. I got some responses for these. Someone suggested that this recipe might be 'lovely in a pitta bread'.  It could have been served that way, but initially it was served and eaten as a plain salad. The remains of the salad were eaten in the evening in a tortilla wrap, with some salsa.

Egg and celery salad