Easy spicy olives

Easy spicy olives can be prepared in just ten-minutes.

Olives and the oil have an important role in our dietary regime; one way or another they should be on the salad platter every day. Whilst there is much argument about good and bad fats, everyone agrees that the monounsaturates in olives and avocados are top-notch.

There are two-ways to enjoy them; each has his or her preference. I like olives before they have been pickled in vinegar.

Some folk would add garlic but for some reason I am not partial to it in olives; I would rather have it in the hummus or one of the other Mediterranean side-dishes.

Olives really are high in salt^[4]. I know because I pickle them myself^[1]. If you eat out a lot then I recommend you soak them first, otherwise it doesn't really matter.

Never use preserved lemon-juice by the way. It is simply awful; rather go without.

The traditional Greek way would be to mop the remaining oil on your plate with bread. We can learn from the Blue Zone people from the island of Ikaría where they use only sourdough made mainly with unrefined wholemeal flour^[2].

Did you know that with a little practice and a bread-machine you can prepare the dough in less than ten minutes? Then of course you have to wait patiently for five hours for the most divine loaf in the world.

We stumbled on this interesting way to make a sourdough loaf; using kefir^[3] to ferment the bread.

There is an amazing synergy of green living once you get into this alternate lifestyle; who would ever have thought of using a probiotic to provide the yeast and bacteria to ferment your dough?

There will almost certainly be some of the spicy-olive oil left over; simply add more and warm the whole again. Unless your guests simply adored your artisan bread and mopped up all the juice.

Fennel incidentally is not a difficult vegetable to grow; allow some of it to go to flower and then you will have plenty of seeds. There is one difficulty; the moles love it even more than we do, so we grow it in the bags that onions and citrus are often sold in.

Pitting olives

Do warn your guests that these olives have pits in them; they have broken many a tooth of those not accustomed to enjoying them the right way.

You may want to give a little demonstration of how to pit olives if some are anxious; really it's just about mindfulness and taking time to savour our meals. So often we just shovel our food down, completely unaware of the subtle flavours and chewing everything thoroughly.

Easy spicy olives

Easy spicy olives need just fennel-seeds and bay leaves to make up a delicious side dish to go with any green salad or cheese platter.

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