Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Olive, Olives...

Sometimes I find myself in a store and I see something I HAVE TO HAVE.  This was one of those times.  I was walking down the condiment aisle and I spotted these neon green olives.  They were like my guiding light.  They pulled me towards their shelf, whispered in my ear and the next thing I knew I was putting them in my basket, checking them out the door, opening them in the car and eating their wonderful little bodies.  They were delicious.  Very unlike their salty, pungent buddies with the red rocket pimento in the middle. 


Look at that color!!  And they actually taste like olive oil.  You have to try them.  I got this jar at Kroger in East Memphis, because apparently the Kroger in Midtown Memphis doesn't like to carry ANYTHING good at all.  But that is a whole new blog that I'm not ready for...but I'm comin' for ya Kroger...get ready.

Anyways, I was starving one night....had only a few odd things in my fridge and so I decided to make these little neon ovals my main event in a pasta dish.  And here's how:

Here's What You Need: (note...this is for 1 HEARTY plate of pasta...so adjust accordingly)
6 or 7 Castelvetrano olives - pitted and chopped
1 handful of pine nuts, toasted
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 good shake of crushed red pepper flakes
A handful of pasta (I always make WAY too much when I just cook for myself...so if you have this measurement mastered, please let a bitch know).
salt & pepper
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Parmesan cheese, grated...enough to sprinkle the top.

Here's What You Do:
Boil your pasta in very salty water according to how much you have until it is al dente and drain it.  If you don't know how to make pasta I assume you aren't really into food, so you probably aren't reading this so I'm not going to teach you how to make pasta. 

In a large skillet add olive oil, garlic and crushed red pepper.  Cook for just about 2 minutes, paying attention to not burn the garlic.  You just want to slightly cook everything and blend the flavors.  Add in olives just to warm them.  Add pasta to this mix until all the noodles are well-coated. 

Add in your toasted pine nuts (easy to do...just put pine nuts in a dry skillet on medium high heat and watch them like a hawk, flipping them over and over until they are just brown...they burn easy so don't leave them alone...takes about 3 minutes). 
Place your pasta in a bowl and top with shredded Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper. 

Congratulations...You just made dinner in 20 minutes and your entire family thinks you are a God/Goddess because it tasted like heaven.

4 comments:

Merry Beth said...

i LOVE Castelvetrano olives! they actually have them at the Kroger olive bar as well and they're even better than the jarred ones. i love them so much, i actually buy giant tins of Castelvetrano olive oil through a friend of mine that owns a restaurant. i could bathe in the stuff. so trying this recipe!

Bianca said...

Love me some olives.This looks so good...simple and perfect! I am totally making this (when I'm not cooking for my weirdo olive hating significant other).

Bianca said...

I have no clue why that posted four times.

Jess said...

You crack me up, Bianca!

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