I love olives. Green and black. Pitted or not. But it never crossed my mind to make a green olives based pasta - and i love experimenting with loadsss of pasta recipes - until Shah spotted the jar of green olives in Monoprix last week.
At first i said, "What pasta do i make with these??".
Shah replied, "Just add to whatever pasta you've been making. Senang."
Right... Said the nasi goreng-maker of our family.
I got brave and reached for one of the jars two nights ago on our weekly grocery trip, still with zero idea of what to do with them.
Yesterday before making dinner, i Googled "Pasta green olives". Who else topped the search but Jamie Oliver and his laid-back recipes? I clicked on it, and voila! Pasta made!
Click here for Jamie Oliver's full recipe: Pasta & Green Olives
My version is as below. Thank you Jamie Oliver, you're the besttt.
Ingredients (two servings):
- A half-handful of pasta; i used those thin spaghetti since that was all i had
- However much extra virgin olive oil i like; usually covering half of the pot/pan's base
- 3 small garlic cloves
- Black pepper from the small jar
- Almost 3/4 of a 200g jar green olives i brine; not stoned or chopped since i have no idea how to do that
- 4 tbsp of brine from jar for flavour for saltiness
- About 10 cherry tomatoes, halved and squashed with CLEAN bare right hand, and about 2 tbsp of packaged pureed tomatoes; Jamie Oliver says to add 'passata', and even though i've learned what it means, i still wouldn't know where to get it
- Whatever grated cheese in the refrigerator and extra EVOO for extra flavour
- No basil leaves since ours had wilted; but if you have some, i'm sure it will be a delicious addition
Steps:
1. Cook pasta in salted boiling water until al dente. I added EVOO in the water to help prevent them from sticking too. Drain and put aside. (note: they still stick. must figure out a way to seriously prevent sticking)
2. Slice garlic - not too thinly - and fry until soft but not coloured. OK, mine got browned a tiny bit but that's fine. Add the olives, then season with black pepper. Stir them around and let be for a couple of minutes.
3. Add squashed fresh tomatoes, puréed tomatoes and the brine. Stir a little and let stew for 5 minutes. Taste; if more salt is needed, do add more.
4. Mix drained pasta with sauce. Top up with more EVOO and pepper if you wish. Sprinkle with grated cheese (parmesan, according to Jamie Oliver). I wish i had some fresh basil last night though, i would've loved the extra zing.
Eat!
Eat!
I find the cherry tomatoes here are the best i've tasted, so we always stock up on them and add them to all veggie stir fries and anything that involves tomato sauce in cooking. In fact, i wish i had doubled the amount of cherry tomatoes in this pasta. In addition to the crushed halved chery tomatoes, i added 2 tbsp of this Heinz puréed tomatoes:
Shah and i had this bag of cheese in the refrigerator for weeks i think, so we just sprinkled this on.
I have to say i much prefer the pasta without this cheese however, and so did Shah. Definitely have to locate a bag of grated parmesan next time at the supermarket!
Another tip: no matter how much you love olives, put in less than what you think you can eat. If you don't, you might each end up with 2 or 3 sad uneaten olives on your plate.
Happy trying, and enjoy!
xxoo
That looks delicious! What's EVOO babe? Is it like a kind of seasoning or oil? Btw, my pastas used to stick too no matter how many drops of olive oil i put into the water. What you need to do is to prepare a bowl of iced water (make sure it is REALLY cold) and then after your pasta is cooked, transfer it into the iced water. It'll help! :D
ReplyDeleteHello Sipi! EVOO is acronym for extra virgin olive oil. Rachael Ray always say "EVOO" on her show, but i only use it in writing actually. And that's a great pasta tip, i'll definitely try that! Unfortunately the freezer in our fridge is tiny, and there's no room for an ice cube tray. But the tap water here can go pretty cold, so that would have to do for now. Thanks Sipi! =D
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