Providence's Recipes

Providence HATES olives and uses her Automatic Dinner Reducer to hide them. Robert's readers tried to find a recipe that would convince Providence that olives are not so bad.

Olive, Carrots and Broccoli salad
- Hannah Hebertson

1cup chopped black olives
1pk.carrots
1pk. broccoli

Stir chopped black olives with the carrots. Stir in brocoli. Serve with fresh fruit.

Garlic Olives
- Rosemary Pelissier

2 C. canned green olives, drained
2 cloves garlic, slivered
3 thin slices lemon
1 tsp. black peppercorns
3 bay leaves
Whole sprigs dried oregano
1/4 C. sherry or vinegar
Olive oil

Combine olives, garlic, lemon slices, peppercorns, bay leaves, sprigs of oregano and sherry in a jar. Add oil to cover. Marinate at least 24 hours or overnight to blend flavors. Makes 2 cups.

Tapenade
- Frank Di Memmo

1-2 large cloves Garlic
1 cup Parsley
12 ozs. Kalamata olives pitted and drained
1/2 - 3/4 cup Pine nuts
1 T Lemon juice
1 T Capers, drained
1 t Basil, dried
Black pepper to taste

Mince garlic in a food processor, then add parsley, continue to mince. Then add rest of ingredients and continut to mince. Be careful not to over process. Serve on crustini as an appetizer or for hors d'oeuvres. Serves- not enough.

Olive Spirals
- Tami Barrett

2 plain flour tortillas (10-inch)
1 cup soft (tub-style) herb & garlic or garden-vegetable cream cheese
1 can (4.25-ounce) chopped olives
1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
6 to 8 thin slices smoked turkey or ham
1 1/2 to 2 cups loosely packed fresh basil or spinach leaves, stems removed

Spread cheese on tortillas to within 1/2 inch of edges. Mix olives and bell pepper. Evenly spread over cheese. Top with turkey and basil. Tightly roll up tortillas. Wrap separately in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2hours. Cut each into about 12 (1/2-inch) slices, discarding ends. Makes about 24 appetizers.

Stuffed Mushrooms Avec Black Olives
- David Manning

Take Mushrooms and destem them, Take stems, black olives, green onion bread crumbs and 1 T of flour. Put this in a blender.. Put in fry pan with butter. And 4 TBLSPNS of cream cheese. Place mixture in mushroom cap. Sprinkle with Parmesean cheese. Bake 375 for 8 minutes. Voila Scrumptious because of the black olives.

Olive Nut Spread
- Kathleen Presecan

I hate olives, too, but this recipe isn't too bad!

1 Package (3 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/4 cup chopped pimiento-stuffed olives
2 Tablespoons milk

Stir together all ingredients until well mixed. Serve on crackers.

Olive-Cheese Spread
- Tom Collins

Grate 10 oz. of sharp cheddar and mix into 8 oz. of softened cream cheese.
Add half an onion, minced, and half a cup of any spicy tomato-based sauce.
Mix in half a cup of sour cream and half a cup of green olives stuffed with
pimientos. Now slice a loaf of French bread down the middle (the long way),
spread both sides with this mixture and run it under a broiler until the
cheese melts and you have a tasty treat.

Olive Ladder Bread (Fougasse)
- Kathleen Deem

2 1/2 cups lukewarm water
1 teaspoon dry yeast
6-7 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups pitted and chopped black olives (Nyons or Kalamata)
1/4 cup buckwheat flour

You will need a large bread bowl, four 10-by 15- inch or larger baking sheets that will fit in pairs side-by-side in your oven, a sharp knife or razor blade, and a pastry brush.

Place water in a large bowl, sprinkle on yeast, then stir in 2 1/2 cups of the all purpose flour. Stir 100 times in the same direction (one minute) to develop the gluten, then leave this sponge covered with plastic wrap for 30 minutes or up to two hours.

Stir in olive oil, salt, olives, and buckwheat flour. Mix in remaining flour, a cup at a time, stirring always in the same direction, until dough becomes too stiff to stir. Turn dough out onto a well floured working surface. Using floured hands, knead gently until the dough has an even consistency (apart from the olives), then knead 5 minutes longer. Clean bread bowl, oil it lightly, place dough in the bowl, then cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 2 to 3 hours. It will have almost doubled in volume.

Oil two 10 by 15 inch (or larger) baking sheets. Flatten dough down gently with your hands, then turn out onto floured working surface. Cut dough in half, return half to the bread bowl and cover. Divide remaining half in two. Knead each half into a ball and then flatten gently with the palm of your hand. Let stand five minutes to rest. Working with each piece in turn, flatten out with your palms into a rectangle or oval about 10 inches long and 5 to 6 inches wide. It will be about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick. Transfer each to a lightly oiled baking sheet at least 14 inches long. Let loaves rise for 20 to 30 minutes, covered with a damp towel or plastic wrap.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and set rack at the center of the oven or just above. (If your baking sheets do not fit side-by-side on one rack, place two racks in oven, one just above the center and one just below. One bread can go on each rack; about halfway through baking (after 10 to 12 minutes), switch the two around.) Just before placing in the oven, use a sharp knife or razor blade to make cuts through the breads: Starting two inches from the top and about an inch from the side, cut across the bread to within an inch of the other side. Make two more cuts, parallel to the first, at about 2 inch intervals (the cuts should go all the way through the dough). The dough will separate at each cut, so that the bread looks like a kind of fat-runged ladder; you can pull dough apart even more if you wish and if your baking sheets are long enough, by pulling gently on each end of the breads to make the slits gape more.

Brush each loaf lightly with olive oil all over, place in the oven, and bake for 20 minutes. Breads will be golden when done. Once first two loaves are in the oven, oil two more baking sheets, then flatten remaining dough, divide into two, and repeat steps required to form loaves. Breads should almost have finished rising by the time the first batch comes out of the oven.