21 replies to this topic

[Fat Guy]

What's your procedure for serving olives? Do you just put them out in a bowl? Rinse them? Garnish them? What?

[David A. Goldfarb]

I put them out in a bowl unrinsed and ungarnished, or I might have two or three bowls of different types of olives, and usually have an empty bowl nearby for pits.

[Simon_S]

Small bowl, side plate (or other receptacle) for pips, occasionally cocktail sticks. No messing around.

[Peter the eater]

I have a dedicated olive plate for serving olives as appetizers. It's round and flat with a curly-cue ridge that spirals from the center outwards - like a nautilus shell. It can accommodate many different sizes of olives which is good since I often buy the eight olive mixture. I'll try to post a picture when or if I get home.

[Fat Guy]

For me it depends on the olives, and especially on where I buy them, but what I've found is that a lot of places sell olives that are covered in undesirable slime and excess salt. So a lot of times I'll rinse the olives before serving. This tends to elicit good guest feedback, with comments that the olives taste especially "fresh" and "olivey."

Pit bowls are an interesting psychological experiment. I've found that the best thing to do is, before guests arrive, eat three or four olives and put the pits in the pit bowl. People are much more likely to use the pit bowl if they don't have to be the first.

[weinoo]

I like to start with freshly rinsed olives, and marinate them in some olive oil, perhaps some orange juice or lemon juice along with a few gratings of the peel, some fresh thyme or oregano, a bit of black pepper, perhaps some red pepper flakes and a clove or two of garlic - lightly bruised.

[Chris Amirault]

When I have the time, I do what Mitch does, following Todd English (following, I'm sure, someone else, perhaps Mitch).

[Fat Guy]

Steve Jenkins, one of the partners in Fairway, writes in the recent book The Food Life (p. 154), that "All olives should be washed in cold water and gently bounced dry. They've been soaking in brine for months, for heaven's sake."

[Dave Hatfield]

They say that the French have a word for it. Well in this case they have a dish for it.

The olive dish in southern France is normally about 6" in diameter with two raised deep bowls on either side of the surface; one being of considerably larger diameter than the other.

The main surface is for the olives, the smaller bowl for toothpicks and the larger for the pips. Voila!

Anybody who tried to sell 'slimy' olives in our neck of the woods would quickly go broke.

[Katie Meadow]

Thank for the tip about washing olives. Perhaps olives that taste too salty to me could be made more acceptable that way. Since I've cut back on salt, my tolerance is lower.

I have an great 50's style serving dish, with three sections. If I have two types of olives, I use the third section for pits. Or I often dedicate the third section to roasted and salted almonds or marcona almonds (altho marconas are far too costly to use often!) and provide a small pit-dish on the side.

I do exactly as Steven does: I prime the pump by eating a couple of olives and putting the pits in the designated spot, so my guests don't have to wonder for even a second what to do with the pits.

My FIL cures olives, and they are fabulous. He doesn't keep them in a brine solution, so they have to be eaten fresh, and quickly. Not a problem--a quart jar might last a couple of days in my house. We bought him the corniest olive dish when we were in the south of France a couple of years ago, with a built-pit bowl and, natch, an olive graphic. Well, he's corny that way, so he loved it.

Edited by Katie Meadow, 10 August 2009 - 10:40 AM.

[Dave Hatfield]

. We bought him the corniest olive dish when we were in the south of France a couple of years ago, with a built-pit bowl and, natch, an olive graphic. Well, he's corny that way, so he loved it.

I guess that puts me in my place.

Still, I guess corniness & practicality don't always agree.

[Alessia]

I, too, usually serve olives with a small pit-dish on the side. I often use this "recipe" (recipe is a bit excessive here LOL) for serving olives, it comes from an old book of my mother's (sorry I can't be more precise). My friends always ask for it when they come over.
You'll need the bigger kind of olives, the really fleshy ones (I'm not sure what they're called in English).
Carefully wash the olives with running water and strain. In a bowl, for every 200 g of olives, put 3 tablespoons dry Martini, 2 tablespoons olive oil, one tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice and the zest of a lemon cut in a julienne (be careful to use just the yellow part of the zest, as usual). Add the olives an mix well. Leave in the fridge overnight (it's important) or longer (the mixture of martini, oil and lemon juice won't be enough to cover the olives, so you'll need to mix and toss everything every now and then while they're in the fridge). Serve at room temp.

Try it, if you're in the mood and let me know if you like it :)

Edited by Alessia, 10 August 2009 - 12:28 PM.

[Katie Meadow]

. We bought him the corniest olive dish when we were in the south of France a couple of years ago, with a built-pit bowl and, natch, an olive graphic. Well, he's corny that way, so he loved it.

I guess that puts me in my place.

Still, I guess corniness & practicality don't always agree.

Aww, Dave, I didn't say corny was a bad thing, did I? My FIL is a retired physicist who wears purple socks and birkenstocks. Isn't that corny? We also brought my in-laws a tablecloth sold at a roadside stand avec les cigales as the main design element. Equally corny and equally appreciated. Corny and practical are a perfect marriage! Hope you are feeling great!

[Dave Hatfield]

. We bought him the corniest olive dish when we were in the south of France a couple of years ago, with a built-pit bowl and, natch, an olive graphic. Well, he's corny that way, so he loved it.

I guess that puts me in my place.

Still, I guess corniness & practicality don't always agree.

Aww, Dave, I didn't say corny was a bad thing, did I? My FIL is a retired physicist who wears purple socks and birkenstocks. Isn't that corny? We also brought my in-laws a tablecloth sold at a roadside stand avec les cigales as the main design element. Equally corny and equally appreciated. Corny and practical are a perfect marriage! Hope you are feeling great!

I am feeling great after your gracious response.

To tell the unvarnished truth many an olive pip just gets chucked over our veranda wall during per-dinner drinks. Its a wonder that none of them have sprouted as of yet.
As to the special olive bowl I think there's a fine line between corny & cute. Not sure exactly where they land, but practical they are.

[weinoo]

Thank for the tip about washing olives. Perhaps olives that taste too salty to me could be made more acceptable that way. Since I've cut back on salt, my tolerance is lower.

You can also try soaking them in a couple of changes of water, Katie. Helps dramatically with those really salty specimens. And obviously, lemon helps to mitigate the salt ever so slightly.

[Katie Meadow]

Thanks, I'm going to try this washing or soaking method the next time I have salty olives. In the last few years I've been searching out olives that don't seem so salty to me: lucques, cerignolas and nocellaras. Although lucques have finally reached a price per pound that I can't stomach.

[DanM]

After visiting 2 Amys in suburban DC, I am a convert to oven roasted olives mixed with fresh herbs.

Dan

[weinoo]

After visiting 2 Amys in suburban DC, I am a convert to oven roasted olives mixed with fresh herbs.

Dan

Olives are great roasted...but they still need to be rinsed well before roasting.

[Dave Hatfield]

There it is, the tacky olive bowl. And, yes, it does say 'pits' & 'toothpick's" on French of course.

You have to admit that its practical if nothing else.

To tell the truth most olive pits at our house get thrown off of our veranda to the gravel path below since we typically serve them with drinks our there. Maybe someday we'll have an olive tree growing out of the gravel.

[BarbaraY]

I have a lovely Victorian olive dish that was my grandmother's. It is fine china with painted flowers. It's about 2 1/2 inches wide and about 10 inches long. A pretty, delicate thing that I have never used for it's intended purpose.
We have a lot of Klutz in our family.

[Katie Meadow]

It's a classic, Dave.

[Kouign Aman]

I have a spanish version of that olive bowl. I love it.