Orange and Rosemary Baked Olives

Ingredients:

* 3 1/2 cups whole mixed olives, drained

* 1/4 cup dry white wine

* 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice

* 2 tablespoons olive oil

* 2 cloves garlic, minced

* 2 sprigs fresh rosemary

* 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

* 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano

* 4 teaspoons grated orange zest

* 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Methods:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Stir the olives together with the wine, orange juice, olive oil, and garlic in a 9×13 inch baking dish. Nestle the sprigs of rosemary in the olives.

2. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, stirring halfway through the baking. Remove and discard the rosemary sprigs, then stir in the parsley, oregano, orange zest, and red pepper flakes. Serve warm, or cool the olives and use them to top a salad.

Super Duper Italian Nachos

Ingredients:

* 1 (10 ounce) bag bag tortilla chips

* 1 pound shredded Monterey Jack cheese

* 3/4 cup Alfredo Sauce

* 1 small red onion, diced

* 1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

 1/3 cup chopped pepperoncini

* 1/4 cup pitted Kalamata olives, chopped

Methods:

1. Arrange the tortilla chips on a large, microwave-safe platter. Scatter the cheese over the chips; drizzle with alfredo sauce.

2. Heat in microwave until the cheese has melted, 2 to 3 minutes.

3. Top nachos with onion, tomato, pepperoncini, and olives to serve.

Pesto using Pestle and Mortar

Posted: 15 Apr 2011 10:56 AM PDT

Ingredients:

* 20 g (¾ oz) Basil leaves (it’s about 20 large leaves)

* 1 Small clove of garlic (roughly chopped)

* 20 g (¾ oz) Pine nuts

* 40 g (1 ½ oz) Freshly grated Pecorino Sardo cheese

* 60 ml (2 fl oz) Extra virgin olive oil (absolutely no sunflower oil!)

* A pinch of coarse salt ( ½ tbs)

Methods:

Gently wash the basil leaves,paying attention not to crunch them.Lay the basil leaves onto kitchen paper and let them to dry.Do not press or pat the leaves with kitchen paper but leave them to dry naturally.Add the basil leaves into the mortar.Add the pine nuts into the mortar.Add the garlic (roughly chopped) into the mortar.Add the salt into the mortar.

Start working with the pestle, pressing and rotating it. Keep going for a few minutes until all the ingredients are finely ground.The more you work the mixture with the pestle the better.After a few minutes working with the pestle, add the cheese and continue to work the mixture with the pestle until you have an evenly distributed light green color.Now, add the olive oil.Use a small spoon to stir so that the olive oil is evenly distributed.Now you can coat spaghetti with it or spread it onto bread slices.