Roasted Olives

Everyone once in a while, I taste a new food so delicious that I wonder how I have missed it over the years. That happened recently on our second trip to New Zealand when my husband and I ordered Roasted Olives as an entrée (the designation for an appetizer in NZ) at a lively restaurant called Tutto Bene in Christchurch on the south island. After one taste, we both looked at each other and thought “wow, even bliss!”. I’m embarrassed to say that I ate more than my share, so did my husband, and yet we still could not finish the large portion that we were served. Oh, it was yummy!

Here is my understanding of what they did to make this fabulous and healthy dish (although be careful not to be piggy like I was as the fat in those olives, even though a healthy fat, still packs the calories in!).

Roasted Olives (cont.)

(Amounts have some flexibility here)

• Pitted large kalamata olives
• Roasted whole garlic cloves
• Fresh herbs like thyme and rosemary
• Extra virgin olive oil – an amount to cover the olives

Marinate all together for a few hours. Heat together in the oven to ~180 degrees (not boiling) in an oven-proof serving dish. Serve with toasted sliced Italian bread and sprinkled with chopped fresh parsley.

As soon as we got home from our trip, we began making and enjoying this dish. I’m not kidding.