What is it with olives that we Brit's don't like? Why would we rather eat crisps with our glass of wine or pint of beer? We polish off six billion packets of crisps per year, eating one packet a day can add up to the equivalent of drinking five litres of cooking oil per year, not to mention the high levels of sugar and salt each pack contains.
Go into any Spanish bar and you will more than likely be given a small tapas of olives to graze on whilst enjoying your drink. The Spanish actually eat around 40% of their olive crop which comes from around 30 million olive trees, producing 260 different olive varieties.
Although olives are commonly recognised as a high-fat food, in terms of their phytonutrient content, olives are nothing short of outstanding. Few high-fat foods offer such a diverse range of antioxidants and anti inflammatory nutrients. Olives have documented health benefits that extend to most of our bodies systems, the cardiovascular system, the respiratory system, the immune system and the digestive system.
Every time you pop an olive in your mouth you are doing something good for your body, counter that with the detrimental effects of that seemingly innocent handful of crisps and there you have one of the answers as to why the Mediterranean diet is a far healthier one.
Olive harvesting is a painstaking and time consuming affair. There is no mechanical system that doesn't bruise the fruit, a lot of love goes into the harvesting and once picked the olives spend three months being cured as they are too bitter to be eaten right off the tree.
Jose Pizarro is the ambassador for olives from Spain and has many delicious recipes using Spanish olive varieties www.josepizarro.com/
I would love people to overcome their prejudices against olives, blitzed in a food processor with olive oil, garlic and your favourite seasonings, you instantly have a savoury tapenade to use as a dip or a topping, particularly good with fish. Marinated olives are another alternative, I love eating olives from small bowls which are swimming in pools of olive oil and lemon zest. Jose pizarro has a delicious recipe for olives stuffed with orange, a lovely combination.
Whilst in spain recently, my dear friend Hilde cooked dinner for us twice. Hilde was a cellist and has travelled widely throughout the world and eaten in many of the best restaurants, she is a true gastronome and an excellent cook. One of her dishes was chicken in an orange sauce, she had freshly picked the oranges that day from nearby groves and had combined the zest and juice with grand marnier, it was to die for. I decided to try and emulate this dish with a couple of twists and of course a jar of Spanish olives.
Chicken a l'orange
Recipe
8 pieces of free range chicken, I used a combination of thighs and drumsticks
1 large cup of freshly squeezed orange juice
2 teaspoons of orange zest
2 cloves of garlic
1 jar of olives
1 glass of grand marnier, cointreau or sherry
200ml chicken stock
Flour
Dredge chicken pieces in flour and season
Heat olive oil in a pan and brown chicken on all sides
Place chicken in a slow cooker
Combine orange juice, zest, liquor and stock and pour over chicken
Cook on low for 3 hours
Add garlic and olives and continue cooking for 2 hours (at this stage you can add other vegetables such as carrots or peppers)
The chicken will be moist and sticky, place chicken pieces on creamy mashed potatoes and ladle the sauce and vegetables over the top.......delicious.
'Don't call me a little olive until you've picked me.'
- Spanish proverb
Love Donna xxxxxx
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