The mountains of glistening olives that you see in supermarket deli bars sure look tempting and they are hard to resist, but they can make quite a dent in your wallet. With a couple of ingredients, you can make your own at home, for a fraction of the cost and enjoy this little treat more often. Decadence for half the price.
Marinated olives
The main ingredients you will need for basic marinated olives is a tin of olives, or a mixture of green and black olives, some olive oil (extra virgin if you have it) and some lemon juice or vinegar. That’s it. Simple. In addition to the basic marinade there is a list of optional flavourings that you can add for an extra boost that include, crushed or chopped garlic, fresh or dried herbs, crushed red pepper flakes, lemon zest, anchovy fillets, cheese, shallots, capers, balsamic vinegar, curry powder, etc, as well as using flavoured oils and vinegars. You could also mix together roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts with the olives. Note: don’t by the cheapest olives, make sure that they are decent to eat by themselves.
Marinated Olives
Ingredients
- A tin of olives, drained ~ 6oz (170g) or a mixture of green and black olives
- 0.25 cup (60ml) of extra virgin olive oil
- The juice of 1 lemon or 1 tbsp of vinegar such as white wine or balsamic
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Some optional flavouring ideas
- A small handful of chopped parsley and 1 crushed garlic clove
- 1tsp of crushed red pepper flakes and 1tsp dried thyme
- Lemon zest and 1 anchovy fillet, chopped
- Some thinly sliced fennel, 1 crushed garlic clove and a small handful of chopped fresh basil leaves
Method
Mix all of the ingredients together and leave for at least 1 hour to marinate before eating. Leaving the olives to marinate overnight or for a couple of days will improve the flavour enormously. Enjoy.
Homemade marinated olives