plate 2 plate - Cracked Green Olives with Cardamom and Harissa

plate 2 plate - Cracked Green Olives with Cardamom and Harissa

• 23 Dec 2015

Welcome to the last Plate 2 Plate post for 2015, where Juliana and I take the same recipe but make and style it our own way. Juliana suggested this simple marinated olive recipe from Ghillie Basan's book, Vegetarian Tagines & Couscous.




Here's Juliana's image.






I looked through my cupboards and was low on cumin and coriander seeds so off to the fruit shop I went, list in hand.





Isn't this an elegant composition by Juliana?





The cracked green olives I already had, lovingly prepared by the wife of one of my Greek patients. 





I bought this mortar and pestle ages ago and I've just been waiting for the right opportunity to use it. It ground those toasted spices in no time at all. Image below by Juliana.






These olives are really easy to make and pretty tasty. 





With all that Harissa, I thought they might be a bit too spicy but they're not as hot as I feared. btw, isn't Juliana's berry spoon lovely?




I always like to give something from my kitchen at Christmas time. I thought a bottle of these olives would make the perfect hand made gift along with some of the other things I've been making, like these sour cherry amaretti and some chocolate coated peanut and pretzel brittle. To make this batch of chocolate coated peanut and pretzel brittle, I used the quantity of ingredients from the chocolate compost brittle but used the method from this recipe. 




Here's the recipe for Cracked Green Olives with Cardamom and Harissa from Vegetarian Tagines & Couscous by Ghillie Basan, serves 4-6

1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1-2 tsp cardamom seeds
4-6 black peppercorns
2-3 Tbs olive oil
freshly squeezed juice of 1/2 lemon
1-2 tsp Harissa
350g/12oz. cracked green olives, rinsed and drained

Dry roast the cumin, coriander and cardamom seed with the black peppercorns in a skillet, until they emit a nutty aroma. Using a mortar and pestle, crush the roasted spices to a coarse powder. Stir in the olive oil and lemon juice and add the Harissa.

Put the olives into a serving bowl and spoon the spice mixture over them. Toss well and leave to sit for at least 30 minutes before serving.

The olives will keep in a sealed jar in the refrigerator for 3-4 weeks.





Thanks again to Juliana for the recipe and for her photographs. 

That's my last post for 2015 so all the best to you and yours over the holiday season. See you all again in 2016 with some more recipes from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian