Olives take summertime cuisine spotlight

Recently, I offered a barbecue-geared column that featured olives as salad substitutes. Seren-dipit-ously, I just discovered a decades-old recipe collection starring those tasty tidbits of the Mediter-ranean lifestyle and am delighted to share it with you today, proving you really can’t get too much of a good thing! Enjoy!

Ripe Olive and

Avocado Quesadillas

1 6-ounce can pitted ripe black olives (about 1&1/2 cups)

1 firm-ripe Haas avocado

1 small red bell pepper1

2 Tbs. very finely minced red onion

1/3 cup stemmed, finely chopped cilantro leaves

1&1/2 Tbs. fresh lime juice

4 6- to 7-inch flour tortillas

1/2 tsp. olive oil

1&1/2 cups grated Pepper Jack cheese (about 5 ounces)

Drain olives well and cut crosswise into 1/8-inch thick slices. Halve, pit and peel avocado and finely chop.

Rinse, dry and cut red bell pepper into thin slices, chopping into smaller dice. In a bowl, toss all veggies and cilantro leaves, gently stirring in lime juice. Have grated cheese ready in a separate bowl. Preheat broiler.

Put tortillas on a large baking sheet and brush tops with oil. Broil 2-4 inches from heat just until pale golden – less than a minute; turn over and broiluntil pale golden. Sprinkle each tortilla with the cheese and broiluntil cheese is melted and just bubbling – about 30 seconds. Remove to warm platter and top each with equal amount of prepared veggies; cut each tortilla into four wedges and serve.

Olive-Stuffed

Chicken Rolls

1/4 cup Nicoise olives (about 2 ounces)

4 small skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

2 Tbs. olive oil

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) real butter

1/4 cup dry white wine

1 Tb. fresh lemon juice

2 Tbs. flat-leaf parsley leaves

In a sieve, rinse and drain olives and cut into slivers. With a sharp knife, butterfly each chicken breast by cutting horizontally through flesh, keeping one side intact, like a book. Place chicken pieces between plastic wrap and lightly pound/roll with a rolling pin to about 1/8-inch thick.

In a heavy frypan heat oil and half of the butter over medium-high heat until foam subsides and sauté chicken pieces one at a timeuntil golden and just cooked through, about 30 seconds on each side. Transfer to warm platter, keeping lightly covered with foiluntil all pieces are cooked.

Pour any fat out of skillet, add wine and deglaze, scraping up browned bits. Stir in lemon juice and remaining 2 Tbs. butter and heat sauceuntil butter is just incorporated. Remove skillet from heat and stir in olives, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Spoon sauce evenly over chicken pieces and serve.

Sicilian Olive Salad

2 1/2 cups large green olives, pitted (about 1 pound)

3 celery ribs

1 carrot

1 small red onion

1 garlic clove

1/2 cup drained capers

1 full teaspoon EACH of thyme leaves, chopped oregano, minced rosemary

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Rinse and drain olives well; thinly slice or grate celery, carrot, onion and garlic and stir together in a bowl with remaining ingredients. Marinate salad covered and chilled at least 1 day and up to 3 days. Bring to room temperature before serving as salad with the meal or antipasto – speaking of which, this is the perfect salad to accompany a huge bowl of spaghetti!

Green Olives Stuffed

with Chili Almonds

10 ounce jar of pitted large green olives (about 24)

2 Tbs. olive oil

1 &1/4 tsps. chili powder*

24 whole almonds with skins (about 1/4 cup)

Preheat oven to 375F. In a large sieve rinse olives and drain well In a bowl, stir together 1/2 tsp. EACH of oil and chili powder and add almonds, tossing to coat. Transfer almonds to a baking sheet and toast in middle of oven until fragrant and a couple of shades darker – 8-10 minutes. Cool until they can just be handled and stuff each olive with an almond. In bowl toss olives with remaining oil and chili powder. Olives may be made a day ahead and kept at cool room temperature. Almonds will begin to soften after about 4 hours.

* Here’s your chance to improvise! If you’re not fond of chili powder, pick your own favorite flavor from garlic to dillweed to cinnamon, fennel or ginger — plus a plethora of choices — whirring any herb/spice that needs it in the blender for a few seconds before using.

Valle Novak writes the Country Chef and Weekend Gardener columns for the Daily Bee. She can be reached at bcdailybee@bonnercountydailybee.com or by phone at 208-265-4688.