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kitchen_kinkI hate olives.
Now, I know this may be a shocking annoucement for those in my audience with more delicate consitutions and sensibilities, but it is nonetheless a (recently) true statement, and one I have stood by for my entire life.
Not that I had any personal resentments toward olives. An olive didn't kill my brother; no olives owe me money. No, I just have never liked the damn things. And I tried. Oh, how I tried. You see, while I finally came to accept my hatred of olives, I never made fun of them as a stupid food to like, or taunted olive-eaters in their olive-eating orgies of pleasure. No, I wanted to like olives. Olives seemed like a good food, a serious food (though not a serious pastry). My whole family liked them, and I figured, given my mother and grandmother's perfect blemishless olive skin, that I was cursed with acne because I hated olives. (They really are supposed to be good for your skin. Not just olive skin, either. Shut up.)
So, every time there were olives around, I would try one. Didn't matter what kind: kalamata, canned black, green with pimientos, whatever. I'd take one, bite into it, and...purse my lips...and find a napkin...and spit that thing right out again. Yes, this was food I couldn't even force myself to swallow. But I kept on trying. Years, and no change.
Then, one night at Gargoyle's, I decided to try the olives that they serve along with some luscious Marcona almonds. They were small, and of various colors, and herby, and I popped one in my mouth and...hey...this is not so bad. Actually, this is kinda good! Lemme try another one, maybe that one was broken. No...this one's good, too!
And suddenly, for no reason at all, I liked olives.
And that's the story of me and olives.
And in celebration of this, I give you my non-recipe for the thing I randomly put together tonight, which also happened to be the first thing I've ever cooked with olives in it. Because you know, I hate olives.
I was gonna call this Greek Stew, but then I kept thinking, "Saute a coarsely chopped onion in olive oil...Add one diced Greek..."
So far, it's just called
Greek Thing
Chop one large onion and one medium purple eggplant (peeled) into dice.
In a dry skillet over medium-high heat, toast a small handful of cumin seeds (maybe a tbsp). When they begin to release their smell, add a generous splash of olive oil.
Saute the onion until it is golden and soft. Add the eggplant and saute for a few minutes, then allow to cook, lowering the heat a little.
Chop up about six cloves of garlic, coarsely. Add to the skillet; stir it around quite a bit. The onions will have started to carmelize; the eggplant will get a little brown around the edges. Leave it alone again while you...
Chop up a whole boneless chicken breast into chunks. Add to the pan and saute some more, raising the heat again. Stir everything around until the chicken looks done on the outside; transfer to large pot.
Add two cans (regular soup-can size) of diced tomatoes, with their juice, to the pot. (I used Muir Glen, one Fire-roasted, one not.)
Add about a cup of water, bring to a boil, and simmer, uncovered. Add a shake of coarse sea salt, a bunch of black pepper, a few good shakes of oregano and of dill to the pot and stir.
Chop up two regular-size red potatoes; add them to the pot. You may need to add more water at this point for the potatoes to cook.
Add about two or three handfuls of baby spinach to the pot; stir it in so it wilts.
Pit and chop a handful of nice olives (I used black Provencales); add them to the pot.
Simmer, covered, until the potatoes are tender, or however long; it's amazing, but even white chicken breast starts to fall apart delightfully when you cook it stew-style.
Serve with crumbled feta cheese and extra olives if you're into that kind of thing.
Jesus. Next thing you know I'll be eating mushrooms...oh wait...![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
entrope!!
Now, I know this may be a shocking annoucement for those in my audience with more delicate consitutions and sensibilities, but it is nonetheless a (recently) true statement, and one I have stood by for my entire life.
Not that I had any personal resentments toward olives. An olive didn't kill my brother; no olives owe me money. No, I just have never liked the damn things. And I tried. Oh, how I tried. You see, while I finally came to accept my hatred of olives, I never made fun of them as a stupid food to like, or taunted olive-eaters in their olive-eating orgies of pleasure. No, I wanted to like olives. Olives seemed like a good food, a serious food (though not a serious pastry). My whole family liked them, and I figured, given my mother and grandmother's perfect blemishless olive skin, that I was cursed with acne because I hated olives. (They really are supposed to be good for your skin. Not just olive skin, either. Shut up.)
So, every time there were olives around, I would try one. Didn't matter what kind: kalamata, canned black, green with pimientos, whatever. I'd take one, bite into it, and...purse my lips...and find a napkin...and spit that thing right out again. Yes, this was food I couldn't even force myself to swallow. But I kept on trying. Years, and no change.
Then, one night at Gargoyle's, I decided to try the olives that they serve along with some luscious Marcona almonds. They were small, and of various colors, and herby, and I popped one in my mouth and...hey...this is not so bad. Actually, this is kinda good! Lemme try another one, maybe that one was broken. No...this one's good, too!
And suddenly, for no reason at all, I liked olives.
And that's the story of me and olives.
And in celebration of this, I give you my non-recipe for the thing I randomly put together tonight, which also happened to be the first thing I've ever cooked with olives in it. Because you know, I hate olives.
I was gonna call this Greek Stew, but then I kept thinking, "Saute a coarsely chopped onion in olive oil...Add one diced Greek..."
So far, it's just called
Greek Thing
Chop one large onion and one medium purple eggplant (peeled) into dice.
In a dry skillet over medium-high heat, toast a small handful of cumin seeds (maybe a tbsp). When they begin to release their smell, add a generous splash of olive oil.
Saute the onion until it is golden and soft. Add the eggplant and saute for a few minutes, then allow to cook, lowering the heat a little.
Chop up about six cloves of garlic, coarsely. Add to the skillet; stir it around quite a bit. The onions will have started to carmelize; the eggplant will get a little brown around the edges. Leave it alone again while you...
Chop up a whole boneless chicken breast into chunks. Add to the pan and saute some more, raising the heat again. Stir everything around until the chicken looks done on the outside; transfer to large pot.
Add two cans (regular soup-can size) of diced tomatoes, with their juice, to the pot. (I used Muir Glen, one Fire-roasted, one not.)
Add about a cup of water, bring to a boil, and simmer, uncovered. Add a shake of coarse sea salt, a bunch of black pepper, a few good shakes of oregano and of dill to the pot and stir.
Chop up two regular-size red potatoes; add them to the pot. You may need to add more water at this point for the potatoes to cook.
Add about two or three handfuls of baby spinach to the pot; stir it in so it wilts.
Pit and chop a handful of nice olives (I used black Provencales); add them to the pot.
Simmer, covered, until the potatoes are tender, or however long; it's amazing, but even white chicken breast starts to fall apart delightfully when you cook it stew-style.
Serve with crumbled feta cheese and extra olives if you're into that kind of thing.
Jesus. Next thing you know I'll be eating mushrooms...oh wait...
entrope!!
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no subject
Date: 2007-02-24 03:59 am (UTC)Aaaaaaanyway.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-24 04:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-24 04:01 am (UTC)I used to not be such an olive fan. I consider Kalamata the gateway olive.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-24 02:54 pm (UTC)Can't find my very favorite kind around here, though I'm sure they must be around somewhere.
Welcome to the club!
no subject
Date: 2007-02-24 04:51 pm (UTC)*ducks and runs*
no subject
Date: 2007-03-01 06:39 pm (UTC)We've met a few times (Diesel, Lefton parties, etc). Anyway, I wanted to know that a few of my friends have been pointing me to posts of yours recently, so I was hoping that you'd friend me back sometime. (If not, that's cool also.) :)
Additional context: I'm dating
Thanks and sorry to use up valuable comment space! That should definitely be used instead to talk about the yumminess of
no subject
Date: 2007-03-01 08:37 pm (UTC)So yes! Most of my journal is locked, so have fun scrolling back, if you wish.
Which makes me wonder: where have folks been pointing you?
no subject
Date: 2007-03-02 04:08 am (UTC)Thanks for letting me in!
no subject
Date: 2007-03-16 11:32 pm (UTC)I think you'd be perfect for
Check us out and join if you'd like!
no subject
Date: 2007-03-17 12:04 am (UTC)