I was shopping at Costco and I must have been hungry. As I was pushing my cart down the aisle to pick up a large jar of marinated artichoke hearts I saw an equally large jar of beautiful, fat, luscious, pimiento-stuffed green olives. The olives were gorgeous and the price, irresistible. I should have remembered----everyone who shops at Costco sooner or later becomes an impulse buyer, especially when hungry. The jar quickly found it's way into my shopping cart. It rolled around playfully next to those wonderfully oily, spicy, mouth watering marinated artichoke hearts that were already in my cart. They were made for one another - both were of Mediterranean origin and both great in salads. Who could resist?

I had no specific plan for either item but both looked tempting and delicious. The artichoke hearts will be stashed away in my pantry. Perhaps I'll make a large Mediterranean Artichoke and Black Bean Salad for our annual End of Summer pot luck (see recipes). But what would I do with the olives? Perhaps I'd slice a few for egg salad, or use some for cocktails. But there are 158 olives in the jar and that's a lot of egg salad and many cocktails. What I really needed was a recipe or two requiring lots of olives.

Now that I'm back home in the quiet of my kitchen gazing with guilt at my unplanned purchase I ponder over my olive problem. How will I use this giant jar? Can I use them before our summer friends depart for warmer climates or will I be left with... the ominous jar? It's sitting in the back of my refrigerator right this very minute calling, "Use me. Use me". I love shopping at Costco but I do get carried away.

My dilemma over what to do with this very large jar of olives led me to my cookbook collection. Mediterranean cooking and the Kalamata olive are so popular today that there is no shortage of recipes using Kalamatas. Uses for stuffed green ones are far less common, except for martini drinkers, of course.

If you have an over abundance of green olives as I now have, here are a couple of delicious and rather unusual recipes that will help reduce the olive population in your refrigerator and perhaps add well deserved complements to your cooking reputation. The bread has an interesting sweet/ salty flavor and the salad is "zesty and colorful" - very Mediterranean.

Mini Savory Olive Pine Nut Bread

You'll love this delicious appetizer bread when it's spread with sweet butter or a mild, seasoned cream cheese. It's great with a glass of Beaujolais before dinner. Costco, by the way, currently has a wonderful French Beaujolais, Louis Jadot ----and it's affordable, too!

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground Savory
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup pimiento stuffed green olives, sliced
• 1 cup toasted pine nuts
• 2 Tbs. melted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and ground Savory. In a separate bowl beat together egg and milk until well blended. Stir egg mixture and melted butter in to dry mixture until just blended. Add olives and pine nuts and mix. Knead dough on a lightly floured board 5 or 6 times to better combine ingredients. Divide batter into 3 or 4 greased mini loaf pans. Bake 25 or 30 minutes. Insert tooth pick in center to test for doneness. It should come out clean. Cool in pan 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and cool completely before slicing.

NOTE: To toast pine nuts place them in a dry skillet over medium heat for 2 or 3 minutes until nuts begin to turn color and become a little fragrant. This will bring out the depth of flavor. Watch carefully as they burn easily.

Green Olive, Tuna, Celery and Red Pepper Salad

Here is a recipe from Patricia Wells' outstanding Italian cookbook,Trattoria . Most of the recipes are fast and easy and her description of the foods and restaurants throughout Italy is great fun to read. Buy the book or check it out at your local library. You'll enjoy it----and who knows----you may have an uncontrollable urge to pack a bag and hop on the next jet to Italy. You can then enjoy all of those wonderful foods she describes first hand! Patricia Wells is a former food writer for The New York Times and has a Cooking School in Paris. She has written several award winning cookbooks.

Ms. Wells' Olive and Tuna Salad recipe follows. She describes it as spunky, colorful and zesty, and that it is. She serves it as part of an antipasto buffet or as a luncheon dish with sliced tomatoes and crunchy bread. It will yield 6 to 8 servings.

• 1 cup pimiento stuffed green olives (approximately 16), cut in half crosswise.
• 4 to 5 tender celery ribs with their leaves, thinly sliced
• 1 - 6 1/2-ounce can imported solid pack tuna in olive oil (do not drain, see note)
• 3 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 red bell pepper, minced     
• 1 tsp. red wine vinegar
• Salt to taste

With a fork flake the tuna in the can and transfer, oil and all, into a small bowl. Add all the remaining ingredients, and toss to blend. Taste for seasoning. Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate for up to 8 hours. Serve at room temperature.

NOTE 1: If tuna packed in oil is not available, use top-quality tuna packed in water. Drain the tuna, discard the water, and add an additional tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil when preparing the salad.

NOTE 2: The only tuna in oil I've found in this area was at Albertsons. It was chunk not solid and was in soy oil and vegetable broth not olive oil. It just didn't measure up for use in this recipe. Stay with solid pack tuna in water. Drain the water and add the extra virgin olive oil.

Enjoy the two great tasting recipes above to help solve your excess green olive problem. If you don't have an olive problem go to Costco. Maybe that gorgeous jar full of beautiful green olives will magically find it's way in to your shopping cart, too.

Enjoy!

Martha

P.S. Here is the oh-so-simple Artichoke and Black Bean Salad recipe mentioned above:

Mediterranean Artichoke and Black Bean Salad

All this salad requires is jarred Marinated Artichoke Hearts quartered, canned Black Beans, drained and rinsed under cold water, chopped sweet onions such as the Walla Wallas, and red bell pepper(s), slivered. Dressing for the salad is some or all of the marinade from the jar of artichoke hearts. If you need a little more dressing add some extra virgin olive oil, some crumbled Italian herbs and a small amount of red wine vinegar. You decide on the proportion of each ingredient that appeals to you. Toss them all together and serve with Fritos, warm Pita Bread wedges or corn muffins.

FROM OUR FORTIFIED STORY VAULT:

Meals in a shoe box

Pumpkins with a REAL flare - Unplug that smoke detector! Three cooks tackle pie-making

The Casual Cook Archive