Express Post: Easy Mediterranean Pate

Alfredo’s favourite ever pate.

• 20 green pitted olives (or use stuffed ones)
• 3 T walnuts (a large handful)
• 2T extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 a red pepper
• 

  Component parts, ready for blitzing

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Food process until completely smooth, or leave a little texture if you prefer.

Finished article! Delicious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

P.S. Walnuts and red pepper, a delightful match! They also feature in MY favourite pate- “Smoky Walnut Pate”, click for the recipe.

Tapenade

Inspired by a recipe on Addicted to Veggies. Most tapenades- delicious though they are- are kind of heavy, being mainly olives. Believe me I have nothing against olives, they are loved by everyone in the household, but this recipe is fantastic for being a little lighter, based mainly around salad veg, with some real deep yummy flavours! Indeed- this IS a salad, and could be enjoyed on sesame ryvita, ( like today) wholegrain bread, or with whatever you want it with- mine was served first time with a Spanish omelette, and it WORKED!

The quantities are of course, very approximate- you can switch anything about, it’s just all about what flavour balance you like.

If you are on the fence over celery, I will say that the flavour is lost quite a bit after a few hours in the fridge. If you are not keen, just add more pepper, olives and walnuts.

• 1 cup celery chopped (3-4 sticks?)
• 1 cup red pepper, chopped (1 large pepper)
• 4-5 sundried tomatoes, snipped into pieces
• 1 spring onion, chopped or a small piece of red onion
• 1/2 T capers
• 10 olives, fresh if possible
• a small handful of walnuts- say about 1/4 cup
• 1/4 cup raisins

 

Chop extremely finely- or better still,  “pulse” in the food processor/mini chopper until it is quite well broken down but still with plenty of texture- think “very small individual pieces” over “mush”  🙂

 

Add (we’re going with nice open-to-interpretation measurements) :

• a pinch of salt or two
• 1 droozle of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 capfull of balsamic vinegar

 

Mix well….and here is the important bit-

Leave in the fridge for a few hours or overnight, for the flavours to meld, blend, marry, dance, or whatever flavours do happily together.

 

I love eating something that is such a delightful mixture of flavour, texture and vitamins! A lovely way to eat a salad at lunchtime. Isaac (2) loved it, so don’t be put off trying this on young children. I cannot see Amelia and Ellie going for it….which is why we ate all of this batch!  🙂  I do love seeing Isaac eat celery and onion and ask for more. I can’t help it.

Hurray! – indeed- ole!  for mediterranean tapenade salads!