Olive Paste And Blue Cheese Canapi Recipes

OLIVE PASTE AND BLUE CHEESE CANAPI

Steps:

• Place the olives, garlic, pine nuts, and olive oil in the bowl of a processor and chop as finely as possible. [May be prepared ahead]
• Spread thinly on bread slices.
• Cover with blue cheese.
• Decorate with a piece of black olive.
• Makes 2 canapis per serving.

OLIVE PASTE

Steps:

• In a food processor, pulse to make a smooth paste of the olives, capers, garlic, and thyme(if using dried).
• Add the olive oil while the food processor is running.
• Season with black pepper and add the lemon juice(and thyme if using fresh).
• Enjoy!

CHICKEN SCALLOPS WITH SPINACH AND BLUE CHEESE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
• Pour half the olive oil into a very large frying pan to film the bottom.
• Over low heat, gradually add the spinach by handfuls, cover, and stir from time to time as it cooks down.
• When all the spinach is barely wilted, put it in a sieve and press out most of the moisture.
• Spread the spinach in a wide, shallow ovenproof dish and set aside.
• Salt and pepper the chicken cutlets on both sides.
• Add the remaining oil to the pan and over medium-high heat saute the chicken, turning to color it golden on both sides.
• When the chicken is done, lay the cutlets on the spinach.
• In a small bowl, mix together the pine nuts and blue cheese.
• Scatter this mixture over the chicken (This much can be done ahead).
• Bake the chicken until the cheese is melted and bubbling and the chicken and spinach are piping hot, about 15 minutes.
• Serve at once.

BLACK OLIVE PASTE

Steps:

• To pit the olives, you can use a cherry/olive pitter, but I've found that the olives frequently slip through the holes instead of just the pits.
• Another way to pit olives is to put them inside a folded kitchen towel and then bang on them with a mallet, cutting board, small frying pan, or whatever suits your fancy.
• Sure the olives get bruised, but what do you think is going to happen in the food processor?.
• Mixing raw garlic and olive oil provides an ideal breeding ground for the anaerobic bacteria which cause botulism.
• If I'm going to keep the paste around for a number of days, which I usually do, I'll mince the garlic, add it to the oil and then heat both in the microwave.
• I try not to cook the garlic too much in this manner- you just need to heat the oil and garlic up to 140 or 150 degrees for a while.
• Mix all of the ingredients in food processor.