Fried Green Olives

{...plus where I get my cooking motivation}

Rather often, after eating a good hearty Saturday morning breakfast (or sometimes just cereal), Hub and I find ourselves with a cup of coffee in hand watching 1 or 2 cooking shows on PBS. Lately its been a show called Made in Spain with a host who’s accent is so thick at times that I’ve only just recently deciphered his way of saying “delicacy”…he says it often and always emphasizes the wrong syllables so it comes out sounding more like dell-ICK-cassey…or something like that. But for some reason we just love to watch others prepare food, even if most of the time it is nothing that appeals to me. And I seem to enjoy it even more so when the show takes place in another country. One of my favorite shows (that hasn’t been on in a while) is the New Scandinavian Cooking one where the hosts set up their cooking area, stovetop and all, right out in the elements…I suppose I’m particularly drawn to this show because of my own Scandinavian roots, and for the lush, woodsy scenery, as well as the old traditions they often highlight…because again, usually most of the food is nothing I myself would like to eat.

After watching a cooking show or two, I always come away feeling one of two things: Either I have a very strong desire to work on a farm that specializes in making fantastic cheese…the kind that is formed in big round wheel shapes with unique, wax-like exteriors or edible coatings of strange seasonings…since invariably these cooking shows often visit places where really good cheese is made. Or, I feel compelled to cook something really great that evening for dinner, or at least make something a little bit out of the ordinary. And we usually don’t make anything we saw on a particular cooking show…that just serves as our inspiration to feel a little more chef-like in our own kitchen.

This past Saturday I had the random idea to attempt to make something that we’ve had once or twice at this little Italian restaurant we like to go to in St. Paul…Fried Green Olives stuffed with Blue Cheese. They turned out oh so good and were pretty easy to make too (if you have a hub like mine who will gladly pit the green olives and stuff them with blue cheese for you)! It was a great little tapa that I cannot wait to “wow” our next guests with.

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Fried Green Olives (how we made them):

Green Olives (pit them or pull out the pimentos)

Crumbled Blue Cheese

Breading (finely processed with a bit of sea salt & freshly ground pepper)

Flour

Egg

Olive Oil

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Stuff olives with blue cheese. Coat with flour, then egg, then breading. Fry in a pan coated well with olive oil over medium heat until all sides are golden brown...this takes just a few minutes. Drain on a plate covered with a paper towel. Then move to a cute little serving dish. Enjoy!