Easy olive paste snacks

Sfogliatine con pesto di olive 
These easy olive paste snacks made from puff pastry are great finger food to be served instead of grissini and tarelli in the cocktail hour.

Olive paste served with tarelli or grissini makes a great snack, but if you have got 10 minutes to spare you may impress family and friends with a plate of ‘homemade’ snail snacks or ‘sfogliatine con pesto di olive’.

The snack can be prepared from frozen puff pastry and ready-made olive pesto, and no one will be able to tell the difference, but why take short-cuts if you like to run a marathon? Both pastry and olive paste can be made from scratch, providing at least an hour’s free entertainment in the kitchen.

Ingredients:
For the pastry
1 packet of frozen puff pastry
or
200 g flour
100 g cold butter
1 egg
Salt

For the filling
1 glas of Italian olive pesto
or
150 g black olives
100 olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp capers
2 anchovies
4 cloves of garlic
1 small pepperoncino chili
1 spring of fresh rosemary
1 spring of fresh sage
1 spring of fresh thyme

Preparation
Mix flour with a little salt.
Cut the butter into the flour and mix till it resembles fresh bread crumbs
Make the butter and flour into a dough with the egg, adding a little water if necessary.
Place the dough in a plastic bag and leave it in the refrigerator, while you prepare the olive paste.

Remove stones from the olives. (Most black pitted olives contain colouring chemicals, which isn’t nice)
Blend the olives to a nice paste with olive oil and lemon juice
Add capers, anchovies, garlic, chili and herbs and blend some more. (This pesto tastes so much better than the pre-fab version – especially when served with bread and eaten without baking or cooking)

(This is where you unwrap the pastry and open a glass of olive paste, in the quick version)
Dust the table with flour and roll out a thin oblong sheet of pastry
Spread with olive paste and make a roll
Cut the roll into slices with a very sharp knife.
Place the slices on baking paper and bake for 10 minutes in the oven (220°C/425°F), until they are crisp and golden.
Let the rolls cool off on a wire rack before serving.

Other snack food recipes to serve with easy olive paste snacks 

Pastry with spinach and feta

Fried egg and bread dumplings

Wrinkled potatoes with chili and garlic dip

Homemade potato croquettes

Cheese in puff pastry

Mixed bean salad

Mixed bean salad

The beauty of a mixed bean salad consists in its versatility, economy and high nutritional value. And some mixed bean salads are also a pleasure to eat.

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Sweet and sour carrots

Carote in agrodolce
There are generally seven types of cold Italian antipasti: the pickled sweet and sour carrots recipe belongs to the sott’aceto category.

There are generally seven types of cold Italian antipasti: Sott’aceto, sott’olio, sotto sale, a base di carne, a base di pesce, a base di formaggio and a base di pane. This recipe from Piemonte belongs to the first category, and it is very good this time of year, when you have a craving for salads and fresh vegetables.

Yet the tasty, sweet and sour carrots are preserved and may keep for weeks in a clean, airtight container. They are really easy to prepare and easier still to serve along with other antipasti sott’aceto such as olives, onions, cucumbers and artichokes. Especially, if you are entertaining many guests and wish to show off with a full plate of delicious starters.

Ingredients
½ kg peeled carrots
100 ml vinegar made on white wine
100 ml dry white wine
100 ml water
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp sugar
2 cloves of garlic
2 bayleaves
Fresh mint, rosemary, parsley
Salt and pepper

Preparation
Slice the carrots or cut them up into long juillienne sticks.
Place the carrots and the peeled cloves of garlic in a casserole with water, wine and vinegar. And sugar, oil and herbs, and let it boil for 8-10 minutes until the carrots are al dente.
Remove the herbs and transfer the carrots to a clean glass.
Cover with the boiling liquid, and leave the carrots in the fridge for a day or two. (They are delicious from day one, but a rest may improve the taste further.)
Sprinkle with fresh basil leaves before serving.

Other preserves to supplement sweet and sour carrots 

Burrata with pickled aubergine

Make sauerkraut – sour cabbage

Preserving artichokes

Sweet and sour carrots

Baccalà Mantecato: Salt cod spread from Venice

Baccalà Mantecato: Salt cod spread from Venice

Baccalà Mantecato is dried salted cod, boiled it in milk with garlic and served as mash on a piece of toasted bread. A true delicacy from Venice.

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