Anyway, back to the olives, when I started to do the locavore thing I stopped buying fancy mixed olives to have out for dinner parties. Also they have become quite expensive. Then the other day I was in the massive Goya section of what I refer to as the Ghetto Grocery store across the street from where I live and was happy to see that Goya has introduce a brand of organic beans - I was particularly pleased to see them being carried at this store as mostly the quality of products tends to be manufactured meat wrapped in plastic on styrofoam and super jumbo high fructose infused fizzy beverages. I digress, so Goya sells for about 2 bucks jars of green olives, Manzanillo and jumbo along with a large selection of stuffed olives. On a whim I picked up a jar of the jumbo and one of the Manzanilla and brought them home to see what I could do with them.
Sorry for such a long winded intro to such a short recipe, but something else I do often when I roast chicken is coat it with a mixture of smoked and hot paprika, I had never been a paprika fan as it was the only spice my mother ever used. In recent years I've discovered what a diverse and tasty treat paprika is. The best smoked paprika is the Spanish brand Safinter, it's kind of expensive, but well worth it.
Spanish Olives
Drain well and pat dry two jars of Green olives (3 -4 cups), set aside in a good sized bowl.
Roast in a dry skillet over medium heat 3 teaspoons of coriander seeds and 3 teaspoons of cumin seeds until they are aromatic and several shades darker. Remove from heat and place in a mortar and pestle. Grind to a course powder.
Add to the spices 3-4 garlic cloves and smash into a paste. Add the paste to the olives and add
2 teaspoons of sweet paprika, 1 teaspoon of hot paprika, 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika, 1 thinly sliced organic lemon, well rinsed and cut into bite size pieces, skin and all (I used Meyer lemons because someone had given them to me) and 1 small Valencia orange (or what ever kind of orange you have would be fine a thinner skinned one is preferable over a thicker navel type orange) also thinly sliced and cut into bite sized pieces, about 1/2 cup Spanish olive oil, salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste toss in an optional 1/2 cup finely chopped parsley before you serve.
These make a nice pairing with freshly roasted almonds, don't forget to put out a bowl for the pits and napkins they are delicious but messy!
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