MARINATING TABLE OLIVES
Every so often during Spain’s olive-harvesting season a bagful of raw green, purplish or black fruit reaches the hands of cooks who are keen to marinade olives at home, or they even make their way up to northern European markets in search of gourmet buyers.
In either case New Art’s olive adobos are ideal to use since Altamiras covers the entire preparation process from soaking the fruit to removing its bitterness to preserving it in flavoured brine. One of his flavour variations – a mix of fennel, bay, thyme, orange skins and garlic – is recognisably close to today’s marinades, but my favourite is his spiced, sweet and salt mix with cloves, cinnamon, thyme, pepper, lemon slices, saffron, bay and olive leaves.
Quality spices and a mild marine or rock salt are key to give a subtle salinity that allows the spices to speak loud. Dry spices can be left in the adobo, but leaves, rinds and fresh herbs should all be removed after a day or two.
If you don’t have raw olives you can also aromatise brined ones this way, first soaking off existing saltiness. I prepare and marinade them for at least a fortnight in the fridge to serve to a crowd alongside olive-oil fried almonds and Jerez’s generoso or palo cortado wines: the combination gives a rare chance to sample wine and food unchanged in flavour over hundreds of years.
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❖ Marinating Table Olives
A mild marine or rock salt is key to giving table olives a subtle salinity that allows flavouring herbs or spices to emerge at their best.”