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Warm Citrus Olives
Warm Citrus Olives
Learn how to quickly and easily upgrade store-bought olives with a handful of fresh ingredients. These warm citrus olives are an easy, fresh, and aromatic bite to serve to guests any time of the year!
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It’s so easy to make store-bought olives so much better: simply warm them up with quality extra-virgin olive oil, fresh herbs, and citrus zest and leave to marinate overnight. You’ll never want to serve olives straight from the jar again!
Helpful Tips for Making Warm Citrus Olives
- Play with flavorings: You can basically use any citrus zest and fresh herbs you like in this recipe (I often throw fresh basil in my jars!) If you’ve got some on hand, you can also experiment with aromatic spices such as fennel or coriander seeds. Crush about a teaspoon of seeds and add them to the marinating oil for an extra flavor boost.
- Polished off all your marinated olives already? You can reuse the flavorful marinade to make a fresh batch: return the marinade to a saucepan, fish out the wilted herb sprigs, and repeat the warming process with fresh olives. Mix in fresh herbs, transfer to a clean jar, and top up with more extra-virgin olive oil to cover, if needed. Gently shake the jar to combine and store as indicated.
- Never throw away that flavorful oil: Once you’ve enjoyed all the olives in this second batch, strain the olive oil—which is by now packed with flavor—and use it to dress a salad or pasta.
Savory Citrus Delights Cookbook
Love savory citrus recipes? Then you’ll love my Savory Citrus Delights Cookbook! Discover zesty variations on timeless classics, create colorful, nutritious lunches, and expand your weeknight dinner repertoire with aromatic, creative dishes the whole family will love. Savory Citrus Delights is a 16-recipe downloadable eBook that comes in a handy, “save it everywhere” PDF format! LEARN MORE
Warm Citrus Olives
Ingredients
- 2 cups large green olives (such as Castelvetrano or Cerignola), drained
- 1 orange
- 1 lemon
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 tsp crushed black pepper, or a pinch of red pepper flakes
- a few springs of fresh oregano, thyme, or Italian parsley
Instructions
- If the green olives you’re using were sold in brine, drain and rinse under cold running water. Transfer to a bowl, then cover with fresh water and leave to rest for 1 hour, changing the water twice. This step will eliminate the briny flavor and make the olives more receptive to soak in new flavors.
- Zest the orange in wide strips using a vegetable peeler. Juice the orange, straining pits, if any. Repeat these steps to prepare the lemon. Chop the zests into thin strips.
- Transfer the citrus zest and juice to a medium saucepan. If the olives were soaking, drain, pat dry, and add to the saucepan, along with the olive oil, garlic, black pepper or red pepper flakes. Warm over low heat for 10 minutes to release the flavors, closely watching over the pan to prevent the mixture from boiling.
- Remove from the heat and mix the fresh herb sprigs. Transfer the olives and the marinade to an airtight glass jar and let the flavors infuse at room temperature for at least 1 hour.
- SERVING: Olive oil solidifies when cold. Spoon the olives and some of the marinade back to a saucepan and warm up over low heat. You can also warm up the olives in the microwave at a low power setting. Transfer the olives to a serving dish and, if desired, serve with fresh bread to soak up that delicious marinade.
- STORAGE: Store the olives in an airtight container at the back of the fridge. The olives will keep almost indefinitely—but they’ll be at their best if you enjoy them within 1 month.
- CLEVER TIPSPolished off all your marinated olives already? You can reuse the flavorful marinade to make a fresh batch: return the marinade to a saucepan, fish out the wilted herb sprigs, and repeat the warming process with fresh olives. Mix in fresh herbs, transfer to a clean jar, and top up with more extra-virgin olive oil to cover, if needed. Gently shake the jar to combine and store as indicated.Once you’ve enjoyed all the olives in this second batch, strain the olive oil—which is by now packed with flavor—and use it to dress a salad or pasta.
Did you make this?
Tell me how you liked it! Leave a comment or take a picture and tag it with @foodnouveau on Instagram.
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Author: Marie Asselin
This is a great recipe, thanks for sharing it was delicious! :)
Happy you liked it, Nicolas!