Smoked Olives??

SYVSteve · April 17, 2005, 02:09:59 AM

We are having a jazz and olive festival nearby (Los Olivos, CA) and will have amateur chefs doing olive-oriented dishes. Anybody here ever smoke any olives? Santa Barbara Olive CO. has some great olives stuffed with things like jalpenos, garlic, etc. Think they might work? What wood would you recommend?
Any advice is welcome.

Steve

Smoke it and they will come.

MWS · April 17, 2005, 02:59:35 AM

Sounds like a great festival. I love Jazz, not to fussy about olives though [:0]. I would say because it's an olive festival, this cries to try smoking them. Maybe try some milder sweeter fruitwoods like apple. Just a thought. Have fun at the festival [:D]

MWS - Mike

Oldman · April 17, 2005, 03:47:14 AM

Ouch this is going to come from memory.... a long ago memory [:0]

Use only the freshest of olives. Take an aluminum pan (disposable) and cut the sides of it down leaving the lip 1/2 as tall as your olives. I suggest placing in on the Bradley rack before you add your olives.

In a bowl mix the following FRESH items.
Olives
Rosemary--If you cannot find fresh rosemary in the supermarket then go to a garden shop. Generally one of them will have a small rosemary plant for sale. Slightly crush the rosemary leaves. (If you can grow a rosemary bush I suggest you do. I have one!)
Sweet Green Chili Pepper--roasted and chopped finely.
Red Bell Pepper--roasted and chopped finely.
1 or 2 cloves of garlic--chopped finely.

Next add picked capers.

Next,
Take dehydrated tomato pieces and place them in a pan and add cracked black pepper. Cover with enough chicken broth so you can reconstitute the tomato pieces over a slow boil. Do not overly re-hydrate! You want a soft but firm item. Once done drain the chicken broth off and add tomato piece to the mixing bowl. (Drink the broth if you like [^] )

Now add enough Olive oil and some deep red wine so that when you mix this all together everything has a sticky kind of look. Spread this mixture into the aluminum pan. Try not to allow the olives to touch each other. You may add any small amounts of the oil/ wine mixture you have left over to the bottom of the pan as well. However, not much-just enough to coat the pan if you like.

I would smoke these for 2 hours using Pecan (if you have it)at a temp range of 180 -- 200 F. After the two hours of smoke I would slide my heat bar all the way to high for a time period of 30 to 45 minutes. What you are going to be looking for a congealed/ gelatinized look. However, don't allow this to overly dry out, and you don't want the olives cooked into a mush.

As far as the amounts to use will depend up how many olives you are going to smoke.

Sorry that I cannot be of any more help than this, but as I said I'm pulling this from a long ago memory.

Edit: I just remembered the capers! Ha ha that what I get for getting old... at least it is the only thing slipping... [^][^][^]

Olds

http://rminor.com

jaeger · April 17, 2005, 03:52:49 AM

Steve,
How about the same stuffing as ABT's only use a cold smoke.
Stuff the large Green Olives with a cream cheese mixture including chopped green onions, black olives, cheddar cheese and maybe a little seasoning salt or your favorite rub. You could also add some BBQ pulled pork or bacon. Make a variety with the basic mixture.

How about a cracker dip. Shredded cheddar and monterey jack, sliced green olives, mayonaise and a little pimento. Go just a little heavy on the mayo as the cheese will absorb the mayo as it refrigerates.

Doug

Oldman · April 17, 2005, 04:11:37 AM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Go just a little heavy on the mayo as the cheese will absorb the mayo as it refrigerates.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Wow I did not know this~~Thanks!

Olds

http://rminor.com

jaeger · April 17, 2005, 03:40:03 PM

You should try this sometime. It's easy and a great snack with your favorite crackers. [:p]

Doug

SYVSteve · April 17, 2005, 04:26:01 PM

Thanks all - I have some experimenting to do!

Smoke it and they will come.

JJC · April 17, 2005, 07:35:20 PM

Hi Steve,

Santa Barbara Olive Co. (and others) make a great habanero-stuffed olive, along with a less spicy jalapeno-stuffed olive. I bet you could use them in the "cold-smoked ABT recipe" mentioned by Doug (Jaeger) with excellent results, too.

John
Newton MA

SYVSteve · April 18, 2005, 03:49:55 AM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by JJC
 I bet you could use them in the "cold-smoked ABT recipe" mentioned by Doug (Jaeger) with excellent results, too.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

That was fun, being a newbie I didn't know what "ABT" meant so I did a search. It is amazing what you find while searching here! And, I never would have guessed what ABT meant.[:D] Now it is in my recipe book!

Smoke it and they will come.

manxman · April 20, 2005, 10:02:56 AM

Hi SYVSteve,

I have cold (oak) smoked olives and my attempts were horrible!! I have tried cold smoking butter, salt, garlic and a few other bits and pieces that have all turned out really well in my view but the olives failed miserably!! [:(][:(]

The ones I tried were various shop bought pre stuffed olives marinaded in oil, perhaps that was the problem?

Not only did they taste bad but after a short while in the fridge the consistency of the olive oil changed to a solid white mass!! Lovely!![:(][:(]

Perhaps I started with the wrong product in the first place? Maybe starting with fresh olives is the way to go?

With the benefit of hindsight I would suggest apple would be a good choice to try.

Bottom line is that if you have any success please post the recipe, I love olives!! [:)][:)][:)]

Manxman.

SYVSteve · April 22, 2005, 03:50:33 PM

Heh, heh, heh, my little sister is visiting, may have to experiment and have her do the taste testing.

Smoke it and they will come.