Most of you probably do not think of olives as comfort food. Most of you probably did not devote the entirety of your teenaged, after-school snacking to piles of them. It just so happens that I do and I did.
Although the universe is trying to trick us into thinking it's going to be spring outside any time now, it isn't. We really are hunkering down for the longest bit of winter here, and it is for that reason that I am trying to dive head-long back into cooking a whole book of antiquated hors d'oeuvres. Remember this project? I haven't forgotten it. Those of you forced into eating these things every time you come to my apartment probably haven't forgotten it either. So, without further ado, more pastry bags and creamy cheese:
One of the things I've been enjoying most about cooking this book is the creative license it gives you when it tells you to stuff one of your favorite foods with "spiced cheese." In this case, I used goat, a soft crumbly chèvre, spiced with sherry vinegar and smoky pimentón. I stuffed this mixture into huge Castelvetranos - a gigantic, meaty, Sicilian olive - for maximum cheese-to-other-stuff ratio.
I brought these to a legitimately rocking New Year's Eve dance party. They were great finger food, easy to grab between songs and everyone knows you need to focus on your hydration and your salt levels when you sweat that much. This was a perfect recipe to both close out a year full of stuffing cheese into other things, and to begin a new year of certainly doing the same.
Olives Stuffed with Spiced Cheese
Select mammoth olives both green and black*, remove stones and stuff with spiced cheese. The easiest way to fill these is to use a bag and small tube to force the mixture into the olive.
*Yes, I cheated and only used green. I can't be made to obey rules!
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