Sunday, April 21, 2013

Black Olive Truffles. Yes, you read that right!

This may be the recipe that makes you think, "Donna's gone over the edge." But bear with me a few seconds. This makes sense. Really it does.

A while back, I read in some food publication that if Food A pairs well with Food B and Food B pairs well with Food C, then you can guarantee that Food C will pair with Food A.

At the time, I tried to think of combinations that would break this rule. But I couldn't. Sometimes the combination of Food C and Food A was a little un-obvious or unusual, but it always worked.

So when Kitchen Play launched a menu using Lindsay Olives and asked people to add one more course to the menu, it got me thinking. About crazy things. Because, you see, they already covered the amuse bouche, bread, salad, appetizer, and entree.

You see what's obviously missing?

Yes, dessert. With olives. Oh my.

And my mind went immediately to chocolate. Well, it goes there a lot. Usually not with olives. But I wondered if this could be the combo that would break the A-B-C food rule. Olives pair well with nuts (there are almond-stuffed olives, right?) and nuts pair well with chocolate. Therefor, olives have to pair with chocolate.

Right? Right!

I let my official taste tester sample one, and he was quite impressed. He actually asked how many of them I made. So, yeah, it works.

It's not as weird as it seems. Olives are fruit, after all, and the mild saltiness of the olives goes well with the chocolate.

And I kept the nuts, too. Because why not?

I'm thinking that pistachios would also be a good nut for stuffing into the olives. Maybe I'll give that a try next time. Because, oh yes, there will be a next time.

Black Olive Truffles

Lindsay Naturals pitted black olives
Marcona almonds
Chocolate, melted

Drain and dry the olives. You don't want a wet surface. Let 'em sit on a paper towel for a while. Stuff a nut into the center of each olive.

If the nuts are too big, cut them in half or whatever needs to be done to make them fit. It's fine if you have a bit poking out, but olives aren't elastic. If you try use a nut that's too big, you're just going to tear the olive.

Dip the olives into the melted chocolate. I used a semi-sweet. Use whatever you like.

Note: I'm really terrible at doing this and making the resulting candy look uniform. But whatever. They all have their own unique charm. Or that's what I tell myself.

Place the dipped olives on a plate and shove them in the refrigerator to harden the chocolate.

Serve soon. I have no idea how well these keep. So make as many as you're going to serve in a day or two.
Yum