Author: realolive

1kg strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
20g salt
20g yeast
800ml tepid water
4 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for oiling
1kg pouch of olives (blend of your choice), roughly chopped
Fine semolina, for dusting

Oil 2x 2-3 litre square plastic containers.

Put the flour into the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the salt to one side of the bowl and the yeast to the other. Add 3/4 of the water and begin mixing on a slow speed. As the dough starts to come together, gradually add the remaining water.

Mix for a further 5-8 minutes on a medium speed. The dough should now be wet and stretch easily when pulled. Add the olive oil and mix fro a further 2 minutes. Add the olives and mix until evenly spread throughout the dough.

Put the dough into the oiled containers and leave until they have at least tripled in size, for approximately an hour.

Line 4x baking trays with baking parchment or silicone paper and preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.

Dust the work surface heavily with flour and add some semolina too. Carefully tip the dough onto the surface. It will be very loose and flowing, but don’t worry. Rather than knocking it back as you usually would with bread, handle it gently so that you keep as much air in the dough as possible.

Dust the top of the dough with flour and then stretch it out gentle to a rough rectangle. Starting at one long edge, cut the dough into approximately 36 strips. Stretch each piece out until 20-25cm long. Place 6x strips onto each of the prepared baking trays, spacing them apart.

Bake the breadsticks for 10-15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

For the lamb:
1 small leg of lamb
2 tbsp shawarma spice paste
1 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves of garlic
2 sprigs of rosemary
1 tsp smoked sea salt
200g Kalamata olives
1 fennel bulb, roughly chopped
6 dates
200ml red wine

For the asparagus:
8 asparagus spears
2 preserved lemons, roughly chopped
1 tbsp chermoula
2 tsp olive oil

To serve:
Multi grain cous cous
Flatbreads
Natural yogurt

Preheat the oven to 200˚C. Rub your lamb with oil, salt and the spice paste. Next sear the lamb in a pan on all sides to brown the meat. Add the fennel, garlic and rosemary.

Transfer to the oven and roast on a high temperature for 20 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 160˚C and add in your red wine, olives and dates.

Roast for 1 hour 20 minutes until the lamb is cooked. Allow to rest for 10 minutes and slice the lamb returning it to the pan with your olive and wine sauce.

Next prepare your asparagus by simply cooking for 3-5 minutes in a frying pan with chermoula and preserved lemon.

Warm the flatbreads and serve with couscous, grilled asparagus and a good handful of chopped lamb and juicy olives. Top with a dollop of yogurt and fresh herbs.

1 kg organic mussels
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
100g pancetta
Pinch of saffron
1 tsp paprika
185g La Verde olives
200ml cider
1 red onion, roughly diced
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
6-8 heritage tomatoes, roughly chopped
Handful of shelled broad beans
12 basil leaves
1 tsp cracked green pepper

Heat your oil in a large pan and saute the pancetta, paprika and saffron.

Add in your diced red onion and cook. Cook for 4-5 minutes or until the pancetta and onion caramelise nicely.

Next add chopped tomatoes and reduce the heat slightly. Simmer for 5 minutes and when a sauce starts to form add in a tablespoon of butter, peppercorns, mussels and cider.

Stir well and place a lid over the pan and steam for 4-5 minutes until all the mussels are open and cooked.

Finish the dish by warming through the broad beans, torn basil leaves and La Verde olives.

Serve with sourdough bread.

For the roasted vegetables:
1 pot of Nocellara del belice olives
Large bunch of vine cherry tomatoes
1 fennel bulb, finely sliced
6-8 asparagus spears
1 preserved lemon, sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp pink peppercorns
Pinch of sea salt

For the herby olive crust:
1 pot of La verde olives
1 tbsp parsley
1 tbsp dill or fennel tops
1 tbsp mint 
2 tbsp olive oil
50g panko breadcrumbs
1 tbsp pine nuts
Pinch of sea salt
1 tbsp black garlic puree or Dijon mustard

For the lamb rack:
1 rack of lamb
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt and pepper
2 cloves of garlic
2 sprigs of thyme

Remove your lamb from the fridge an hour before cooking and preheat your oven to 180˚C. Rub the rack with oil, salt and pepper and sear on all sides in a pan with garlic and thyme to brown the meat and render the fat. Then after 5-6 mins cooking place on a wire rack and roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Try cooking the lamb suspended over new potatoes so that the lamb fat drips onto them as they roast.

Meanwhile make your herby olive tapenade. Blitz one pot of La verde olives in a food processor with a handful of garden herbs including: dill, mint, and parsley. Then add in 2 tbsp of anchovies, the zest of one lemon and 2 tbsp of olive oil. Toast your pine nuts and breadcrumbs and Pulse into a coarse crust and combine with breadcrumbs and toasted pine nuts for the last 30 seconds. Season to taste.

For the roasted vegetables mix all ingredients and place on a baking tray. Roast for 20-25 mins.

Once the lamb is cooked to an internal temperature of 54˚C for medium rare allow it to rest and spread some black garlic paste onto the skin. Then press the herby olive crust onto the lamb and serve.