Scallops & Spring Greens with La Verde Olives

This spicy scallop dish by our good friend, James Strawbridge is the ultimate surf n’ turf treat. The addition of our La Verde olives helps provide a herby profile and salty tang to the seasonal shredded spring greens.

Ingredients

8-12 scallops
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp of paprika
Pinch of sea salt
185g La Verde olives
75g ‘Nduja spicy sausage
200g spring greens, shredded
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1 preserved lemon, thinly sliced

Method

Coat your scallops in olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and paprika. Heat a non-stick frying pan and cook your scallops for 2-3 mins on each side.

In another pan heat your spicy sausage, shallot, olives, lemon and spring greens.

Stir well and serve as soon as the spring greens wilt and the shallot softens with pan fried scallops on top.

Olive Breadsticks

These delicious olive breadsticks are great for entertaining but are equally good for a picnic or packed lunch. Made with an olive blend of your choice, they’re the perfect partner for our award-winning tapenades. Make 36 breadsticks.

Ingredients

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

Method

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.

Lamb & Olive Flatbreads

The Kalamata olives in this recipe provide a briny sweetness and the anise notes from the fennel really cuts through the juicy lamb in this delicious dish by James Strawbridge. Try serving with asparagus, preserved lemon and multigrain cous cous.

Ingredients

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

Method

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.

Cornish Hake with La Verde Olives & Basil Polenta

Our La Verde Olives work wonderfully with this hake recipe and are complimented perfectly by the rich basil and roasted garlic polenta.

Olives are the secret ingredient stirred into the creamy polenta before serving. They offer a grassy flavour and briny seasoning that enhances the simple fillet of fish for an authentic taste of the ocean. This recipe by James Strawbridge is inspired by the Italian Riviera where olive groves meet the Ligurian sea for a summer seafood dish.

Ingredients

2 fillets of MSC certified Cornish Hake
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp of sea salt
100g butter

For the polenta:
150g polenta
100g La Verde olives
1 small bunch of basil
2 tsp of roasted garlic puree
500ml water
100ml milk
50g grated parmesan
Pinch of grated nutmeg

Method

Heat the milk and water in a saucepan and slowly whisk in your polenta over a medium heat. Stir well and cook for 15-20 mins.

Pan fry the hake by salting with sea salt and then placing it in an oiled pan skin side down. Cook for 4 mins until the skin is crispy and then turn over. Add half your butter and spoon the bubbling butter over the fish as you finish cooking it for the final couple of minutes.

To finish the polenta, blitz your olives into a coarse paste in a food processor with the basil, parmesan, roast garlic and remaining butter. Add this to the polenta as it starts to come away from the side of the pan.

Serve the olive and basil polenta with the hake fillet on top and some sprigs of baby basil. Finish with extra parmesan.

Mussels with Pancetta & Olives

This delicious mussel recipe with pancetta and La Verde olives by James Strawbridge is fantastic cooked over a fire in the garden or at the beach on a balmy summer evening.

Super easy to make but a real crowd pleaser – just add a cold beer and crusty bread.

Demo

Ingredients

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

Method

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.

Lamb Burgers with Tapenade

These lamb burgers by James Strawbridge are perfect on the BBQ and then served up in focaccia buns.

James is trying out one of our brand new tapenades which will be launching very soon. Keep your eyes peeled for more info shortly…

Demo

Ingredients

For the burgers:
400g lamb mince
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp shawarma spice
1 tsp paprika
2 tbsp smoky harissa tapenade
1 tbsp of each mint, oregano, fennel tops or dill, finely chopped
1 preserved lemon, finely chopped 
Pinch of smoked sea salt

For the La Verde focaccia buns:
500g strong white bread flour
7g sachet easy-bake dried yeast 
1 1/2 tsp salt 
1 tbsp soft butter
100g La Verde olives, sliced

For the pickled veg:
1 carrot, grated plus carrot tops
1 red onion sliced
2 tbsp sherry vinegar
1 tsp smoky harissa tapenade
1 tsp olive oil

To serve:
1 peach or apricot, roughly sliced
4 focaccia or bread rolls
150g feta cheese, crumbled [optional]

Method

Mix the flour, yeast and salt in a large mixing bowl. Make a dip in the centre of the flour and pour in almost 300ml hand warm (cool rather than hot) water and 1 tbsp olive oil, with a round-bladed knife. Then mix in enough of the remaining water and a bit more if needed, to gather up any dry bits in the bottom of the bowl, until the mixture comes together as a soft, not too sticky, dough. Gather it into a ball with your hands.

Put the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8-10 mins until it feels smooth and elastic, only adding the minimum of extra flour if necessary to prevent the dough sticking. Place the ball of dough on a lightly floured work surface. Cover with an upturned, clean, large glass bowl and leave for 45 mins-1 hr or until doubled in size and feels light and springy. Timing will depend on the warmth of the room.

Knock back the dough by gently kneading just 3-4 times. You only want to knock out any large air bubbles, so too much handling now will lose the dough’s lightness. Shape into a ball, then cover and leave for 10 mins.

Cut the dough into 10 even pieces. Shape each into a ball and sit them on 2 baking parchment-lined baking sheets. Cover with a clean dry tea towel and leave for 40-45 mins, or until about doubled in size.

Finish by using your fingers press a wide indent in the middle of each roll. Scatter over the sliced olives pressing down quite firmly into the indents. Drizzle with most of the remaining oil and season.

Put a roasting tin in the bottom of the oven 20 mins before ready to bake and heat oven to 230C/210C fan/gas 8. Put the risen bread in the oven, carefully pour about 250ml cold water into the roasting tin (this will hiss and create a burst of steam to give you a crisp crust), then lower the heat to 200C fan. Bake for 20 mins or until golden. Remove and cool on a wire rack. If you tap the underneath of the loaf if should be firm and sound hollow. When baked, drizzle with a little extra olive oil and set aside before making the burgers. 

To make the burgers, mix the lamb mince with your spices, fresh herbs and tapenade together with preserved lemon and a pinch of salt.

Form into large patties and cook on the BBQ, grill or a ridged skillet in a pizza oven for 6-8 mins. Flip halfway through cooking.

For the pickles, add grated carrot and sliced red onion to vinegar with a little spoon more of the tapenade and some carrot tops. Warm through for 4-5 mins with a little drizzle of oil and a pinch of salt.

Add your sliced stone fruit to the BBQ or grill with your patties and allow to char for 2-3 mins to soften.

Build your burger by spreading a generous amount of tapenade on the base of your focaccia bun and then adding your spiced lamb burger, some crumbled feta cheese, quick pickled veg and charred peach or apricot.