I don’t know about you, but when I was younger I HATED olives. The sight, the smell, everything. Which is mad, because now I could literally eat a bucket of them! If you love olives, then you’re going to fall deeper in love after this recipe. Follow me…
Pasta with Olives
One of my favourite ways to use olives in cooking is to make them the star of the show in a delicious pasta. There are various different routes you could take with olive pasta, but here’s my favourite combo:
Olives – pitted and halved. Lemon – I use both the juice and zest. Olives love lemon! Garlic – olives also love garlic! Parmesan – not too much, but this is great for a boost of flavour and to help create a lightly creamy sauce. Butter – this adds richness to the dish and balances out the sharper flavours. Extra virgin olive oil – adds a gentle background flavour and helps create a glossy sauce. Herbs – I opt for basil and parsley – both fresh! Seasoning – I go for chilli flakes and black pepper. You may or may not need salt. Pine nuts – these are optional, but I love sprinkling toasted pine nuts over at the end.
What kind of olives should I use?
I use ‘Queen Green Olives’ which are pretty big. You could use a smaller variety if you’d prefer. If you use olives that are already marinated in flavour try and match them to the flavours in this dish (garlic, lemon, basil etc).
Making Olive Pasta
This dish comes together really quickly, so I recommend having everything ready to rock and roll! I like to start by toasting the pine nuts so they’re ready to serve. From there, I love frying the olives in oil and butter to allow for a gorgeous flavour exchange. This will also help soften the olives a little.
What kind of pasta should I use?
I love using Tagliatelle because it allows the glossy sauce to ooze around the pasta. You could sub linguine or fettuccine if you’d prefer. Failing that just use any sort of long-cut pasta.
Starchy Pasta Water
This is a key ingredient in forming the glossy sauce. The starch will help emulsify the fats and help them turn into a light creamy sauce that clings to the pasta. Just make sure the pasta water is well-seasoned so you don’t dilute the flavour of the sauce. Process shots: fry pine nuts then remove (photo 1), add oil and butter (photo 2), fry olives, garlic, lemon zest, chilli flakes and black pepper (photo 3), toss in pasta and pasta water then toss in parmesan (photo 4), add basil and parsley (photo 5), toss to combine (photo 6).
Serving Olive Pasta
The final product shouldn’t be watery at all. There should be a very light, creamy, glossy sauce that clings to the pasta. To serve, I love topping with the pine nuts, alongside some extra basil and parmesan. If you love olives then check out my Marinated Olives! Alrighty, let’s tuck into the full recipe for this olive pasta shall we?!
How to make Olive Pasta (Full Recipe & Video)
