Weekends are the perfect time to consider cooking those recipes that take more time and perhaps (but not always) a little more effort. And that’s what would have happened at our place this weekend but for the fact that we decamped our pile in Brisbane and travelled to Uki in Northern NSW for the weekend and dinner with the in-laws. A thoroughly pleasant affair and a lovely dinner of beef and stout stew was eaten. I was not required in the kitchen however.
What I was responsible for was some pre-dinner nibbles and for that I pulled together two recipes that could be easily transported and that would accompany a few pre-dinner drinks. Walnut spread was the first and Italian black olive paste was the second.
The walnut spread is the first time I think I have ever used walnuts in any sort of recipe but I soon had those walnut shells crushed under the weight of a macadamia nut press and dispatched into the food processor along with other assorted ingredients including 100g of blue cheese which is the variation of the recipe noted in the book. Lovers of garlic would love this recipe. For everybody else, this recipe is very garlicky – like VERY garlicky – so a little goes a long way.
The second recipe was italian black olive paste which, according to the notes in the book is the Italian version of the french tapanade sans anchovies, capers, tuna and lemon juice. These are four of my all time favourite ingredients but leaving them out did not mean that the paste was not a tasty treat for the back deck drinks. Having said that, if you don’t like black olives, chances are that you are not going to like this.
As it happened, these pastes did not make it to the back deck (problems with the supply chain and logistics planning meant that there was no bread or crackers to eat them with so they cam home largely intact. As a result, there was no rating given to either recipe by the general population. I tasted them though and would make the italian black olive paste again but would probably look for an option other than the walnut spread next time I am making the pre-dinner nibbles
Cooking the "Cooks Companion" 