Culinary Crush

I’ll admit it, I have a culinary crush on Mark Bittman. He’s the guy who wrote How to Cook Everything, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian and most recently Food Matters. He writes the Minimalist column and the Bitten blog (which I read every day), both in the New York Times. A lot of the recipes I try come from either his books, blog or column. The bread recipes I made this weekend were out of …Everything Vegetarian and this recipe is from the Minimalist column.

When I saw the photo for this recipe, I had to know what was going on there. Once I read it, I knew I had to make it. It was really delicious. The combination is nothing I’d have come up with on my own, but it’s very refreshing and tasty, and SO easy to make. That’s kind of the point with a lot of the Bittman recipes: keep it simple, fresh and delicious.

See the Minimalist column here and the video for this recipe here.

La Zucca Magica’s Orange and Olive Salad
Time: 20 minutes

1 cup good oil-cured olives, pitted
1 teaspoon fresh thyme (optional) (I included this because I had some on hand and really liked this additional flavor.)
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil, more as needed
4 navel oranges, peeled and sliced into rounds
Fennel seeds (I didn’t use these, I didn’t have them on hand and am not a huge fennel fan in general)

1. In a food processor, combine olives and thyme with a bit of olive oil. Pulse machine once or twice, then turn it on and add remaining olive oil rather quickly; you want this puree on the rough side. Thin with more olive oil if necessary. (You can refrigerate this for up to a month). (I made the whole amount, but only used one orange and about ¼ of the olive puree to have with dinner. I'm sure I'll eat the rest in the next few days).

2. Layer 3 or 4 orange slices on each plate, drizzle with a little more olive oil, top with a tablespoon of the olive puree, and sprinkle with a few fennel seeds. Serve.

Yield: 4 servings.