Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Cheese Olivettes

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Any olive lovers out there?

As it is now, I’m the only olive-loving person in my household. :) This means they don’t factor a lot into my cooking (big sigh.)

Recently, though, I’ve been invited to a couple of drop-ins and a book club meeting, and other events where I needed to bring food along with me. At one of the events, I brought an olive hors d’oeuvres.

RileyAdamsFoodBlogPostpic_thumb_thumb[3]This recipe for olive balls (called cheese olivettes in most of the old-timey Southern cookbooks I’ve got) has been around for a long time. I remember going to parties as a child and having this exact, same appetizer. As a child, though, I didn’t appreciate it…all I wanted was the cheesy breading. If you serve it at a party, you might want to let guests know there’s an olive at the center so they won’t be surprised!

Cheese Olivettes

2 C sharp cheddar
1 stick melted margarine
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
1 t paprika
garlic salt, to taste
1 1/4 C flour
36 stuffed green olives

Mix the cheese, flour, paprika, and garlic salt together. Mix in the margarine to the cheese mixture. Add Worcestershire. Break off bits of dough and wrap around each olive, rolling in your hand to completely cover the olive with dough.

Refrigerate 1 hour before cooking.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Are there any foods that you love that your family doesn’t? Will you cook it just for yourself? :)

Riley/Elizabeth
Finger Lickin’ Dead (Riley Adams)
Hickory Smoked Homicide (Riley Adams)
Progressive Dinner Deadly ($2.99 on Kindle—Elizabeth Craig)

15 comments:

  1. Olives and cheese and dough....oh my! My three favorite food groups.

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  2. Oh yum...although I'd use butter. I love olives...but only the green ones!

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  3. Oh, gosh, do I love these. It's been ages since I've made them though. Thanks for the reminder!

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  4. Kim--It's pretty tasty stuff! My kids found them before I left for the party and took the olives out and ate some. :)

    Katreader--Definitely make the switch to butter. I like the black ones, too, but only alongside bacon!

    Pattie--Aren't they tasty? They disappeared at the party...

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  5. Waving my hand! Olive lover here, too, and I'm looking forward to trying this one. (I'm also delighted to see that they're baked instead of fried.) As for your question: In our house, zucchini is the food that I enjoy more than my husband--and I *will* make it for myself. :)

    ~ Cleo Coffeehouse Mystery.com

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  6. I haven't made these in years. They are soooo good. They go fast at parties, so if you like them, grab a few before they are gone.
    Sam

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  7. Cleo--Fellow olive lover! Yay! Yes, trying to keep away from frying stuff (although it still happens around here sometimes!) I'm glad you're making zucchini for yourself. :)

    Sam--Thanks for coming by! Yes, they ARE good. I forgot to take my picture *before* I left for my party, so I had to take a picture of the 3 olivettes that were left. :)

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  8. This is Molly Weston's fault, Elizabeth. She served such delicious olives during our Killer Cozy tour last year that I came home craving olives! These sound like a wonderful treat.

    ~ Krista

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  9. My wife has a sensitivity to cucumbers and melons. So it is always a treat for me to get those. But, I can not think of ever making them myself. But I attack at a party!

    Now I am picturing a muffuletta salad, wrapped in a few pieces of ham, then add your cheese dough, and bake as you suggest... kind of a baked muffuletta egg roll.


    HMMMMM

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  10. Elizabeth, thanks for reminding me how much we used to love these tasty olive balls!("Olivettes" sound so much fancier!)Will definitely add them to my list of appetizers this season.

    Like Dave's wife, my dh doesn't eat cucumbers & he also hates beets, so I make individual salads to solve that problem. I fix several other things for myself that he isn't crazy about and usually have them for my lunch, such as cold soups,(love gazpacho, vichysoisse,etc.)tabbouli,
    and ham-or-chicken salad. A small compromise, but it works for us.

    BTW, we sampled Cleo's lime pie last night for dessert and it was a snap to make and wonderfully refreshing!

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  11. Krista--Ha! Yes, let's blame Molly! Those olives were delicious!!

    Inspired by eRecipeCards--I think it's very noble of you to give them up! If she's got a bit of an allergy, though, that's probably smart.

    Muffuletta egg roll! Dave, you are a genius. :)

    Lynn--Olivettes sounds very 1950s Southern, I think, but so much better than olive balls!

    Oh, good idea to fix smaller portions of things you like and have them as lunches! I'll have to do that. I neglect lunch for myself sometimes because I'm at home by myself.

    I've got Cleo's pie on my TBC list (to be cooked!) I'm glad it's just as tasty as it sounded.

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  12. This sounds like it would taste a little like Journey Cakes -- which are cheese, meat, olives, onions and soup mix wrapped in a buttery crescent roll.

    Me, I'm not fond of olives, but this sounds really tasty for anything a little oily and salty.

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  13. Daring Novelist--Thanks so much for coming by! Journey cakes! I don't know about them, but they sound absolutely delicious. I think I'm going to need to give it a try. :)

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  14. My mother would put a can of ripe olives in each child's Christmas stocking. Every bit as popular as tangerines, nuts, and candy.

    Luckily, I married a Greek, so olives reign supreme.

    Thanks for a new recipe.

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  15. Liz--That is SO cool! And so very nice that you're married to a Greek and can enjoy olives whenever you'd like!

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