Olive pate, in other words. . This is great on toast for breakfast. I recommend using ready-pitted olives, as that's probably the only way you'll finish the recipe the same day you start, but if you had the patience to sit and de-stone a bunch of premium Turkish or Greek olives, you would definitely end up with a superior end product. Tinned black olives in brine are not a patch on the salty super-ripe fruits offered at breakfast in Turkey. I always thought I preferred green olives to black as the green ones from tins are usually pretty good. When I started to travel around the Mediterranean, I realised what I had been missing. If you do, however, prefer green olives to black, you might like to try green olive tapenade.
2 cans of pitted black olives (350g)
A quarter teaspoon of dried mint
A quarter teaspoon of dried oregano
A quarter teaspoon of dried basil
A dessertspoon of tomato paste
A dessertspoon of wine vinegar
2 dessertspoons of olive oil
Drain the olives well and put them and the garlic through a mincer a couple of times (or use a food processor). Mix in all the other ingredients and the tapenade is ready. It will be better after after an hour or so as the taste will develop, but eat it straight away if you're hungry.
Olive tapenade will keep for a couple of weeks in a jar in the fridge and is delicious served with bread or toast for breakfast or as a snack.