Warm Spanish Marinated Olives
Warm marinated olives are perhaps one of the easiest, but most elegant party bites you can serve. Heating the olives in oil with aromatics like garlic and citrus peel makes them plump and even more flavorful. While you can use almost any mix of olives here, I like the combo of buttery, mild Castelvetranos with more assertive Kalamatas. For ease, these olives are already pitted, but you can also use whole olives if that’s what you have on hand. Serve them with toothpicks on the side so your guests don’t need to dirty their fingers and chunks of crusty bread so people can dip into the flavorful olive oil. The chorizo added at the end beefs up this party snack and also adds a subtle smokiness to the mix.
Serves 6 to 8
2 cups mixed pitted olives
1 cup olive oil
3 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
Three 2-inch strips orange peel
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
One 5-ounce dried chorizo, cut into bite-size pieces
¼ cup pickled sweety drop peppers or small pickled cherry peppers
Crusty bread, for serving
In a small saucepan, combine the olives with the olive oil, garlic, orange peel and crushed red pepper. Cook over low, stirring occasionally, until the olives are warm and fragrant, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the chorizo and peppers. Serve warm with crusty bread for dipping.