Monday 27 October 2008

Preserving olives / conserver les olives

Before our holiday we picked our entire crop of 80 olives, soaked them in spring water for four days and then left them in brine while we were away. I think we may have picked them too early and some of them seem to have become green again. But we can't put them back on the tree, so I shall carry on with the process, based on the recipe given in Tomás Graves's book A Home in Majorca.

Avant nos vacances nous avons ramassé tous nos 80 olives. Nous les avons trempées à l'eau de source pour quatre jours et puis nous les avons laissées en saumure pendant notre séjour au Pays de Galles. Je pense que peut-être nous les avons ramassées trop tôt, et quelques olives sont devenues vertes encore. Mais c'est impossible de les retourner à l'arbre, donc je continue de les conserver selon la recette de Tomás Graves dans son livre A Home in Majorca.

preserving olives 1_1_1

I rinsed the olives, then put them in layers in an earthenware jar, starting with a layer of bay leaves, then olives and chopped fennel stalks, then bay leaves and so on until the jar was full. I covered the olives with a layer of bay leaves held in place with a fennel stalk and a bay stalk. I filled the jar with brine (125 gm salt to 1 litre of water) and put the lid on it (a saucer would do).

J'ai lavé les olives, puis je les ai mises en couches dans un bocal de faïence, en commençant avec une couche de feuilles de laurier sauce, puis des olives et des tiges coupées de fenouille, puis des feuilles de laurier sauce et j'ai continué de cette façon. J'ai couvert les olives d'une couche de feuilles de laurier sauce tenue en place par une tige de fenouille et une tige de laurier sauce. Finalement j'ai rempli le bocal de saumure (125 gm sel en 1 litre d'eau) et j'ai mis le couvercle (une soucoupe irait bien).

preserving olives 2_1_1 preserving olives 3_1_1

I shall leave the jar in a cool place for two months by which time, according to Tomás Graves, 'a disgusting slime will have formed on the surface'. The olives beneath should be ready to eat.

Je laisserai le bocal au frais pour deux mois quand, selon Tomás Graves, il y aura un depôt gluant dégoutant sur la surface. Les olives en dessous devront être prêtes à manger.

Tomato paste / purée de tomates

We're still picking tomatoes and the other day I put about 1.5 kilos of Roma tomatoes, quartered, in the oven with some sprigs of thyme and some salt for about an hour at 180 C. I put them through the mouli légumes and was left with a small amount of thick tomato paste to which I added a finely chopped red chilli pepper and a tablespoonful of red wine vinegar. I brought it to the boil and simmered for 10 minutes. The paste, covered with a layer of olive oil, then filled two very small jars. It tastes delicious and I shall use it in sauces and soups.

tomato paste_1_1

On continue de ramasser des tomates. J'ai cuit au four (180 C) à peu près de 1.5 kilos de tomates Roma, coupées en quatre, pour une heure. Je les ai passées par un mouli légumes et j'ai ajouté à cette pâte épaisse un piment rouge coupé très finement et une cuillerée de vinaigre rouge. Je l'ai fais cuire à feu doux pour 10 minutes. Puis, finalement, j'ai rempli deux petits bocaux de la pâte et je l'ai couvert .d'une couche d'huile d'olive. Elle a un gout délicieux et je l'ajouterai aux sauces et aux soupes.

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6 comments:

Alan said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog. Our challenge here in the Mid-West is to grow what we love, which tend to be Mediterranean plants. I'll be enviously following your adventures.

LadyLuz said...

So nice of you to stop by my gardening blog. And it was a real treat to come visiting you and see all the similarities in home-grown produce. I look forward to exploring your recipes blog and picking up some tips. Many thanks.

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

Great, that you could pickle your first olives, what a treat they will be. The tomatoe paste you made sounds delicious. Fresh from your own garden not poisoned, who could ask for more?

Anonymous said...

Quel bonheur les olives maison !
Bravo !

Jan said...

Thank you for the olive instructions as I shall try and do ours this year I think. We only have about 10 trees, most of which are small, but it seems such a shame not to make use of the fruits. Ours aren't ready yet, as we are over a mile high, and only just starting to turn black.

chaiselongue said...

Thanks to all for the comments - merci à tout le monde.
Jan and steve: good luck with preserving your olives - you are very lucky to have ten trees, even if they are small!