Black Olive Caviar

A delicious treat to wow your guests and pep up your appetisers.

The recipe may look a little daunting but it is a lot quicker and easier than you might think!

There are lots of recipes for black olive tapenade on the Internet. Be sure to choose one that doesn’t contain oil. The one I chose is quite strongly flavoured:

Ingredients

Two cloves of garlic (minced)

Two heaped teaspoons of fresh chopped thyme

Two heaped teaspoons of fresh chopped Parsley

Two tablespoons of red wine vinegar

One 345g jar of black olives in brine

Two to three tablespoons of capers (in brine)

Black pepper (to taste)

Salt (optional)

Three sachets of Vege-Gel

One bottle of olive oil

One small bottle of olive oil with chilli

One small bottle of olive oil with garlic

Tools

Mixing bowl for ingredients

Liquidiser or blender

Large bowl for the oil

Syringe (the larger the better)

Nonstick pan

Fill your liquidiser or bowl (if you are using a blender) with:

One jar of black olives in brine. Tip it all in including the brine. Capers, herbs, wine vinegar, garlic, pepper.

Blend ingredients till very smooth. (Chunky bits clog the syringe and make for a less than satisfactory final product)

Make up vegi-Gel according to instructions for two pints of jelly but use three packets of gel instead of two as you will need a firmer set. (You can also use Agar Agar as a setting agent.)

Once you have heated up the gel mixture, add the rest of your ingredients and add enough water to make it up to two pints.

Taste your mix and adjust the seasoning to your taste.

Fill a large bowl with your oil mixture (garlic oil, chilli oil and olive oil) This is not as big of a waste as it looks as you can strain the oil later and use it again, or use it for cooking. Chill the oil for at least half an hour.

Fill your syringe with your olive jelly mix (just insert the syringe nozzle into the mix and pull up the plunger)

Very slowly drip the mix from the syringe into the chilled oil. The individual drips will form into a spherical shape in the oil and sink to the bottom.

Once you have enough little spheres, leave to set for an hour or so then strain off the oil.

Your Caviar is now ready to eat!

I like to eat it with tiny lime pancakes. Not dissimilar to blinis.

Two eggs, 4oz self raising flour and enough lime juice to make it up to a thick batter.

I desert spoon full of mix per pancake onto a hot, oiled, nonstick pan. Yummy!

You can substitute a ripe banana for the eggs if you are vegan.

HAPPY EATING!!!