Stuffed olive is a savory and flavorful dish prepared by stuffing black colored or green colored olives with ingredients like cream cheese, garlic, and onions. Among a few recipe variations, the simplest recipe suggests using only cream cheese as the olive stuffing ingredient. Some flavor can be added to cream cheese stuffing with the addition of garlic, onions, and cayenne pepper. Pimento and salted nuts can also be used as the stuffing ingredients for olives.
The olives are prepared for stuffing by clipping off their tips and removing the pits from their body, so as to create space or cavity which can be stuffed with several ingredients. The stuffed olives can be served as a side dish, as one of the salad ingredients; it also pairs well with drinks.
Preparation Overview of Stuffed Olives
The simplest stuffed olive recipe suggests using pitted black olives and cream cheese as the only ingredients.
The preparation process suggests filling each olive with cream cheese, by using butter knife.
Stuffed Olive Recipe Variations
A few popular recipe variations of stuffed olive, explained in terms of use of distinct stuffing ingredients have been discussed below:
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Onion based stuffed olives- the recipe for this stuffed olive dish suggests combining minced onions, a small amount of cayenne pepper, and garlic powder with cream cheese, and stuffing this mix in olives.
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Blue cheese stuffed olive- the olive stuffing used for this dish is prepared by combining blue cheese with cream cheese, black pepper, and minced garlic. The stuffing is then poured in a plastic bag, which is cut from the corner to create a small hole, through which the stuffing mix is transferred into the cavity of black or green olives. These stuffed olives go very well along with martini prepared with dry vermouth, gin, and olive brine.
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Labneh stuffed olives- the olives are stuffed with labneh dip and served after drizzling olive oil on top. The labneh dip used as the olive stuffing is a blend of hung curd, grated garlic clove, salt, and fresh cream.
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Fried stuffed olives- the recipe for this stuffed olive dish suggests wrapping medium sized or large sized olives with a mix of minced pork, smoked bacon, parsley, chives, salt, pepper, and oregano, and frying the olives in hot oil after coating them with flour, and dipping them in breadcrumbs and egg mixture. These fried olives are best served along with drinks.
Serving Suggestions of Stuffed Olives
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Stuffed olives can be served in the form of side dish, with the olives arranged properly on a relish tray (a tray containing chopped vegetables or fruits and some sauce), and served with small sized fork or toothpicks.
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Cheese stuffed olives can be served in martini. The martini is served cold after garnishing it with not more than two stuffed olives.
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It is suggested to serve stuffed olive in salad form, along with bell peppers, pasta, onions, and corn kernels. Basil leaves are used for garnishing this stuffed olive based salad.