Olive

Moroccan olives are among the best in the Mediterranean and find their way into many salads. Look for good ones for this salad, which is best made in advance so that the dressing and flavors are absorbed. The potatoes will attract the dressing and flavors better if they are peeled.

For more information on baked tofu, see page 136. I’d like to see this superb product go mainstream! See the menu with Cold Fresh Tomato Soup (page 17). This would also be just as good served with Fresh Tomato and Corn Soup (page 18).

Silken tofu makes a perfect base for a good, dairy-free dip.

Briny olives and sweet green peas have a pleasant synergy that results in a delicious pizza topping.

Olives add zesty flavor to a traditional pizza.

Here’s another great way to embellish a good prepared pasta sauce.

Broccoli is one of the most harmonious additions to pasta salad. Try this in the menu with Pizza Margherita (page 154).

An exercise in elegant simplicity, this salad makes a delicious contribution to a buffet of room-temperature dishes for company.

This is a modified version of Greek salad. I like to serve it with spinach dishes, as suggested in the menu with Spinach Rice (page 92). Or serve it with Hummus (page 229) and warm pita bread if you are expecting company for lunch.

This drink is a twist on the dirty martini using black olives instead of green. James Bond mastered the mystique of the martini—it is the ultimate sexy drink. The icy vodka, the dryness of the vermouth, and the salty olives make the ultimate ménage à trois.

These are my girlfriend’s favorite. I make them in batches to have in the fridge to snack on.

This very Spanish-influenced tapa hits your tongue in three-stage flavor assault. First the smoky bacon, next the slightly salty green olive sauce, then the sweetness of the date. But the kicker is the almond inside—the little crunch that totally takes you by surprise. The combo is unique and classic, and I like to up the presentation with fancy toothpicks.

This is a fat, stuffed vegetable sandwich that’s great for a picnic. The olive tapenade is also good spooned on bread toasts and served as an hors d’oeuvre.

The black olive and watermelon are a perfect salty-sweet yin-yang that goes great with the grilled salmon. This is a very crisp, refreshing dish for a summer cookout—like a cool drink of water. This vinaigrette is good on almost anything, so save any that is left over and use it within the week.

Infused butters are fun to put together because you can customize different flavors to give grilled meats a whole new dimension. This dish has strong roots in the Spanish Mediterranean countryside, and it’s one of the hits of this chapter.

In translation, arroz con pollo simply means “rice with chicken.” When I was the chef at Cafeteria, the Latin American cooks made this dish for our staff meal just about every day. Its truly authentic flavors are homey and satisfying. I prefer using whole canned tomatoes and crushing them by hand because I have more control of the texture; plus the flavor is a lot better than chopped canned tomatoes.

This upscale quiche is great for company. Read the section on blind-baking the crust a few times before you get started; it’s the trickiest part (but by no means hard). The only special equipment you’ll need is a 10 1/2-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Once you have one of these, you’ll use it for a hundred different things, so it’s a good investment.

“Grandma-style” means the vegetables are cooked like a stew in a big pot until they’re soft and delicious. The vegetables taste better and better as you cook them down, and the broth tastes nourishing. This is one of the classic recipes I pull out in a pinch, and it’s always welcomed.

Avoid using a salad spinner to wash and dry the arugula—the leaves bruise easily. Instead, dunk them in a sink of cool water and lift them into a colander. Pat dry with a kitchen towel. Simple salt and pepper will form a crust on the steaks when you sear them. I don’t normally serve anything else with this warm steak salad except the rest of the bottle of Cabernet used in the vinaigrette recipe.

This is my version of the classic French salad I enjoyed time and again in Nice. Roasting concentrates the flavor of fresh green beans.