Retro stuffed olives for a classic cocktail

When I received an olive alert on WhatsApp from our friend Susan, I was pleased to learn that this year I could get green Manzanilla olives. I had long wanted to make pimiento stuffed olives but had to wait for a time when I could use green olives.

The green olives, stuffed with red pimiento, had always made me think of Spain. I learned that the pimiento stuffed green olive, probably originated in France in the 1700s. I will have to research a bit more. I would have thought the origin to be Spain, from where the Manzanilla olive and pimiento were cultivated.

The pimiento stuffed olive is synonymous with the martini. For me, the olive is an integral part of the martini. Their salty flavour adds something to the cocktail. The stuffed olive is best because it soaks up more of the gin and vermouth, making it something to savour at the end of the martini.

On Saturday, Susan and Michael arrived for our first socially distanced lunch with them. Susan shared her culinary expertise in the form of delicious cake and spring inspired desert. In addition, there were the much anticipated 10 litres of cured olives. I put the olives aside and promised that they would receive my undivided attention the following day.

The socially distanced al fresco lunch was served on the lawn tables spaced 3,5m apart with a serving table between. The arrangement made for a relaxed afternoon. We caught up on the eight months of various stages of lockdown that have passed since our last visit. Being able to spend an afternoon with friends was a reminder of the constraints we have all endured because of the pandemic.

The following morning, after breakfast, I began destoning the first 5 litre bucket of green olives. Not being able to find pimiento peppers, I decided to substitute with large red bell peppers. Trying to find a suitable recipe for homemade pimiento stuffed olives online also seemed impossible. I decided to make up my own. I made a mental note to find pimiento seeds, to plant for future use in pickles and dishes.

After destoning half the bucket of olives, I realised that I would have to stop destoning and move on to stuffing the olives if I still wanted to pickle them that day. After lunch, Keith took over the destoning. This allowed me to focus on the stuffing and the making of the brine. This arrangement worked well and in no time all the olives were destoned.

After using up all the red bell peppers for stuffing, we were left with some unstuffed olives. I decided to pickle them as is.

Stuffed green Manzanilla olives

Ingredients:

3kg cured green Manzanilla olives
3 to 5 large organic red bell peppers  

Brine:
3lt Spring water
180ml coarse sea salt
350ml white wine vinegar
5ml green peppercorns
5ml juniper berries
5ml dill seeds
4 fresh bay leaves

Combine the brine ingredients in a large pot. Heat up but do not let it boil. Keep heated until you are ready to use.

Method:

Destone the olives and keep them in fresh water. Cut the bell peppers in strips that will fit tightly into the space where the olive pips were. Push the strip into the pip opening of the olive as deep as you can. Slice off the pepper strip neatly and stuff the next olive. Continue until the pepper strip is used up. Keep the stuffed olives in a clean bowl. There is no need to keep them in water at this stage.

Heat the clean jars in the oven at 100°C for 10 to 15 minutes to sterilise, while you are destoning and stuffing the olives.

Pack the olives in the warm sterilised jars. Top up the jars with the hot brine up to 3mm from the top of the jar. Pour 2mm of olive oil on top. Seal the jars tightly. Wipe the jars and store in a cool dry place.

After a busy Sunday, I could add seven jars of stuffed Manzanilla olives and three jars of destoned olives to my growing collection of differently styled preserved olives. I like how they look on the shelf. They are quite appealing, with their retro green and red waiting to brighten a martini. If they are good, they might even end up in a dirty martini.

Strawberries and the pursuit of happiness

The fabric of the weekend was embroidered with the uncertain thread of the elections in America. This election, marred with so much unhappiness, got me thinking about the second sentence in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

The pursuit of happiness got me thinking. Happiness must surely be relative to each person’s situation. What makes me happy does not necessarily make the person next to me happy, and vice versa. I agree that every person has the right to be happy. Towerwater in a sense, is the prime venue for our pursuit of happiness.

The opportunity to enjoy a place where we can create, and dream, brings the happiness that we have worked towards for many years. To find happiness walking through the garden, catching the fragrance of the freshly opened St Joseph lilies in the orchard, or the ripe strawberries in the vegetable garden, is a blessing.

November at Towerwater is heavy with the fragrance of strawberries. In an organic garden, you compete for these sweet delicacies with a myriad of creatures. Although the thrushes are always busy in the garden, I don’t think that they steal the strawberries.

When I think of strawberry thieves, I always think of William Morris’s classic and popular design of the Arts and Crafts period. In 1883 he successfully used the indigo-discharge method to print his design entitled Strawberry Thief. The design is based on the thrushes that William Morris found stealing strawberries in the kitchen garden of his country home in Oxfordshire. I am sure, that for William Morris, the pursuit of happiness must have been one of creating beautiful things. That is why he said, "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful"

Detail of Strawberry Thief by William Morris

Even though the competition for the strawberries in the garden is very stiff, we still manage to pick abundant bowls of the fruit. Bowls of strawberries, allows me to be creative in their use and enjoyment. 

I use them in cocktails. A refreshing strawberry martini is enough reward for a day spent working in the garden. Having such an abundance of strawberries, provided the perfect opportunity to make some Towerwater strawberry liqueur. In this way, I can spread the happiness that the spring garden brings, deep into summer and perhaps even winter.

Towerwater Strawberry Liqueur

Ingredients:

500g fresh organic strawberries

1ml black pepper

750ml gin

200g (250ml) sugar

200ml dry white wine

Method:

Wash the strawberries, remove the leaves and stems, and cut them in quarters.

Place the strawberries and black pepper in a clean sterilized glass jar which has a lid. Add the gin. Mix the sugar and wine in a heavy based saucepan and stir at a low temperature until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to a boil and boil for seven minutes. Remove the syrup from the heat and let it cool down. Add the cold syrup to the strawberry and gin mixture. Seal the jar and let it stand in a warm spot for two weeks. Shake the jar twice a day.

Pour the mixture through a clean sieve first and then through a double layer of cheese cloth. Pour the liqueur into a clean, sterilized bottle and seal. The liqueur is ready for use after a month.

I place the jar of what is to become strawberry liqueur in two weeks’ time, in the cellar among the jars of seasonal preserves. Marmalades, olives, pickled lemons, quince chutney, green fig preserve, and many other jars filled with the happiness that each season brings. Our pursuit of happiness at Towerwater is grounded in embracing a simple life filled with the creativity of reviving traditional arts and crafts.

More blog posts about strawberries:

Spring on a plate

Extroverted Strawberries

Daiquiris at Dusk

Pickled Nasturtium seeds and a touch of magic

Late spring is a riot of nasturtiums at Towerwater. Most of the nasturtiums are a natural phenomenon in the Towerwater garden. Every year the natural wave of yellow and orange washes through the orchard, under the vines, over the rocks and covers the circular seat beneath the rose garden.

I am aware that each year’s growing wave is getting ever bigger. But the joy of their abundance stops me from pulling out the young seedlings to try and control the profusion. Somewhere in the madness of nasturtiums, grows some magic nasturtiums from the seeds that our friend Jeremy gifted us. “Jeremy’s magic nasturtium seeds”. We appreciate the gift and understand the need to share the pleasure that one gets from these happy blooms. What better way to share than to spread it in a friend’s garden.

The most famous nasturtium pathway or “Grande Allée de Capucines Grimpantes” must be at the garden of Giverny, the home of Monet, in France. I am sure that he got as much pleasure out of the bright blooms as we do. Naturally, the flowers and leaves end up in many Towerwater dishes during the summer. With the flowers adding a touch of colour and sweetness and the leaves a peppery spicy flavour.

Nasturtiums, Claude Monet 1900

Watching the flowers nearing the end of their season in most parts of the garden, I could not help but notice the many seeds that will add to the swelling wave of flowers next year. I can’t do much about it. To try and reduce the increase in next year’s seedlings by picking them, seems an impossible task.

I trust Mother Nature not to overrun the garden with nasturtiums next year. I decided to pick some of the green seeds and pickle them. The pickled green seeds of the nasturtium are known as poor man’s capers. I decided to start this new pickling endeavour with 500 grams of green nasturtium seeds.

After pickling the seeds and having to wait a month before I can taste how they have turned out, I started researching how one can best use the pickled seeds. One can use them in so many ways. If they taste good, I will make more for the Towerwater kitchen in future. 

Pickled Nasturtium seeds

Ingredients:

500ml fresh green nasturtium seeds
250ml grape vinegar
5ml whole black pepper
5ml mustard seeds
5ml pickling spice

Method:

First soak the seeds for two days in a salt water solution comprising 50ml of coarse salt for every 250ml of water. Drain and rinse the seeds thoroughly.

Heat the vinegar mixture until it boils. Add the nasturtium seeds and cook slowly for five minutes. Place the seeds in warm, sterilized jars and cover with the vinegar mixture. Seal the jars immediately. The seeds will be ready for use after a month. The pickle is best stored in a refrigerator.

It is not as if I will be able to use all the seeds and pickle them out of existence in the garden. One never knows how strong the magic in Jeremy’s magic nasturtium seeds is. I might end up with a situation like Jack had with the beanstalk. The sky already seems to be the limit when it comes to dishes that one can use with pickled nasturtium seeds as an ingredient.