Fried Olives + An Instant Party

Remo the pits from some good-quality olives, such as castelveltrano. Stuff each olive with a small piece of asiago cheese. Toss in some flour to lightly coat.

Heat about 2 inches of oil in a deep pot. When the oil is heated, fry the oil in batches for about 45 seconds or until batter has crisped and turned golden. Remove from oil and cool on paper towels.

Next up is a crostini bar with two types of tapenade and some seasoned artichoke hearts. These are all super simple to make, and taste much more complex than they are. The first is artichoke and green olive tapenade. Basically just throw some artichoke hearts and some garlic-stuffed olives in the food processor along with some parsley and a few olives. Pulse a few times to chop it all up, then drizzle in some olive oil and process until it comes together. I have to say that I wasn't a huge fan of the garlic olives on their own - they were just too strong! - but mixed up in the tapenade, they were fabulous.

These tapenades were both amazing. We couldn't decide which we liked better!

I also need to take a minute to gush about these blue cheese stuffed olives. I. LOVE. THESE! And I'm super bummed because they won't be available on the East Coast until next summer (hint, hint West Coast friends... send me some more!). The first time I had blue cheese stuffed olives was a few years ago in a martini at the Cheesecake Factory. I've always wanted to have them at home, but have never been able to find good ones. I was getting really tired of spending money on jars that were too salty, or had nasty cheese that was too hard, not blue enough, or just tasted downright funky. But these are pretty much perfection. The olives taste fresh and not too briney, and the cheese is soft and sharp like blue cheese should be. I can't recommend them highly enough.