Think you don't like olives?

Pin It Well, think again!

Both my father and the bf claim to hate olives.  Usually when we go out to dinner with my parents, bowls of marinated olives are left entirely to my mom and me, the salt/vinegar lovers.  But a few years ago, my parents were visiting London and we went to a restaurant called Pied à Terre for lunch.  The food was very good, and the service was pleasant, if a bit obsequious, but what we still talk about to this day were the olives. 

I can't even begin to explain how good these olives were.  But I'll try.  First off, they were massive, nearly the size of a small egg, and rounder than the usual olives.  Green, but a muskier color than the bright cocktail olives you get in martinis.  They were beautiful.  And the flavor... well, suffice it to say, mom and I had to fight bf and dad for them, which was a first!  They were meaty, with a strong flavor but not too vinegary, and salty without being mouth-puckering.  So delicious. 

We'd never had olives like that, any of us, which was surprising as we're all the try-anything, travel-to-eat sort of folk.  But these blew our minds.

So when the bf and I saw something similar (same color, same shape, but smaller) at Borough Market last year, we had to try them.  And lo and behold, they were the meaty, scrumptious olives we'd been talking about!  They're called, simply, 'Italian Green Olives.'  I was so excited, I had to buy a big tub immediately.  And even though they're spendy and a bit of an indulgence, they're worth every penny. 

We were down there again this morning, and bought a big tub of them, along with a bunch of cheeses and fish and other treats, and brought home our loot just as the market started to get crowded.  We put the food away and curled up on the couch with The Daily Show and our tub of olives, and I have to say I couldn't have asked for a better Saturday morning.