How to Make Spiced Olives for Perfect Martinis

If you like martinis or appreciate items on your appetizer tray with a little zip to them, you're going to thank me big time for this. These special spiced olives are inspired by a poem by New England poet, Hayden Carruth. He mentioned the ingredients for these tasty little morsels in a poem and it sounded like such a good combination I set about creating the recipe that would make it work.

First you need a shopping trip to your favorite Italian deli. If you don't have one nearby, Whole Foods or Trader Joe's may fill the bill. What you're looking for are colossal Sicilian olives with the pits. They're large and black and believe me, they work better than any alternatives you might consider. When you buy them you don't want them in any kind of brine or olive oil. Those additives only mess with the perfect taste you'll be creating with this recipe. Get about a pint of olives for your first batch. If you go through them quickly, you can always make a larger batch next time.

The other ingredients are ordinary red wine vinegar, fresh garlic, two jalapeno chiles, a pinch each of thyme and dill. The vinegar needn't be expensive. Anything on your grocer's shelf will fill the bill. Be sure to use fresh garlic and fresh jalapenos.

Now put the olives in a glass container and pour in the vinegar until it covers them. Chop two garlic cloves and add them. Slice the two jalapenos and add them. Add the pinch of thyme and pinch of dill. Close the container, shake it a little to mix things up and place in the refrigerator. In a couple of days, the olives will be ready. If you can't wait, they start tasting pretty good after only a day. After three days the flavors will be wonderfully infused. These babies keep so don't worry about their shelf life as long as they're refrigerated. We've kept them for months and they still taste great.

When you plan to use these spicy olives in martinis add a very little of the brine (maybe an 1/8 of a teaspoon) to the martini ingredients before shaking or stirring. This is what makes a 'dirty' martini, and they're the best kind. Then put an olive or two in each drink and believe me, your taste buds will thank you. Spicy olives also great as part of an appetizer tray especially when served with a good sharp cheddar and sesame crackers. Enjoy.

Hayden Carruth, "The Curtain" in Scrambled Eggs and Whiskey, Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press, 1996, p. 72