Green Olive & Lemon Pasta
Olives get a bad rep in my opinion. Even my 6 year old daughter will sit and eat a bowl of black ones. I adore Nocellara olives after trying them years ago at Jamie Oliver’s restaurant. If you love olives, this is a delicious recipe that even my Husband ate (a firm olive hater). It’s topped with a lemony, garlic and chilli breadcrumb. Reminiscent of my leek carbonara. You can use linguine or spaghetti, I just like that way linguine holds sauce.
I’ve added cavolo nero to it too, it’s just so delicious at this time of year and anything for a few more vegetables. Remove the stalks and chop it fine, as it’s only cooked with residual heat in this recipe. There’s hardly any salt added, as the olives hold onto so much. But be sure to salt your pasta water heavily, as it’s a rule. Make the crumb ahead of time if you want, it’ll store in an airtight container in the fridge. Completely up to you. I hope you like it and high five to all the fellow olive lovers.
Green Olive & Lemon Pasta
Serves: 2
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Total time: 30 mins
* Make it gluten-free by switching out the pasta and breadcrumbs for GF versions
* Make it vegan by using vegan cheese and butter
Ingredients
200g linguine pasta
100g green olives, de-stoned and finely chopped
Zest of 1 lemon, juice of half
3 garlic cloves
1 tsp chilli flakes
Salt for pasta water + small pinch
Small pinch of sugar
1 tbsp butter (split into two half tbsp)
35g panko breadcrumbs
Handful fresh parsley
30ml extra virgin olive oil
15g fresh parmesan, grated
Directions
Pop on a pan of water to boil. Finely chop olives, cavolo nero, mince garlic, grate parmesan and zest lemon.
Make your breadcrumbs with half tbsp butter, zest of a lemon, 1 tsp chilli flakes, half of your chopped parsley and three minced garlic cloves. Add everything to a small frying pan and cook until golden brown. Set aside.
Salt pasta water generously and add a small drizzle of olive oil to the water. Once boiling, add linguine, cook for 15 mins or until your liking.
Drain, stir in chopped olives, cavolo nero, the rest of your parsley, the juice of half a lemon, pinch of salt, pinch of sugar and your olive oil. Mix until the kale has softened slightly. Serve and top with cheese and breadcrumbs.