Fresh Connections – The Parfitt Way Blog

As my family can tell you, an “empty” fridge or larder isn’t the end of the world for our family meal… it’s just another flavor challenge in the waiting – one that I like to take on more than running to the market some days. Today’s dinner was an easy task as we had a couple of my new favorite products hiding in the fridge. While on the Farmboat the other day, I had the opportunity to pick up a sample of  McSweet’s Gourmet Olive Bliss consisting of five unique French olives (green, black, tournante, Nicoise, and Picholine) dressed in a fresh herbal oil marinade. Far from sweet, the marinade rather startles the taste buds with flavor. And, true to their advertising, the oils and herbs make a fabulous salad dressing like sauce. After pitting and chopping the olives, I added some leftover chopped, bottled, roasted peppers, chopped fresh onion, a couple of chopped anchovies, salt & pepper, and a bit more olive oil. I mixed these ingredients well and let them sit while I defrosted several cups of my other new favorite ingredient, Garden Green Garbanzos (seasonally available at Costco). Yup, you guessed it… these defrosted green gems added to my ‘refrigerator bottled leftovers’, and presto — a green muffaletta olive relish, with a northwest twist. Now my favorite thing to do with olive relish is put it on a baked potato with a bit of sour cream. You may find many other uses for the relish or as a salad by itself over fresh greens. You’ll yum it!

The West Sound Small Farms Expo takes place on Saturday, March 5, 2011 at the Olympic College Campus, Bremerton, WA. Cost for the Expo is $55 ($25 youth) and includes lunch. Check-in begins at 8:00am and workshops run until 4:00pm. Online registration and workshop information is available on the WSU Kitsap Extension website at http://kitsap.wsu.edu/. Sponsor and vendor information is also available. This is the first of its kind in Kitsap! Please attend.