Marinated Apéro Olives

A little spicy and full of flavor from garlic, lemon zest and herbs, these marinated apéro olives are perfect for serving with cocktails, beer and wine.

If you read my post from last Sunday, you saw the inspiration for this recipe in the photo of our shopping when we were in France last month. My husband chose some mixed marinated olives at a local market because when you are in France, you have to have l’apéro, short for l'apéritif - an aperitif, a drink that is meant to spark the appetite - in the evening. 

L'apéro is a daily tradition there and includes getting together for drinks and nibbles with friends and family to unwind at the end of each day, usually taking place between 5-7 p.m. The supermarkets all have generous sections devoted to l’apéro, with cold cuts, sausages, crackers, cheese cubes, olives, pickles and other snacky food. One of my favorite areas of some of the best supermarkets in the world.

Marinated Apéro Olives

I’ve given the amounts of olives I used for this below but you can certainly mix and match more than one type of green and black olives. Use your favorites. My one strong recommendation is to use unpitted olives. They always taste better than already pitted ones. Simply set out a small bowl for the discarded pits when serving.

Ingredients 

1 lb or 450g good quality unpitted green olives 

8 oz or 225g good quality unpitted black olives

2-3 small chili peppers

3 cloves garlic

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

2 sprigs fresh thyme

1 lemon

1 large chili pepper

½ cup or 120ml good quality extra virgin olive oil

Method

Mince the garlic and the small chili peppers and put them in a bowl that will be large enough for all of the olives.

With a sharp knife, pare the zest off of the lemon, taking care to leave the white pith behind as best you can.

Add it to the bowl. Cut the lemon in half. Squeeze the juice from lemon halves into the bowl.

Strip the leaves off of the rosemary and thyme. Chop them roughly.

Slice the large chili pepper and add it to the bowl along with the herbs. Give it all a good stir.

Gently warm the olive oil to about 100°F or 38°C. Pour it in the bowl and leave to infuse and cool for a few minutes. 

Add in the olives and give the whole thing a good stir. 

Leave to marinate for an hour or two unrefrigerated, then store in a glass jar or airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3–4 weeks. I put mine in a container and tossed it around to mix again the next couple of days, when I thought about it. 

Best served at room temperature with drinks of your choice! L'apéro at home! 

Enjoy!

Welcome to the 15th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2026, brought to you by the letter O. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the O recipes below:

• Apple Cider Old Fashioned from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• BBQ Deviled Eggs with Crispy Fried Onions from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Gumbo-laya Stew from A Messy Kitchen 
• Marinated Apéro Olives from Food Lust People Love
• Olive Oil-Cured Chevre-Filled Cigarillos from Culinary Cam
• Onion and Olive Oil Focaccia with Sea Salt from Sizzling Tastebuds
• Onion Swirls from Magical Ingredients
• Orange Blueberry Waffles from Jolene’s Recipe Journal
• Pumpkin Olan from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Rhubarb and Strawberry Baked Oatmeal from Karen’s Kitchen Stories

Here are my posts for the 2026 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Ají de Cerdo aka Peruvian Pork Stew

B: Baby Cos Peach Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing 

C. Traditional Cullen Skink 

D. Coconut Cream Date Caramel 

E. Edamame Summer Salad 

F. Lamb Feta Mint Patties 

G. Ricotta Gnocchi à la Poêle 

H. Hazelnut Vodka 

I. Italian Sausage Stuffed Mini Peppers - this post!

J. Jägersuppe - Hunter's Soup 

K. Easy Chicken Kapama 

L. Easy Lamb Shoulder Roast 

M. Miso Chocolate Cookies 

N. Duck Egg Narjissiya 

O. Marinated Apéro Olives - this post!

Pin these Marinated Apéro Olives!

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Duck Egg Narjissiya

Made with fava beans, asparagus, fresh broad beans and halloumi cheese, this Duck Egg Najissiya is my delicious adaptation of an ancient Arabic recipe. It's great for brunch or even dinner.

To quote TasteCooking, whence came my introduction to this recipe, “Narjissiyeh literally means “like narcissus” and refers to a class of dishes made with sunny-side up eggs and fava (broad) beans described in the tenth-century cookbook Kitab al-Tabikh. It is believed the name was given to the dish because of its vibrant green, white, and yellow colors, just like the narcissus (daffodil) flower.” 

Kitab al-Tabikh or Kitab al-Ṭabīḫ (Arabic: كتاب الطبيخ, The Book of Dishes) is the name given to three medieval Arabic language cookbooks. The oldest one, written in the 10th century, is credited to Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq, an Iraqi author from Baghdad. According to Wikipedia, “This is the earliest known Arabic cookbook. It contains over 600 recipes, divided into 132 chapters.” There are several translations available.

In case you were wondering, like I was, the very earliest written recipes we are aware of can be found in the Yale Babylonian Collection. Previously thought to contain pharmaceutical formulas, they were decoded by French Assyriologist and gourmet chef Jean Bottero. The three Akkadian tablets, dating to about 1700 BC, revealed, Bottero wrote in a description of his find, “a cuisine of striking richness, refinement, sophistication and artistry, which is surprising from such an early period. Previously we would not have dared to think a cuisine 4,000 years old was so advanced.” Source: The LA Times archive, 1985.

Now that we’ve had our little history lesson, let me tell you that we loved this dish! Some versions have ground meat but I chose to go vegetarian and upped the number of vegetables. If you've never eaten halloumi, it's salty and so good, especially when fried till golden! 

Duck Egg Narjissiya 

I happened to have duck eggs on hand but you can, of course, make this with regular hen’s eggs. Use whatever combination of green spring vegetables you love. Fava beans are traditional but asparagus, green beans, garden peas, young broad beans or even baby spinach will work. This recipe is adapted from one in New York Times Cooking.  It serves two generously for brunch or dinner!

Ingredients

1 cup or 150g fresh or frozen fava beans (I used frozen)

~1 tablespoon olive oil

5 1/3 oz or 150g halloumi

3 oz or 85g fresh asparagus, trimmed

4-5 young broad beans (~ 25g)

3 cloves garlic

2 duck eggs 

Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Toasted bread, for serving

Method

Drop your fava beans in boiling water and then simmer them for 3-4 minutes. Refresh them in cold water. Pinch the skins off and discard, revealing the lovely green color inside.

Trim the young broad beans and cut them into diagonal pieces. 

Cut the asparagus into diagonal pieces and finely slice the garlic then chop it a little. 

In nonstick frying pan, heat a good drizzle of olive oil over medium flame. Add the slices of halloumi in a single layer. Do not move them around or flip them over until the side down has browned, about 2 minutes. 

Turn them over and cook for another minute until the other side is browned. Transfer to a small plate and set aside.

To the same pan, drizzle in the rest of the olive oil, again over a medium flame. Add the asparagus and young broad beans. Cook, tossing around, just until bright green and glossy, about 2 minutes. 

Sprinkle with fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. 

Add fava beans and garlic and continue to cook for another minute or so stirring often. 

Crack the eggs one at a time into a small bowl, then add them to the green vegetables in the pan.

With the tip of the spoon, spread the whites around slightly to ensure they cook evenly. 

Return the browned halloumi slices to the pan, dispersing it evenly over the whites and greens.

Cook until the egg yolks are at your desired level of doneness. We like ours really runny! 

Remove from the heat and serve hot with toast for dipping.

Enjoy!

Welcome to the 14th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2026, brought to you by the letter N. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the N recipes below:

• Beef Stew with Noodles from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Chicken Caprese Noodle Salad from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Duck Egg Narjissiya from Food Lust People Love 
• Grilled Nashville Hot Chicken Tenders from Blogghetti
• Millet Noodle Chowmein from Sizzling Tastebuds
• Naturally Fermented Appam Using Homemade Toddy from Sneha’s Recipe
• Navratan Korma from Mayuri’s Jikoni 
• Nectarine Caprese Salad from Jolene’s Recipe Journal 
• Nutella Oatmeal Cookies from A Messy Kitchen 
• Nutella Rolls from Magical Ingredients 
• Smoky Southwestern Seasoning (No-Salt)  from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice

Here are my posts for the 2026 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Ají de Cerdo aka Peruvian Pork Stew

B: Baby Cos Peach Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing 

C. Traditional Cullen Skink 

D. Coconut Cream Date Caramel 

E. Edamame Summer Salad 

F. Lamb Feta Mint Patties 

G. Ricotta Gnocchi à la Poêle 

H. Hazelnut Vodka 

I. Italian Sausage Stuffed Mini Peppers - this post!

J. Jägersuppe - Hunter's Soup 

K. Easy Chicken Kapama 

L. Easy Lamb Shoulder Roast 

M. Miso Chocolate Cookies 

N. Duck Egg Narjissiya - this post!

To check out the Alphabet Challenges for 2024 and 2025, click here.

Pin this Duck Egg Narjissiya!

.

Miso Chocolate Cookies

These small batch miso chocolate cookies are sweet and chocolaty, with a hint of welcome saltiness from the savory miso paste. We could not stop eating them!

Sharing this recipe makes me nostalgic for my favorite food magazine, delicious. which ceased publishing last Autumn, much to the sadness of all of its fans. I had been a reader since discovering the Australian edition back around 2002 when I moved to Kuala Lumpur. Its UK sister magazine started publication at the end of 2003, boasting a Christmas roast turkey crown from Jamie Oliver on the cover. 

If you’ve been reading along here for a while, you know how I feel about Jamie. How could I not by that magazine?! And I was hooked from there on out. 

This recipe is adapted from one in a more recent issue, March 2024. It was created by the very talented Pollyanna Coupland. She named these pan-bang cookies and you’ll soon see why from the method.

Miso Chocolate Cookies

I used semi-sweet chocolate for these cookies because that’s what we love but the original called for milk chocolate so you can choose. I always have both white and black sesame seeds on hand so I used half and half. The original didn’t specify but the photos look like all white so use what you’ve got!

Ingredients for 10-12 cookies

1 cup or 230g butter, softened

1 ¾ cups or 350g light brown sugar

1 egg

2 ¼ cups or 280g flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

¾ teaspoon fine sea salt

1 ½ teaspoons white miso paste

3 ½ oz or 100g semi-sweet chocolate

4 tablespoons sesame seeds

Method

Measure out your miso paste, sesame seeds and chop the dark chocolate into bits with a sharp knife. 

With electric beaters or in your stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. 

Beat in the egg.

Sift in the flour, baking soda and salt and mix again.

Mix in the miso and half the sesame seeds.

Mix in the chopped chocolate. 

Heat the oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare two cookie sheets by lining them with baking parchment or silicone liners.

Spoon the dough out onto a large piece of cling film. 

Using the cling film, roll it into a thick log. If you don’t want to bake all the cookies today, the balance of the log can be rewrapped and frozen for up to a few weeks, until you do. 

Slice the log into 10-12 discs.

Put three of them on one of your lined cookie sheets, leaving plenty of room around each one. Sprinkle some of the remaining sesame seeds over the top of the discs, then chill the cookie sheet in the freezer for 15 minutes. 

Remove from the freezer and put the cookie sheet straight into the preheated oven for 8 minutes. 

Prepare the second sheet of cookie dough discs and put them in the freezer.

 

After 8 minutes in the oven, the discs should have spread outwards and puffed up a little. 

Remove the tray and bang it down sharply on the counter, which will cause the dough to spread outwards even more. Mine didn’t get all crinkly like Pollyanna’s but they did spread out. 

Put the baking pan back in the oven for 3 minutes, then remove and bang it again. 

Return for a final 3 minutes, then remove and let the cookies cool on a wire rack while you bake the rest of them in batches. 

Serve with some cold milk and enjoy! 

Welcome to the 13th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2026, brought to you by the letter M. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the M recipes below:

• Grilled BBQ Meatball Skewers from Jolene’s Recipe Journal
• Mambazha Pulissery from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Mastica Ice Cream from A Messy Kitchen
• Melon and Prosciutto Salad from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Methi Chole from Sizzling Tastebuds
• Mexican Green Chile Pimento Cheese Dip from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Mini Turkey Meat Loaves from Blogghetti
• Miso Chocolate Cookies from Food Lust People Love
• Mix Flour Shankarpali/Shankarpara from Sneha’s Recipe
• Sweetened Condensed Milk Cookies from Karen’s Kitchen Stories

Here are my posts for the 2026 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Ají de Cerdo aka Peruvian Pork Stew

B: Baby Cos Peach Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing 

C. Traditional Cullen Skink 

D. Coconut Cream Date Caramel 

E. Edamame Summer Salad 

F. Lamb Feta Mint Patties 

G. Ricotta Gnocchi à la Poêle 

H. Hazelnut Vodka 

I. Italian Sausage Stuffed Mini Peppers - this post!

J. Jägersuppe - Hunter's Soup 

K. Easy Chicken Kapama 

L. Easy Lamb Shoulder Roast 

M. Miso Chocolate Cookies - this post!

To check out the Alphabet Challenges for 2024 and 2025, click here.

Pin these Miso Chocolate Cookies!

.

Easy Lamb Shoulder Roast

Tender and flavorful, this easy lamb shoulder roast melts in your mouth! It’s simple to prepare and, after a fast start, cooks long and slow in the oven. Time making this dish is mostly hands-off. 

If you’ve been reading here a while, you know how much I adore Jamie Oliver. Since his young, baby-face days as the Naked Chef, I’ve watched his career expand as he grew up. Now with a family of his own, he has one of his son’s looking to follow in his footsteps, as he did with his own dad who ran the family pub kitchen.

While occasionally he does a fancy cheffy thing, a nod to his culinary training, most of his recipes are deliciously down-to-earth, like this one. 

Easy Lamb Shoulder Roast

If you can’t find new potatoes or young carrots, substitute regular ones, peeled and cut into chunks. This recipe is adapted from one of Jamie Oliver’s in his book, Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to the Good Life, published in 2006. I’ve been making some version of it ever since.

Ingredients

1 (2.2 lb or 1 kg) half shoulder of lamb

Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

3-4 sprigs fresh rosemary

1 head garlic, peeled and large cloves halved

1 yellow onion, peeled and cut in thick slices

Olive oil

1 lb or 450g new potatoes

12 oz or 340g young carrots

Method

Preheat your oven as high as it goes, 450-500°F or 232-260°C.

Score the fat side of the lamb with a sharp knife. 

Rub it all over with a generous amount of fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. 

Wrap it in cling film and set aside while you prep the garlic and onion according to the ingredient list.

Drizzle a little olive oil in the bottom of your Dutch oven and arrange the onion slices to cover the area where the lamb will rest. Put half of the garlic on top, along with half of the leaves from your rosemary, stripped from the sprigs. 

Unwrap the lamb and lay it fat side up on the onion, garlic and rosemary. Drizzle the top of the lamb with more olive oil. Add on the balance of the garlic and stripped rosemary leaves with another little drizzle of oil.

Put the cover on the Dutch oven (or a tightly fitting piece of thick foil) and put it in the oven. Immediately turn the oven temperature down to 325°F or 163°C. 

Roast for three hours. Meanwhile, scrub the new potatoes and young carrots and toss them with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Set them aside, ready to go in. 

When the three hours are up, remove the Dutch oven from the oven and take the lid off carefully, so you don’t burn yourself.

Add in the potatoes and carrots and turn them in the pan juices. Put the lid back on and roast for a further 30 minutes. 

Remove from the oven and check to see if the meat is falling off the bones yet. It should be! 

If you’d like a little more color on your lamb, baste it with the pan juices and pop it back in the oven without the lid for another 15-20 minutes or until it is colored to your satisfaction. 

Remove the lamb to a serving platter with the potatoes and carrots. 

Pan juices, along with the onion, garlic and rosemary, can be made into gravy with the addition of a little flour and stock or they can be served as is on the side. 

Enjoy!

Welcome to the 12th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2026, brought to you by the letter L. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the L recipes below:

• Deviled Eggs with Lemon Caper Remoulade from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Easy Lamb Shoulder Roast from Food Lust People Love
• Greek Pork Chops from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Instant Pot Spicy Moroccan Lamb and Lentil Stew from A Messy Kitchen
• Lasooni Palak from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Lemon Lavender Scones from Blogghetti
• Lentil, Sweet Pepper, Spinach, and Linguica from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Low Carb 2 Ingredient Oat Bread from Sneha’s Recipe
• No Bake Lemon Lush Dessert from Jolene’s Recipe Journal

Here are my posts for the 2026 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Ají de Cerdo aka Peruvian Pork Stew

B: Baby Cos Peach Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing 

C. Traditional Cullen Skink 

D. Coconut Cream Date Caramel 

E. Edamame Summer Salad 

F. Lamb Feta Mint Patties 

G. Ricotta Gnocchi à la Poêle 

H. Hazelnut Vodka 

I. Italian Sausage Stuffed Mini Peppers - this post!

J. Jägersuppe - Hunter's Soup 

K. Easy Chicken Kapama 

L. Easy Lamb Shoulder Roast - this post!

To check out the Alphabet Challenges for 2024 and 2025, click here.

Pin this Easy Lamb Shoulder Roast!

.