Olive Happy Hour Recipe Ideas

This post is sponsored by Olives from Spain through Momtrends. All thoughts, opinions, recipes and rambling meanderings are mine. I’m a sucker for a good jar of olives, so I’m going to wander a lot!

Olive happy hour. And olives. So for me, nothing much better than some beverages, scintillating conversation and snacks filled with one of my favorite foods. The green ones are perfect for popping into a crisply cold martini–preferably stuffed with something good–and the black pair so well with savory food concoctions. There is a different olive for every occasion, salty, sour or sweet.

I always have to resist the urge to pop the black olives onto the ends of my fingers and eat them off like I was five. But since I really only do that in the privacy of my own kitchen any more, with a little help from the good people at Olives of Spain, I came up with a few really good excuses to eat olives properly with a few olive happy hour recipe ideas.

Start Sipping

Fruity martinis are great, but nothing beats a classic martini. My favorite preparation is as follows…

Fill your martini glass with ice and let sit while you prepare the rest of your drink. In a shaker, also filled with ice, pour two ounces good quality vodka. Shake it up.Try not to burst into song while you do so. I dare ya.

Pour the ice out of your waiting martini glass. Put a splash of vermouth in the glass, swirl it around and pour out. Now you’re ready for the drink! Pour in the chilled vodka and serve.

But really, a classic martini is not a classic martini without a few olives. The Olives from Spain were especially yummy for garnishes. Admittedly, more probably made it into my mouth than in my drink (they were SO GOOD!) while I was doing quality control. Some combinations to stuff your olives with to garnish your martinis, or if I’m being truthful, just to snack on…

• Garlic. Use skinny cloves, or slice cloves to a size that will fit in the middle of your olive. Couldn’t make enough of these to please my taste-testers.
• Blue cheese. Nuff said.
• Gorgonzola. You’d be crazy not to love this.
• Almonds. Olives with a little crunch.
• Almonds and blue cheese. This was really a crowd favorite!
• Raisins and capers. Salty and sweet; it sounds odd, but fabulously delish.

I always ask for extra olives in my martinis, so be generous to yourself and your guests when you’re making up skewers!

Fun fact: Did you know most of the olives consumed in the U.S. come from Spain? Yup. And every one of those morsels is hand picked to make sure they stay all perfect-like.

Marinated Cheese with Olives

Having a frosty beverage calls for some delish little noshes as well, and Olives from Spain were the perfect compliment to this favorites. Serve along side some crackers, or rice chips if your crowd is gluten-free.

Ingredients:

• 16 oz Cheddar Cheese
• 8oz cream cheese
• Italian Dressing seasoning pack
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup chopped Olives from Spain

To make:

Place cream cheese in the freezer for 1 hour prior to preparation. This will make it far easier to slice! Cut the cheddar cheese in half lengthwise and then into 1/4 inch slices. Take the cream cheese out of the freezer and cut it in half and then into 1/4 inch slices.

In a small dish, place the cheddar and cream cheese in an alternating pattern until it is all used.

Combine the Italian dressing package, oil and vinegar in a small bowl and pour over the cheese. Cover the cheese marinate and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour, up to overnight.

Plate the cheese on a clean platter and top with the chopped olives.

Crackers are perfect little cheese and olive transporters!

Be sure to add a few whole olives for garnish when you’re serving!

Cucumber Cups with Black Olives and Smoked Salmon

My husband and I recently went to a class on cooking with food you grow in your garden…cucumbers, onions and dill being the main ones in this app. I have always been intimidated by the cucumber cups, as I thought they were too hard to make. Really, it takes about 2 seconds and is super simple. In the end–really worth the effort! This recipe will make about 14 individual appetizer cups.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup chopped green onions
• 3 tablespoons Greek yogurt
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons drained capers
• 2 tablespoons sliced olives
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh dill
• 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1 4-oz package cold smoked salmon, chopped
• 1-2 English cucumbers

To make:

Combine green onions, yogurt, mayonnaise, capers and olives. Once thoroughly combined, add the dill, white pepper and salmon and stir.

For the cucumber cups, peel the cumbers so they appear to be striped along the length of the cuke. Cut into 3/4 to 1-inch slices. Use a spoon or a melon baller to scoop out an indentation in the cucumber to form a shallow cup.

Spoon 2 teaspoons (or one rounded teaspoon) onto each cucumber. Top with fresh dill and an olive.

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