Learning to love olives.
The golden days of autumn bear oval bounties at Witt. Virginia Winder meets a chef and students harnessing the harvest from the learning institution’s own garden.
Tucked away in a corner of Witt’s New Plymouth campus is a garden producing autumn treasures – olives, figs and feijoas.
There are more offerings, but it’s the Mediterranean fruit that’s captured the imagination of chef tutor Alex Dickie and four Level 3 cookery students.
The tall olive tree, slightly unruly and laden with small green orbs, some turning purple, speaks of platters, pickled olives, Frenchstyle pizza and tapenade.
‘‘I found it last year. I went down for feijoas and noticed there was an olive tree here,’’ Dickie says.
‘‘Sometimes I get a rake and pull them off.’’
Flanked by four students, he picks up a ripening olive. ‘‘That’s what you are after – you want it turning purple.’’
Dickie, who has worked in Europe, says it took him two years into his first chef’s job to like olives.
Now he’s hooked. ‘‘I just love that salty hit.’’
In Aotearoa, the home-grown olives he’s tried have all had a fresh flavour.
‘‘Same with the New Zealand olive oils – they have a grassy taste,’’ he says, watching as the students prepare the In Season offering.
All four are studying at Witt under the fees-free Youth Guarantee programme.
Dickie says the programme – and indeed Witt’s whole hospitality department – is helping to fill a much-needed employment gap. ‘‘There’s a huge shortage of chefs nationwide. They are being paid a lot more money these days and there are incentives. They just can’t fill positions.’’
While making a French-style onion pizza called a pissaladie` re, the teenagers chat about what they’re doing, their love of cooking and their dreams.
Zane Jupp, 16, from Stratford, says his grandmother, ‘‘a great chef’’, inspired him to make food. ‘‘I’ve always had an interest in cooking.’’
He plans to continue his cookery studies right through to Level 5, work in New Zealand and eventually head overseas to work as a chef.
Shaun Billing, 19, armed with a sharp knife, is cutting the edges off the pastry base for the pissaladie` re. ‘‘I’m cleaning up the sides to make it look nice and tidy and we’ll put the caramelised onion on top and egg wash.’’
The New Plymouth teen’s passion for cooking comes from his mum, Sue, who is also a horticulturist. ‘‘She’s taught me a lot about plants and trees.’’
He too plans to get his Level 5 diploma in cookery and gain work as a chef. But his big dreams involve words, action and cameras.
‘‘I want to be a food writer and be on YouTube and TV, or wherever I can, to show people how to cook.’’
Brayden Herbert, 17, from New Plymouth, is another whose mum inspired him to get creative in the kitchen. ‘‘I always cook with her.’’
He wants to gain further qualifications, become a chef and get a good job. ‘‘I was thinking of becoming a chef in the army.’’
Inglewood’s Rowan Daley, 16, has always loved cooking and decided to pursue this passion. ‘‘I’m hoping to push right through to Level 5,’’ he says heating caramelised onions so he can strain off the butter.
His aspirations are all at sea. ‘‘I want to work on cruise ships – give me an excuse for travel.’’
While we’ve been chatting, the French-style pizza has been made, an enticing platter laid out on a board, a variety of olives placed in bamboo cones for tasting, and the brine prepared ready to preserve fresh olives from the Witt tree.
In Impressions Restaurant, it’s tasting time.
The olives, offered in a wide variety, come from Vetro and some supermarkets, Dickie says.
He points out green Sicilian olives ideal for a pasta dish, spicy green ones with a bit of chilli, black salty ones from France, mixed Greek olives, including stuffed ones, and many more.
‘‘I spent four months in Greece and you see the olive fields everywhere. They are so fresh and cheap and you see these big barrels and you buy what you want.’’
To him, the most flavoursome olives are those with the stones still in them.
The olive is an acquired taste, which he believes is worth pursuing. People keen to convert themselves can do so gradually by adding small amounts to different dishes, including pizza and pasta. ‘‘Instead of picking them out, try them.’’
In three months, students and tutors will be able to try the Wittgrown olives, which have been preserved in salty brine, using the egg test to check for salinity.
There are olives on the pissaladie` re, along with anchovies and caramelised onion. This easyto-make dish is perfect for lunch any time of the year.
The tasting platter is a picture of goodness, including pickled white anchovies, fresh figs, hummus, prosciutto, fig jam, tomato olive tapenade and a French baguette. The figs are warmed, but not cooked, in a pan with olive oil and pomegranate molasses and topped with chopped pistachio.
Dickie says the platter reflects the season.
‘‘I like the autumn colours of this, not bright and summery; it kind of reflects the change of season. A bit like the leaves changing to yellow, brown and grey.’’
And it all began in the Witt
garden, where autumn is generous with its bounty. Autumn platter
50g pancetta
50g tomato olive tapenade
1 baguette, good-quality French style
2 figs, warmed and tossed in pomegranate molasses
20g white anchovies (Vetro) or substitute with smoked salmon
100g hummus shop, bought or home-made
Variety of olives
50ml extra virgin olive oil
25ml balsamic vinegar
50g Kalamata olives (warmed)
50g green olives of your choice (warmed)
Slice figs into wedges and toss in a warm pan with pomegranate molasses. You could substitute the molasses with balsamic vinegar and a bit of sugar. Add a pinch of salt and leave to cool.
Make the tomato olive tapenade and put in small ramekin.
Warm olives in a pan with about 25ml of extra virgin olive oil and then place in a small ramekin.
Place pancetta on a platter with figs on top. Drizzle more molasses over this.
Place hummus on to the platter and drizzle with a touch of olive oil.
Slice baguette and add to platter.
Place white anchovies or salmon in small dish and add to platter.
Finally, pour balsamic and olive oil into a ramekin and serve. How to Brine Olives
1/4 cup salt
4 cups water
1 fresh egg
3 cups of raw olives
1/2 cup of white vinegar – white wine, cider or similar
Wash the olives and get rid of any sticks or leaves and dirt.
Take a small paring knife and make a slit on the side of every olive. You can crush them with a stone but this is the best way.
Place olives in a jar or bowl and cover with water, making sure you change the water every day for one week.
Now you’re ready to make the brine, by mixing the salt, water and vinegar together in a saucepan.
Place on to a medium heat to dissolve the salt. You can increase the salt and decrease the vinegar if you prefer a saltier olive. Once cool, add a whole raw egg (in its shell). It also needs to be fresh, to act as your salt gauge. If it floats, you have enough salt and, if not, you will need to add more. Allow the brine to cool. Prepare your preserving jars by pouring boiling water over them. Just like with any preserving, you need a sterile environment otherwise bacteria will destroy what you are bottling. Your jar lids will also need to be sterile and have no holes. Make sure you air dry well or use a paper towel.
Now place the olives in the jars
and pour over your brine. Pack jars about three-quarters full of olives, then place muslin cloth over the top to keep them submerged.
These will now go into your pantry and be ready in about two months. Happy brining and dining. Pissaladiere (French Pizza)
4 sheets (25 x 25 cm) frozen ready-to-roll puff pastry (thawed but still cold)
1kg brown onions (Asian sliced, halved then thinly sliced)
50ml olive oil
1 egg whisked (for egg washing pastry)
30 anchovies white or brown
100g pitted Kalamata olives (halved)
20g thyme sprigs
1 tsp salt
Heat the onions in a thick-based pan or pot on a medium-to-low heat with the oil and salt, stirring until they become soft. This should take about 30 minutes.
Set aside onions to cool. Heat oven to 210 degrees Celsius and line two baking trays with grease-proof paper. If using a tray with edges, make an incision on the corners.
Place a pastry sheet on each lined tray. Brush with egg wash and place another sheet on top.
Using a sharp knife, make an incision 1cm around the outside of the pastry sheet, so it resembles a picture frame.
But make sure you only cut through the top sheet.
Take the cooled onion mixture and divide it in two. Spread it out in an even layer to the border of each sheet.
On top of the onions, arrange anchovies in a lattice shape and dot with the olive halves.
Take the stalk off the thyme leaves and chop, lightly sprinkle over the tart and brush the outside of the tart with egg wash.
Bake in heated oven for about 20 minutes or until the puff pastry is puffed and golden.
Cut and serve cold or hot. Tomato Olive Tapenade
90g sundried tomatoes, drained and roughly chopped
30g salted capers (can use capers in brine)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp seeded mustard
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tsp chopped anchovies (optional)
1 tsp chopped coriander
1 tsp chiffonade of basil
1 tsp lemon juice
100ml extra virgin olive oil
50g green Greek olives pitted (or any pitted olives of your choice)
Put all the ingredients in a food processor.
Using the on-off pulse button, process to a coarse puree, but not until smooth.
Season to taste and then you may serve at room temperature.