Learning to love Olives

As a child Olives were the black things next to the pickles on the dinner table during the holidays, their only use was to wear them on my finger tips and chase my cousins around. My mother always yelled at me if I were caught because she knew I would not eat them, and was wasting food. As a result every time she caught me my only punishment was to try to eat one and if I didn't like it I wasn't to do it again. I believe my mother was hoping I would acquire the taste and no longer waste them, but instead I just stopped playing with them. Olives, I decided, were gross. I did not like the sour briny taste, texture I didn't have a problem with however. ( I also didn't like garlic till I was 13 and pickles until I was 15 or so, I was a little weird)

This summer while at a farmers market a friend bought a pasta from one of the vendors. We stood talking while he ate and while standing I tried to smell what was in his dish, secretly at first, it smelled so good that I asked if I could have a closer look (knowing I couldn't eat it our friend didn't mind my brief inspection) It was full of herbs, sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, and olives. It's smell was heavenly and I really wished I could of tried some. I made a promise to myself  that I would try and replicate the recipe one day soon and went about our lazy Saturday.

Fall is settling in now and while I was shopping at Whole Foods a few weeks ago I saw the row of olives and I reminded myself of the promise I made. I looked at all the choices and settled on a mixture of Mediterranean Olives, and when I got home I put it in the pantry next to my capers that I still hadn't tried. And there they sat, side by side, until last week after our upstairs neighbor and growing friend gave us a jar of his mothers Italian canned mushrooms. That was the final push, I had to make something with them.

I started out with my Capers, Olives, and Mushrooms and tasted and smelled each of them, Salty, Brine-y, and Herb-y. I took stock of what I had in my fridge and began.

I sauteed some garlic and yellow zucchini in oil before I added the chopped canned mushroom and olives. I cooked them long enough to heat them but not over cook them, this also lest the brine become a sauce. I added Gluten Free Spaghetti noodles and topped with more oil, the capers and Parmesan cheese before I tossed it all together.

 If I had Parmesan I would make some after writing this but alas I need to go grocery shopping. This was really good. I was surprised at how much I like it. Mr. Beam loved it and made sure I didn't have any leftovers, the bum.