Black Olive & Garlic salsa verde

This incredibly simple and flavoursome salsa verde is one of those things you make once and then keep on making because, not only does it give you that "ahhh" feeling, especially when mixed with any cooked long pasta, the number of smiles you get when people are eating it, seems to be reward itself.

Guiltily its a no cook stir in sauce that would put most manufacturer's out of business, if only people would invest a little time chopping up the ingredients.

What's really good is that whoever you make it for, or for whatever meal of the day you eat it, it always amazes me that something so simple can be so enjoyable to eat.

For 500 grams of cooked pasta, the following quantities should be ample:

• 150 grams of black pitted olives (sliced thinly on the round)
• 3 large fat juicy cloves of garlic, crushed and finally chopped
• 30 mls of good extra virgin oil (the sharp pepper kind that has a slight natural heat to it)
• 20-30 grams of fresh parsley, finely chopped
• a half teaspoon of sea salt, finely ground
• 3 heaped teaspoons of caper berries (optional) and chopped finely

The ingredients get placed in a medium sized bowl, stirred thoroughly and then left in the fridge for a minimum of three hours.  The longer you leave this mixture of marinate, the better it is.

The olives will loose some of their waxiness, the garlic will take on an underlying sweetness which you don't expect and and parsley will offset some of the bitterness of the oil, leaving just the pepper tones to mix well with the capers (if you are using these).

The idea is to just mix this incredible sauce through hot freshly cooked pasta, whether for lunch or as an accompaniment to grilled fish for dinner.  A great supper for one as a topping on toasted soda bread or to use as a stuffing (with breadcrumbs or rice) for peppers or tomatoes.