At La Vialla we have “dusted off” – many years ago – a recipe that used to be prepared in our neck of the woods during the olive harvest: the jars were then ready to be used during the festive season, around Christmas, for a tempting aperitif/appetizer alongside cold cuts, crostini – with “salsa nera”, spicy cherry tomatoes – and chunks of pecorino. An unusual process was used for their “purification” (= to make them lose the water they contain, which makes the fresh fruit bitter); the olives, hanging in small cloth bags, near the fireplace – which was always alight in farmhouses - slowly dried out in about 10 days. When they were “dry” they were seasoned, in the same way still done at the Fattoria today – an unusual delicacy for aperitifs, appetizers and snacks.
Ingredients: Olives, Wine vinegar, Extra virgin olive oil, Salt of Trapani I.G.P., Orange peel, Garlic, Hot chilli pepper.