Roasted Olives with Citrus and Herbs

MAKES 12 SERVINGS • PREP TIME: 5 minutes • COOK TIME: 30 minutes

I thought I’d experienced olives every which way possible until a dinner party years ago, when I watched as Carolyn Brady, an incredible artist, popped a bunch of olives in the oven and roasted them. It seemed so exotic, and the results were incredible. The brininess was replaced by a sweet flavor heightened by the oven’s heat. In my version, I’ve surrounded the olives with garlic, fennel seeds, rosemary, red pepper flakes, and Meyer lemon. You’re not going to find anything like this at a supermarket olive bar.

2 cups assorted olives, rinsed
1 Meyer lemon, cut into quarters
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed
Meyer lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, slivered
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 sprig fresh rosemary

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Put the olives in an 8-inch square nonreactive baking pan. Squeeze the juice from the lemon quarters over the olives and add the lemon quarters to the pan, along with the lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, fennel seeds, oregano, red pepper flakes, and rosemary. Stir until well combined. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve warm.

COOK'S NOTES: If you don’t have access to Meyer lemons, omit the quartered lemon and replace the Meyer lemon juice with the juice of 1 regular lemon and 1/2 orange.

Reprinted with permission from The Longevity Kitchen: Satisfying Big-Flavor Recipes Featuring the Top 16 Age-Busting Power Foods Copyright © 2013 by Rebecca Katz with Mat Edelson, Ten Speed Press, a division of the Crown Publishing Group, Berkeley, CA.