Perfect Friday Night at home

Grilled oysters and Pinot Grigio

As you may know, Derek and I are huge fans of the Sons of Anarchy series, which we get on DVD after the season is over.  I prefer watching it that way because we can gorge ourselves on it rather than having to wait a week between episodes.  I’ve been working outrageous hours and what gets me through the week is knowing that on Friday night I can stay up until midnight watching Jax Teller!  I can usually keep my eyes open long enough to get in two episodes.

Derek went to our neighborhood Kroger yesterday evening and got some oysters on the half shell and some beautiful swordfish steaks – wild caught – so much better than farm-raised.  I got home from work around 7:30, took a hot bath, had a nice cold glass of Charles Shaw Sauvignon Blanc (my everyday favorite) and put on my second favorite pair of flannel pajamas.  Derek grilled the oysters with my Drago’s-style recipe ( see the post from 08-29-11 for the recipe) and they were really plump and delicious.  He said they put up a good fight!  I had some black olive tapenade left over from earlier in the week when I used it on grilled pork chops, and we put that on the grilled swordfish, had some grilled ciabatta and some grill-roasted Brussels Sprouts and watched our boys on bikes.  Delightful.

Here’s the recipe for the black olive tapenade; as always the measurements are approximate:

A good handful of various pitted black olives – this time I used some tiny briny Nicoise olives, some oil cured olives and some regular black olives out of a can.  That’s what I had, but you could use any combination of black olives you like, as long as you have some of the more flavorful ones.  Kalamata olives would be a good choice, but I didn’t have any

¼ - ½ C extra virgin olive oil

Zest of one lemon

1 T each, fresh oregano, thyme and parsley, minced

1 anchovy

1 T each fresh lemon juice and red wine vinegar

1 t capers

A pinch of red pepper flakes

Fresh ground black pepper

Grilled Swordfish with Black Olive Tapenade

Throw it all in the food processor until it’s a smooth paste.  It will keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge, and I’m beginning to think it’s going to be a great condiment to have around for almost any kind of grilled, pan sautéed, baked or broiled meat, fish or fowl.  It would be good on pasta or bruschetta, too. The lemon zest and parsley give it a nice fresh flavor, so I tend to use a heavy hand with those two.  You can modify the ingredients to taste, and some sun-dried tomatoes would probably be delicious, as well.