Last night was a superlative meal by any standards: her olive Tapinade followed by Gnocchi sauced with a tomato sauce.
Our meal was light beginning with toast spread with her own olive Tapinade made with our own two olive trees planted roughly 35 years ago. We have tried numerous methods of making black or ripe olives but have as of yet found no suitable method. Our types are called Verdal and they produce a meaty, crisp fruit that is very suitable for Diane’s Tapinade. I used to do it but for obvious reasons Di has had to pick up this fairly arduous chore of gathering and pickling them. The pickling recipe we found at the same garden shop where we got the trees all those years ago and people that have eaten them attest to their goodness. It is a Spanish recipe containing among other items: garlic, paprika, cumin, anchovies to flavour the olive paste.
The main course was also the Chef’s delight or a delightful Chef (sorry that’s kinda dumb-oh well) It was store Gnocchi in a Tomato Sauce. The store gnocchi was very good; the sauce was just canned diced tomatoes with a few of the usual suspects for flavouring.
Our beverage was boxed wine from D’Bortollo; a wine that got its legs here in Western Australia’s Swan Valley: Verdelho.
Tim's Tucker 