Parmesan and olives savoury biscuits, great as party food!

The longest night of the year is nearly here!

I have always loved new year’s eve celebrations. In Italy people stay up until the morning to wait for the new year and eat and drink almost non-stop for several hours…of course this is what I will be doing together with both my sisters and respective husbands. There will be lots and lots of food and most of it will be shellfish..my absolute favourite. At the end of the meal we will be having an artisan panettone with amarene (cherries) made in a bakery which is much better than the industrial ones you buy at supermarkets.

If you are having a party and you are looking for savoury finger food, then these parmesan and olives biscuits are great with a glass of Prosecco. If you are short of time and you don’t want to make the pastry you can simply use ready made puff pastry, they will be just as delicious.

This recipe makes about 25 – 30 biscuits.

I wish you all a fabulous 2017 and may all your dreams and wishes for the new year come true!

• Prep Time : 25 minutes
• Cook Time : 20 minutes
• Yield : 30

Ingredients

• For the pastry:
• plain flour – 150 g – 1+ ¼ cup
• butter – 100 g – slightly less than 1/2 cup
• lemon zest – of 1 lemon
• salt – pinch
• grated parmesan cheese – 3 tbsp
• cold water – as needed
• For the olive paste:
• pitted black olives – 100 g – just over 1 cup
• anchovy – 1
• capers – 1 tbsp
• olive oil – 3 tbsp

Instructions

Whiz the olives with the capers, the anchovy and the olive oil and reduce them into a puree.

On your work top mix the flour with the parmesan, salt, the lemon zest and the butter. Start adding a couple of spoonfools of water and mix. Add more water if necessary to make a compact ball.

With a rolling pin roll the pastry about 1/2 cm thick or 0.2 inch and spread a thin layer of olive paste on it.

Roll up tightly then wrap it in cling film and and rest it in the fridge for a couple of hours. This will make it easier to slice later.

After 2 hours slice the roll about 1 cm or 0.4 inch thick. Line the biscuits on a greased baking tray and bake at 180C or 350F for 20 mins.

Let them cool down and enjoy!