Sautéed Beef with Olives
Considering what a picky eater I am, many people are surprised to find out that not only do I eat olives, I love them. Probably more than is healthy. In particular, I’m a big fan of pimento-stuffed manzanilla olives (aka, green olives or martini olives.) My usual excuse for eating them is salad, but I’ve been out of lettuce and haven’t made the trip to a good produce market since moving to my new apartment, so last weekend I went looking for other excuses to use them in cooking. I found this Chicken Breast with Olives recipe that I modified a bit, and it came out fairly well. A few days ago, I was surfing around the ‘Net some more and ran across a recipe for Pork Spareribs with rosemary and kalamata olives, which started me thinking (always a dangerous thing.) Eventually, I borrowed bits and pieces from the chicken and pork recipes, added a few pieces of my own, and ended up with a recipe for Sautéed Beef with Olives over pasta.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3-4 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly smashed
- 1/4 onion
- 1.5 lbs. beef, cut into small pieces
- Salt and pepper
- 1 cup water
- 4 teaspoons olive brine
- 16 stuffed pimento olives
Method
- Put oil and butter in a deep skillet or casserole over medium-high heat.
- Add garlic and onion. When they begin to sizzle, add beef.
- Brown meat on both sides, for a total of about 10 minutes, sprinkling lightly with salt and pepper as it cooks.
- Add ½ cup water and allow it to bubble away for a few seconds, then add olives and brine.
- Cover and adjust heat so mixture simmers as gently as possible.
- Cook, stirring meat every 10 minutes or so. Add additional water (hot if possible) as the mixture dries out.
- When beef is tender, after about 30 to 40 minutes of cooking, serve over pasta with olives and sauce