In France cake aux olives is a popular savoury loaf to serve with drinks, enjoy as a light meal with salad or take on a picnic. It can be bought from a boulangerie on Fridays for the weekend or can be put together quickly and baked at home. It is a moist and tasty treat. I sometimes include sun-dried tomatoes in the recipe. Try serving it with the Carrot salad (Salade de carottes rapees).
To make a vegetarian version of the loaf, simply leave out the ham and vary the ingredients as you like; see the variation at the end for ideas. You can have fun experimenting with this one.
Photography by Andrew Sikorski.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups (225g) self-raising flour
- pinch sea salt and milled black pepper
- 4 free-range eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup white wine
- a few sprigs thyme or rosemary, leaves picked and chopped (2 tsp)
- 170g gruyere cheese, coarsely grated or diced (7mm)
- 200g green olives or green and black olives, pitted and roughly chopped
- 150g thick slices of smoked ham, diced or shredded
Vegetarian variation Ingredients that can be included in a vegetarian version of the loaf are cheeses such as parmesan or feta, dried fruits like figs, prunes or apricots, roasted zucchini or red pepper and marinated artichoke hearts.Method
Cake aux olives will keep well in the fridge for a couple of days or for longer in the freezer.