OLIVE PATE

And, because of its purely Mediterranean vegetarian origins there is no way you might confuse it with dog food which certainly goes with some of the liver pâté for example!

(sometimes I hate the web - it won't allow me to spell pâté properly with the little do-dahs on the a and the e in the headline - Googs gives me the two's up! Apologies to the purists!)

INGREDIENTS

1. A cup of pitted black olives

2. A quarter of a clove of raw garlic (and better still drop two or three cloves of garlic into a drop of water and bring to the boil for half a minute - it takes out the bite of raw garlic, but of course you lose some of the nutrient value of raw food)

3. Two tablespoons of olive oil.

4. A couple slices of peeled lemon, pith and all.

5. Optional: A teaspoon of cream or feta cheese.

6. Optional: Tapenade. Simply add in a couple of teaspoons of capers and perhaps a half a teaspoon of anchovy paste.

Simply throw together and use this blender. The conventional one is too messy and the ingredients will hardly reach the blades.

Rinse the olives (and capers) before chopping. Normally I don't keep pitted olives. They're not half so nice as whole olives, but for olive dip I cheat. Or, if I'm feeling virtuous or the huge 6 lb can we buy (less than $10) needs finishing then I do it proper: pit the olives. And suck the pits dry! If you cut the olive once and give it a good squeeze, the pit usually pops out. Takes about 10 minutes to do a cup of olives. BUT, and it's a big BUT, if you miss just one pip, you run the risk of breaking a tooth, or smashing your blender. Use the pitted.

If you want your pâté on bread add less olive oil. Makes great lunch sandwiches. If you want it to go on a salad than add more olive oil.

Keep your olive pate in a small bottle covered with a thin layer of olive oil to stop it oxidising. Refrigerate. It doesn't keep indefinitely, but it's so delic it won't last anyway.

Tip: Half the work is cleaning the blender afterwards. I usually go right on and make another dip. Tonight I first made the olive pâté, and then Baba Ghanoush. So easy.

Honest injun, all three took no more than an hour to make, though I haven't washed the blender yet. Make sure you pull the plug first! It'll make fine work of your fingers should you inadvertently touch the ON button.

CHIROPRACTIC

Whilst the main cause of osteo-arthritis is joint fixations which cause IMMOBILISTION ARTHRITIS, there are over 100 forms of arthritis. Any natural anti-inflammatories that we can consume, particularly when in it's in food so delicious as olives, should form part and parcel of the healthy living tips on any Chiropractic website.

Thought: Tragically so many men drop dead within two years of retiring. The reasons are complex, but loving healthy food I'm absolutely convinced is one of the ways we men can look forward to reaching a happy, healthy eighty. HEALTHY LIVING TIPS.

LINKS