Pasta with No-Cook Olive Sauce

I don’t know about you, but I LOVED the heat and humidity yesterday. I was pretty much sad to see it go away, along with the thunderstorms. After a winter from hell (I am pretty sure hell really is cold and snowy.), I want to sweat, to melt, to feel tired by the heat.

But I don’t necessarily want to cook. On our boating date last Saturday, my friend Julie brought lots of delicious snacks and bubbly. The spread included a delicious olive tapenade, which I thought would be perfect on some pasta.

I couldn’t stop thinking about the olive tapenade, and last night I finally decided to turn the thought into dinner.

olives

Eat, Write, Retreat provided us with some fabulous, buttery Lindsay Olives as part of our swag bags.

Lindsay olives

For my tapenade, I used an entire can of green ripe olives and the whole container of the Italian seasoned black olives, both thoroughly drained. Yum.

Lindsay olives

While I boiled my Trader Joe’s spinach and chive pasta (using water boiled in the electric kettle, further avoiding heating up the house), I made the simplest sauce ever.

linguine

Olives, four cloves of garlic, a splash of red wine vinegar, and a splash of olive oil, plus some crushed red pepper and ground black pepper

olive tapenade

Once the pasta was cooked I topped it with room temperature olive tapenade and crumbled goat cheese.

linguine with olive sauce

Tossed all together so that the goat cheese, tapenade, and pasta get all melty and gooey, I sweat this combination was better than many pricey restaurant meals I had. It was all about the flavor.

I realized when I was looking for the goat cheese that we currently have the following cheeses in the fridge:

shredded Mexican, shredded part-skim mozzarella, 2 kinds of blue cheese, goat cheese, Neufchatel cheese, and Kerrygold Dubliner

Who needs seven cheeses at once? I do!

What is your favorite cheese? What cheese do you have on hand at the moment?

Tags: Food, olives, pasta, recipe, Vegetarian

  1. Emily @ A Cambridge Story’s avatar

    yummy! I love olives but my husband isn’t a fan — i’ll have to make this when he’s away sometime. I always end up having a ridiculous number of cheeses in my fridge – but each one usually serves its purpose!

    Reply

  2. Elizabeth’s avatar

    I love no cook sauces in the summertime. I think they are fantastic.

    Reply

  3. Shannon’s avatar

    I’m a cheese hoarder too! Right now we have gorgonzola, blue, feta, goat, shredded mexican, mozzarella, parmesan and I just picked up gouda!

    Reply

  4. alicia’s avatar

    never met a cheese I didn’t like – currently housing feta, parm, mozzerella, cheddar and blue……need some more goat cheese!!

    Reply

  5. alicia’s avatar

    never met a cheese I didn’t like – currently housing feta, parm, mozzerella, cheddar and blue……need some more goat cheese!!

    Reply

  6. Beth’s avatar

    This dish looks so good! Plus heating up water in the electric tea kettle is GENIUS. We are definite cheese hoarders in our house. Right now we have goat cheese, parm, pecorino, gorgonzola, mozzarella, and gruyere. I actually have to stop at the grocery store on the way home because we’re out of cheddar (extra sharp only please!), and that’s pretty much a travesty in our house. We have to have extra sharp cheddar and parmesan on hand at all times.

    Reply

  7. Megan’s avatar

    I need 7 cheeses as well. We almost always have Parmesan in the fridge… but I’m happiest when there’s a big tub of feta in there!

    Reply

  8. Michelle Collins’s avatar

    This looks fabulous. I am obsessed with cheese, and always have cheddar and/or parmesan on-hand. I live for goat cheese and pepperjack cheese, too!

    Reply

  9. Michelle’s avatar

    I LOVE cheese in all its forms! My favorite is Stilton, closely followed by some stinky French goat cheese 🙂 Right now we have gorgonzola and parmesean on hand.

    Reply

  10. Michelle’s avatar

    I have a can of olives in the pantry and an open can of olives in the fridge….I think I know what I’m going to do with them soon! Thanks for the inspiration!

    Reply

  11. Jean | Delightful Repast’s avatar

    Meghan, I MUST make this for my husband. He loves green olives to a crazy degree and puts them in everything. I’m rather surprised he doesn’t put them in his oatmeal in the morning!

    Cheeses? We always have swiss, parmesan and medium cheddar on hand. Get monterey jack, mozzarella, provolone, bleu cheese, goat cheese, cream cheese and many others as needed. I do not like pecorino!

    Reply

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