Rick Stein

Cocktail Nibbles

Marinated Olives
Prep Time: 1-2 minutes
Cooking Time: 0 minutes

Serves approx 30

8 oz each of unpitted black and green olives
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 small sprigs each of fresh thyme, rosemary and oregano
4 small fresh bay leaves
1 large garlic clove, thinly sliced
2 lemon slices, quartered

Simply mix everything together, cover and set aside for 3-4 hours before serving.

Parmesan Biscuits
Prep Time: 1-2 minutes
Cooking Time: 8-10 minutes

Serves approx 30

4 oz chilled butter, cubed
4 oz plain flour
1 oz freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Pinch cayenne pepper

To Combine the Ingredients:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Rub the butter into the flour, by hand or in a food processor, until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the parmesan, seasoning and cayenne pepper.

To Form the Dough:
Work the mixture together into a ball and then knead briefly on a work surface lightly dusted with flour until smooth.

To Make the Biscuits:
Cut the dough in half, flatten each piece slightly, then roll out thinly between 2 large sheets of plastic wrap. Lift off the top piece of plastic wrap and cut into 2 inch biscuits. Carefully lift them onto a lightly buttered baking sheet, then knead together and re-roll the trimmings to make more biscuits. You should make about 30 biscuits in total.

And Finally:
Bake the biscuits for 8-10 minutes until crisp and golden. Leave to cool on the baking sheets. Store in an airtight container.

Grilled Mussels With Romesco Sauce
Prep Time: 40 minutes + soaking time
Cooking Time: 1 minutes

Makes approx 60

2 lb fresh mussels, cleaned 2 fl oz dry white wine

For The Romesco Sauce:
1 dried choricero pepper
8 oz vine-ripened tomatoes
4 garlic cloves, peeled
½ oz blanched hazelnuts
1 slice day-old white bread, toasted and crusts removed
4 fl oz olive oil
A pinch of dried chili flakes
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano

To Prepare the Pepper:
Pull out the stalk of the dried pepper, cover with warm water and leave it to soak overnight. The next day, drain it, slit it open and remove the seeds. Chop up roughly.

To Roast the Tomatoes:
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Put the tomatoes and 3 garlic cloves into a small roasting pan and roast for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with the hazelnuts and roast for15 minutes until they are golden. Remove the pan from the oven and leave to cool.

For the Romesco Sauce:
Rub the slice of bread with the remaining garlic clove. Heat a little of the olive oil in a frying pan, add the bread and fry until richly golden on both sides. Leave to cool, then break it into pieces and put it into a food processor or blender with the contents of the roasting pan, the soaked red pepper, chili flakes, sherry vinegar, ½ teaspoon salt and some freshly ground black pepper. Blend until smooth. Then, with the motor still running, very gradually add the rest of the olive oil to make a thick, mayonnaise-like sauce. Scrape into a bowl and set aside.

To Cook the Mussels:
Put the mussels into a large pan with the wine. Cover and cook over a high heat, shaking the pan now and then, for 3-4 minutes until they have opened. Tip into a colander set over a bowl and leave until cool enough to handle. Meanwhile, return all but the last 2 tablespoons of the mussel liquor to a sauté pan and boil vigorously until reduced to about 1 tbsp. Leave to cool, then stir into the romesco sauce.

And Finally:
Break the empty half shell off each mussel, loosen the meats from the other shell and lay them onto a baking tray. Dot each mussel meat with about 1 teaspoon of the romesco sauce and sprinkle with a little of the chopped oregano. Slide under a hot broiler and cook for about 1 minute until bubbling and hot. Serve immediately.

Anchovy & Cherry Tomato Bruschetta
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 5 -10 minutes

Makes approx 30

2 mini French bread loafs
2-3 cloves garlic, peeled but left whole
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt flakes and coarsely ground black pepper
8 oz cherry tomatoes, stalks removed and sliced
3 oz anchovy fillets in olive oil, drained

To Grill the Bread:
Cut the bread diagonally across into thin slices. Heat a ridged cast iron griddle pan over a medium heat, add some of the bread slices and grill for about 1 minute on each side until golden and very slightly charred in places.

To Season the Bread:
As soon as each batch of bread is ready, rub one side of each slice with a peeled garlic clove, then drizzle with a little of the olive oil and sprinkle with some sea salt flakes and pepper.

And Finally:
Top each slice of bread with 2 slices of tomato and one twisted anchovy fillet. Serve straight away.