Sardine spread 2 olives

Sardine Cream 2 Olives. Sardine meat, green and black olives, ready to spread.

Sardine Cream 2 Olives is a spread made from sardine meat, extra virgin olive oil, as well as green and black olives, produced by la belle-iloise in Quiberon. No whole sardines, no smooth paste without texture, no tapenade and no spread for guests who do not like olives.

Sardine Cream 2 Olives is a fish cream by la belle-iloise from Quiberon, in which two stages of ripeness of the same olive meet. Guests are coming over in seven, it is half past six, and there is bread, wine and not much else in the house. This can solves the problem in two minutes. Lid off, cream on baguette, a few olives beside it, and the aperitif looks as if someone had worked on it in the afternoon.

Green brings bite, Black brings depth

A sardine cream with two olives tastes in two stages. First comes the herbal, slightly bitter freshness of the green olive, then the soft, oily sweetness of the black. In between is the sardine meat, salty and strong, which holds both stages together.

Onion and garlic season in the background, without tasting raw. The garlic draws a fine sharp thread through the cream, the onion gives a mild sweetness. The extra virgin olive oil makes the mass smooth and adds a grassy note that suits the olives.

The texture is the real difference to a paste. The olives are only coarsely chopped before mixing and remain visible as light and dark pieces. When spreading you feel them, when eating they create small flavor points in the soft mass.

The color is a speckled gray-beige with green and black inclusions, the scent reminds of an olive bar in the south. The finish is salty and long, with a bitterness that remains for a moment after swallowing and calls for the next bite of bread.

Anyone expecting a mild, creamy fish spread without bitterness will find this can too tart. For children it is less suitable because of the olives and the garlic. It is a spread for adults who would also eat olives pure and understand bitterness as a flavor, not as a flaw.

On baguette, in an egg, on a warm potato

The simplest use is also the best: a slice of baguette, a knife, the can. Spread the cream finger-thick and add a few drops of lemon juice on top, the aperitif needs nothing more. One can is enough for six to eight slices.

For stuffed eggs, halve four hard-boiled eggs, take out the egg yolk and mix it with the contents of the can. Back into the egg halves, a little chives on top, ready is an appetizer for four people.

On a hot jacket potato, the cream melts slightly and replaces butter and quark at the same time. One spoon per potato is enough, with a green salad, and dinner for two is ready. Also on grilled bread with tomato slices and basil it holds up well, as long as the bread is not too hot.

For a sandwich to take away, spread the cream on ciabatta, place tomato slices, arugula and a few capers on top and press the halves together. This holds in paper for two hours without loss of quality and is an alternative to the tuna sandwich.

In warm sauces, the cream is not at home, because the egg yolk binds and curdles under heat. It remains a cold spread. Anyone looking for a fish cream with a fruity note will find it in the Salmon Cream with Tarragon, which turns out milder and lighter.

Our tip: Take the can out of the refrigerator twenty minutes before serving. Cold, the cream is firmer and tastes flatter, at room temperature the olives and garlic stand out clearly. A drop of fresh olive oil on top freshens the color.

The same fruit, harvested twice

Green and black olives come from the same tree, the difference lies solely in the time of harvest. Picked early, the fruit is firm, green and bitter with little oil. If it stays hanging until full ripeness, it becomes dark, soft and significantly oilier.

Both must be de-bittered before consumption, in salt brine or water, over weeks. Only then do they develop the flavor that one knows from table olives. In this cream, the combination of both stages of ripeness provides two levels that one variety alone could not deliver.

The choice of two stages of ripeness instead of one variety is a conscious trick, because green olives alone make a cream tart and dry, black ones alone make it flat and oily. Together they complement each other, as in a good tapenade, only that here the fish keeps the main role.

La belle-iloise produces its spreads in Quiberon, from sardines that are processed in-house. The sardine meat is cooked, freed from skin and bones and then mixed with oil, olives and seasoning ingredients, until a spreadable mass is created. A little potato starch binds the mass, so that it stays on the bread.

The sealed can is sterilized, whereby the cream remains shelf-stable for several years without refrigeration. Because whole olives are processed, despite careful control, occasionally a kernel piece can be in the cream. This is not a flaw, but the result of real fruit.

The spread that replaces the appetizer

Within the fish creams of la belle-iloise, the Sardine Cream 2 Olives is the most savory and the most Mediterranean. It is aimed at everyone who likes an aperitif that tastes like the south, without anyone having to cook for it.

On an aperitif board with three or four cans of the house, it forms the savory counterpoint to the mild salmon cream and the fine lobster mousse. Anyone putting only one fish cream on the table and expecting guests with a preference for Mediterranean expects this.

As a gift, it fits in a package with a bottle of rosé and a good bread. For people who love tapenade, it is the bridge to fish. To the glass belongs a dry rosé from Provence or a cool white wine without wood, because red wine makes the olives bitter.

With 60 grams, the can is designed for one evening for two. Once opened, you should cover the rest with foil and use it up within two days from the refrigerator. Sealed, the can stores for several years in the cupboard, which is why two cans in the pantry is no mistake. It takes up hardly any space and saves more than one evening.

A spread for evenings when the aperitif arises spontaneously and still looks intentional.