Cookthink

Steel-Cut Oatmeal With Cherries, Apricots, Pecans And Basil

While oatmeal with fruit is a fine enough breakfast on its own, we always love to throw in an herb and nut for flavor and texture. Here, we used basil and pecans, but you could also use mint or rosemary and almonds or walnuts.

Balkan Plum Dumplings

Fall is the season of the small, dusky purple Italian prune plum, or sljiva. Dumplings made from pitted plums can be served with Turkish coffee -- or with plum brandy, otherwise known as sljivovica, or slivovitz. Read more about this recipe at the Washington Post.

Rabbit With Prunes And Olives

Rabbit is a clean, lean, sustainable meat with a delicate flavor similar to chicken (which can be substituted here). If you make this dish ahead, the flavor will only improve. Read more about this recipe in Jeanne Kelley's Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes cookbook.

Warm Cauliflower Bruschetta

This wintry bruschetta is made with sautéed cauliflower, Kalamata olives, sundried tomatoes and bleu cheese. Anchovies give it a deeper (and nonfishy) flavor, but you can omit them. Read more about this recipe at hogwash.

Mozzarella, Black Olive And Pita Pizza With Basil

We love to use pita as pizza crust. When the pocket is opened and split into 2 thin slices, the crust gets really crispy. Keep the toppings to the minimum and bake it in a really hot oven. On this one, we added pitted black olives to the traditional margarita pizza.

Chicken And Summer Squash Salad

This salad keeps in the refrigerator for up to 4 days; allow to warm up almost to room temperature before serving. Read more about this recipe at the Washington Post.

Fresh Fettuccine With Chicken, Artichokes And Green Olives

This is a light, elegant pasta dish, delicious in early spring when the day's are still a little chilly. Tender fettuccine is a velvety canvas for the delicate chicken, earthy artichokes, briny olives and bright parsley. If you can't find fresh fettuccine, cook an equal amount of dried fettuccine until not quite al dente and add it to the pan with a few minutes before the chicken should be done.

Endive Braised With Tomato, Black Olives And Pine Nuts

For a nuttier flavor, try using almonds or walnuts, as in this recipe for Endive Braised With Walnuts And Olives.

Flatbread El Greco

Rather than recreating a traditional Greek dish, I decided to mix things up a bit in the spirit of El Greco and make a Greek-inspired flatbread. This recipe comes from FoodRockzDC, and was the winner of Root Source Challenge: Kalamata Olive.

Pan-Seared Chicken With Two Olive Tapenade And Sundried Tomato Cream

There’s more than enough of the rich, chunky tapenade for this recipe, so you can take out what you need for the chicken (4 heaping tablespoons) and save the rest to use on sandwiches or in pasta, or smeared on a thick piece of good bread. Read more about this recipe at hogwash.

Baked Cod With Potatoes, Fennel And Green Olives

In this Spanish-inspired dish, fresh cod filets are baked on top of thinly sliced potatoes, fennel, onions and briny green olives. If you can't find cod, any firm, white-fleshed fish will work here.

Braised Fennel With Olives And Orange

Fennel and orange have a natural affinity for each other. The briny black olives give some depth to the pairing. Use leftovers to make beef and artichoke provencale or quick bourride. This recipe is part of Andrew Schloss's Sunday Dinners.