Zetyin Piyazi: Green Olive and Walnut Salad

Here's another wonderful recipe from Paula Woolfert's "Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean". It's helpful if you have a jug of olives. I had purchased a 4.4 pound jug in an eastern Mediterranean deli. I don't know what possessed me. I bought green olives but now wish I'd gotten kalamati. At any rate, I have a lot of olives, which I can't really eat. Sigh. The salad needs to be prepared the day before serving. It can be served as part of a mezze.

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound of green olives, drained
• 2 tbs. olive oil
• 3/4 cup shelled walnuts, chopped fine by hand
• 2 scallions, minced (I used half of a small red onion)
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1/8 tsp. Near East or Aleppo pepper, or to taste
• 2 tsp. pomegranate molasses
• 1 tbs. lemon juice
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup fresh or defrosted pomegranate seeds

Preparation

1. Pit the olives. This can be done by putting the olives on a doubled kitchen towel and hitting them with a mallet to make the pit pop out.
2. Combine the olives with the rest of the ingredients in a bowl. Mix well. Cover and refrigerate at least over night. Bring to room temp before serving.

Notes: Pomegranate molasses is one of those useful items for eastern Mediterranean foods. It has a tart sweet taste. It may be purchased in stores which carry eastern Mediterranean foods. If the olives are really salty, soak them for an hour in water. Drain, repeat if necessary. If the olives are bitter, put into a pot, cover with water, bring to a boil, and drain. Repeat if necessary. I didn't have pomegranates, so I didn’t use them.
This recipe is from Gaziantep, in southeastern Turkey. It’s called zetyin piyazi.

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