Skip to main content
Snack

Cracked Green Olives with Herbs and Preserved Lemon

A marinated snack of cracked green olives flavored with coriander, mint, preserved lemon, olive oil, garlic, and pepper flakes.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Coriander and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,498 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Cracked Green Olives with Herbs and Preserved Lemon

Timeat least 6 hours or overnight

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. If using uncracked whole olives, crush lightly with flat side of large knife on a cutting board.

  2. In a large bowl cover olives with cold water and soak 4 hours to remove excess salt.

  3. Drain olives well.

Marinate and serve

  1. In a bowl stir together olives and remaining ingredients and marinate, covered and chilled, at least 6 hours or overnight.

  2. Olives may be prepared 1 week ahead and kept chilled, covered.

  3. Serve olives at room temperature.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

145Calories
1 gProtein
14 gFat
6 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 7 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Olive1 large (4g)4
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Coriandernot in our table0
Peppermintnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Coriander + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,498 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,665 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Coriander + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Mint + lemontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,998 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Brine-cured green olives
Provide the main salty, firm-textured base that the marinade flavours.
Olive oil
Adds fat and moisture, carrying the herb and garlic flavours through the olives.
Garlic
Contributes pungent aroma that mellows during marinating.
Preserved lemon
Adds bright acidity and a fragrant citrus flavour that cuts the olives' saltiness.

The step that matters

Soaking the olives. Soaking for the full 4 hours draws out excess brine salt; cutting it short leaves the olives too salty, and the salt cannot be fully restored once the marinade is added.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, coriander, mint, lemon, garlic, pepper):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Cuminfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, coriander, mint, lemon, garlic, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

You might also like

FrittersFritters56 recipesCrisp CrackersCrisp Crackers7 recipes