Olive Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Melt a heaping tablespoonful of butter in a pan.
When it begins to brown, stir in a heaping tablespoonful of flour.
Let it cook until a very dark brown, but be careful not to let it burn.
Add enough rich vegetable stock to make a thick cream‑like sauce.
Finish and serve
Have ready some olives—six or seven, that have been boiled a few minutes in water and cut from the stones.
Add the olives to the sauce.
Season with pepper and salt to taste.
Bring to the boiling point and serve.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 2 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Butter (in the method)
- Melts and browns with the flour to give the sauce a rich, nutty flavour.
- Flour (in the method)
- Thickens the sauce when cooked with butter, forming a roux.
- Rich vegetable stock (in the method)
- Liquid that turns the roux into a thick, cream-like sauce.
- Olives (in the method)
- Add their flavour and salty, briny character to the sauce.
The step that matters
Cooking the flour and butter until very dark brown. The roux can go from dark brown to burnt quickly. Burnt flour gives a bitter taste and cannot be rescued, so it needs close attention and gentle heat.
“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.
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