This olive & date rice is an easy and delicious side dish. Tangy green olives, sweet dates and toasted pine nuts makes for the perfect combination.
My good friend Lisa is a kindred foodie spirit. We often go on field trips around Pittsburgh checking out new restaurants and markets. Recently she told me about a friend at work that eats dates with green olives and that it was delicious. I think she ended up making a panini with some type of cheese, maybe gouda? Anyway I was intrigued because I’ve come to love olives and dates as I got older. And from that conversation a star was born….olive & date rice. Thank you Lisa for that great idea! And it is the perfect dish to share on today’s Sunday Supper – Simple Rice Recipes.
I think the reason this works so well is because the green olives are tangy and the dates are sweet. These Castelventrano olives are my new favorite kind because of the color and taste. Sometimes Costco carries them but you can get them online. So the sweet dates and tangy olives make a delicious combination with starchy rice and crunchy pine nuts. Actually anything tastes good to me with pine nuts but I digress. This was a really tasty side dish and my hubby gave it two thumbs up.
This was of course an easy recipe. I made my rice the same way I always do but today I added chopped up olives and dates to cook with the rice. While that was cooking, I toasted the pine nuts. (As you can see I burnt them a bit. I seem to burn pine nuts a lot because I forget to watch them in the skillet. And as they can be expensive, I end up using them anyway.)
Olive & Date Rice
When it was done, I added a quick tablespoon of butter to give it a bit of richness. It was yummy! This would be a great side dish with lamb or beef kebabs or maybe some Paleo Middle Eastern Meatballs? While I hope you like this easy and tasty side dish. I can now vouch for the delicious taste combination of green olives and dates. Next we try Lisa’s panini. Lisa, time for a guest post! Please scroll down for more Simple Rice Dishes from my friends at Sunday Supper.
Date & Olive Rice Dish
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup rice
- ½ cup dates chopped
- ½ cup green olives chopped
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups water
- 1 Tablespoon butter
Instructions
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In a pot, add your olive oil and rice and saute for 1 minutes.
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Add in your olives, dates and salt and mix well.
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Add the water and bring to boil.
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Once boiling, cover and lower heat to medium low.
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Cook for 20 minutes.
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Take out of pot and spoon into a large bowl.
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Add butter and mix until melted.
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Serve and enjoy!
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Teri @ The Freshman Cook says
Loving these flavors all together! Such a great side dish!
Denise says
Thanks for stopping by Teri!
Christie says
This is such an interesting combination of flavors. I have to try this one!
Denise says
Thanks Christie…hope you like it!
Tara says
I have yet to try dates with rice. This sounds absolutely incredible!
Denise says
I hope you like it Tara…..I really enjoyed it and it’s very simple.
Cindy @CindysRecipesAndWritings says
I like dates and rice together and rice and nuts together so this sounds so good to me!
Liz says
Sweet and salty; chewy and crunchy! What a fun rice recipe!!
Joy @ Joy Love Food says
This sounds like an amazing combination! I love green olives and raisins together, ie empanadas, so it totally makes sense to pair green olives with dates, I cannot wait to try it!
Denise says
It’s a combo I’ve never had so I’ll have to try the green olives and raisins now. 🙂
Caroline says
This rice includes some of my favorite things to eat (dates and pine nuts) so I know I’d like it – delicious!
Denise says
Thanks Caroline.
Lisa says
This looks and sounds awesome! Already know that it will be a favorite. Your kindred foodie spirit for life!
Denise says
Lisa! My inspiration! Thanks for stopping by good friend!
Kristen says
Denise, I have to say, I am a bit jealous of you and your friend’s trips around Pittsburg. I need a foodie friend 🙂 This rice looks great. Olives and dates pair so well together. Gotta love salty and sweet!
Denise says
Aw, yes I am lucky to have found my foodie friend (one of which is my sister). Thanks for stopping by.