Aceitunas Rellenas - Stuffed Olives

These anchovy-stuffed olives are exactly the kind of cheap, briny, deeply savory Spanish tapas that disappear from a bar plate within minutes. The recipe earns its complexity from a long overnight marinade in white wine vinegar, olive oil, garlic, and pimentos rather than from any complicated technique.

If stuffing pitted olives by hand sounds tedious (it is), the directions give you permission to skip it. Just chop the anchovies and toss them into the marinade with the olives. The flavor comes out roughly the same and your fingertips don’t end up smelling like fish for two days.

The overnight rest is critical. Vinegar needs time to penetrate the olives and pull out their saltiness while the garlic and pimento oils infuse the brine. Twelve hours minimum.

Adding the parsley only thirty minutes before serving keeps it green and bright. Stir it in too early and the vinegar discolors it into a dull mush.

Pro Tips

• Use plain green Manzanilla olives or Castelvetrano, the buttery green varieties soak up the marinade better than briny black olives
• Drain the olives and rinse them lightly before marinating, the canning brine is too salty and overpowers the marinade
• A glass jar with a tight lid is the right vessel, plastic absorbs the garlic and vinegar smells permanently
• Save the marinade after the olives are gone, it makes a brilliant vinaigrette base for tomato salads
• Parsley can be added immediately before serving instead of 30 minutes ahead if you forget, the flavor is the same just less infused

Variations

• Use Cerignola olives (the giant green ones) for a more dramatic-looking platter
• Stuff with sun-dried tomato slivers, blanched almonds, or roasted red pepper instead of anchovy for a vegetarian version
• Add ½ teaspoon of smoked paprika to the marinade for a deeper, smokier Spanish character