When I first saw this recipe at Pioneer Woman Cooks, it didn’t strike my fancy much. Or ring my bell, or cause me to get all excited. Olives, cheese, bread…meh. But then! This week for Sunday Company Dinner, one of our friends brought this beautiful, beautiful pan of Pioneer Woman’s Olive Cheese Bread. My first thought was that it was really pretty to look at. My second thought was how great it smelled. So we baked it up and then everyone was soon involved in gobbling up this fantastic delicious and olive-laden bread. It really is fantastic. The olives are definitely pronounced and a presence, but where I thought it was going to end up overwhelming and simply tasting like olives, it didn’t. They blended great with the cheese and mayo and bread, and overall, it was a definite keeper.
Someone with some cleverness and creativity could certainly play around with this recipe and add and subtract things as desired. But I have to tell you, it’s brilliant just the way it is. It also happens to multiply very easily, and I love the suggestion PW made about flash freezing it and then wrapping it up for a later date. Imagine having a few loaves of this just sitting in the freezer, waiting to be baked up…
Pioneer Woman’s Olive Cheese Bread
1 regular can whole black (ripe) olives
1 6-oz jar pimiento-stuffed olives
2 green onions
¾ pound Monterey Jack cheese
½ cup real mayonnaise
1 stick butter, softened
1 loaf French bread
Roughly chop black and green olives. Slice green onions and give them a rough chop.
Combine green onions and olives with the softened butter, ½ cup mayonnaise, and grated Monterey .
Mix thoroughly. Slice French bread in half lengthwise, then spread mixture evenly over
the halves.
Bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes, or until thoroughly melted and starting to turn light brown and bubbly. Cut into diagonal slices and serve with salad, with soup, with spaghetti, or as a yummy appetizer.
Make-ahead tips: You can make the cheese mixture up to two days ahead of time and store in the fridge. Or, you can spread the mixture on the bread and freeze the bread, unbaked, for several months.
This bread sounds really good, I’ll have to try it. I usually make italian sausage bread or pepperoni bread so this will be something different.
Julie, you could probably add sausage or pepperoni to this to great effect! But it is fantastic just the way it is.