Olive Pate With Roasted Garlic & Brie or Fontina Cheese Flavouring

This is a plush, savoury olive pâté: oil-cured black olives blitzed with sweet roasted garlic and softened with melted Brie or Fontina. It sits somewhere between a Provençal tapenade and a cheese spread — richer than either, and dangerously good on warm bread.

Classic Provençal tapenade is olives, capers, anchovy and oil, pounded sharp and salty. This pâté takes a softer road: it keeps the intense oil-cured black olives but rounds them with sweet roasted garlic and a melted mild cheese, so the result is richer, creamier and gentler. It is a lovely thing to make ahead for a crowd, and it rests on two easy techniques — roasting garlic and melting cheese gently — that reward a little patience.

What you need

• 8 unpeeled garlic cloves
• About 1 cup (roughly 150 g) oil-cured, pitted black olives — Mediterranean or Greek style
• 115 g Brie or Fontina, rind trimmed, cut into cubes
• 60 ml (1/4 cup) extra virgin olive oil
• Crusty bread or crudités, to serve

How to make it

Heat the oven to about 175 C (350 F). Wrap the unpeeled garlic cloves in foil and roast for around 30 minutes until soft, then let them cool for ten minutes until you can handle them and squeeze the sweet flesh from the skins into a small bowl. While the garlic cools, melt the cheese gently in a heatproof bowl over — not touching — barely simmering water, stirring until smooth. In a food processor, blitz the olives, roasted garlic and olive oil for about fifteen seconds, then add the melted cheese and pulse another ten seconds until just combined. Scrape into a serving dish, press a piece of cling film flat onto the surface, and chill for about two hours. Let it sit at room temperature for half an hour before serving, with warm bread or fresh vegetables.

Getting it right

The two make-or-break steps are heat management. Roast the garlic until it is genuinely soft and sweet — underdone garlic stays harsh and dominates the pâté. And melt the cheese gently over simmering, never boiling, water; too much heat makes it split into a greasy, grainy mess. Blend in short bursts: you want a spreadable pâté with a little texture, not a smooth paste. Because oil-cured olives and cheese are both salty, taste before adding any salt at all — you almost certainly will not need it.

	This olive pâté	Classic tapenade
Olives	Oil-cured black	Black or green
Anchovy	None	Yes, traditionally
Capers	None	Yes
Cheese	Melted Brie / Fontina	None
Texture	Rich, creamy, soft	Coarse, sharp, salty
Served	Warm bread, chilled to set	Bread, raw

Make it your own

• Add a little lemon zest or thyme to cut the richness.
• Use green olives for a sharper, brighter pâté.
• Loosen leftovers with a splash of olive oil and toss through hot pasta.
• Keep it vegetarian as written — no anchovy, unlike classic tapenade.

Olive pâté: common questions

How is this different from tapenade?

Classic tapenade is olives, capers, anchovy and oil, pounded sharp and salty. This pâté drops the anchovy and capers and adds roasted garlic and melted cheese for a richer, softer result.

What are oil-cured olives?

Black olives cured in oil rather than brine, giving a wrinkled skin and an intense, slightly bitter, concentrated flavour that suits this pâté well.

Can I make it ahead?

Yes — it needs about two hours in the fridge to firm up, and keeps for a few days. Let it come to room temperature before serving.

Do I need to add salt?

Almost certainly not. Oil-cured olives and cheese are both salty, so taste first and season only if it truly needs it.

Why did my cheese go grainy?

It was melted over heat that was too high. Melt it gently over barely simmering water and stir until just smooth, before it can split.

An original olives101 recipe, a richer variation on Provençal tapenade using oil-cured olives, roasted garlic and melted cheese.