Olive Onion Jalapeno Garlic Cheese Bread

Ingredients

1 Tbs vegetable oil

½ yellow onion (finely diced)

2 cups of flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

2 large eggs (room temp)

1 cup buttermilk

2 tablespoons butter (melted)

¼ cup sharp cheddar cheese  plus a bit for sprinkling on top (shredded – I used farm cut cheddar which is a thicker shred)

12 Jalapeno garlic stuffed olives (finely diced) *see option below for substitution

12 black olives (finely diced) *see option below for substitution

½ tsp Johnny’s garlic seasoning

Directions:

In a skillet, saute onions in oil over medium heat until translucent and starting to turn brown. Remove from heat and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350F

Grease an 8×4 loaf pan

In a large bowl mix flour, baking soda, johnny’s garlic seasoning and salt

Add shredded cheese to flour mixture and toss gently

In a separate bowl whisk eggs, butter and buttermilk together

Add the buttermilk mixture to flour and stir until just mixed. Fold in olives and onion until fully mixed.

You should have a thick batter at this point.

Bake at 350 for approx. 45 min until a toothpick comes out clean from the center.

Add a sprinkle of shredded cheddar over the top and bake another 5 mins until cheese has melted.

Remove from oven and let cool in pan 10 min then remove from pan to a wire rack

Serve and enjoy warm or cold

Options:

You can use any other hard cheese and any kind of olive you like. I have also added bacon bits. Make sure you don’t leave it to cool in the pan too long before removing or you will have soggy bread. You can also choose to slice the olives instead of chop them up if you prefer, but I  personally like the distribution better with the diced.

As another option……USE ½ cup of my olive tapanade instead of the olives!

The Story:

This recipe was inspired by and based on one from Taste of Home and was originally posted on https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/olive-onion-quick-bread/ .  It included rosemary and different olives. I ended up modifying the olive and cheese, leaving out rosemary, adding some garlic seasoning and occasionally adding bacon. I also added the cheese to the flour instead of folding it in after. Because I was using a larger shredded cheese, it coats it and prevents it from dropping to the bottom of the bread or getting “pasted” during the mixing later.  I love quick breads but don’t often see savory ones. This caught my eye as I had all the ingredients in my pantry. I keep jalapeno garlic stuffed olives in my pantry to make breadsticks with so did a few substitutions and “voila”. A new picnic, party, potluck favorite was born. I took it to a family get together and it was widely enjoyed. I liked it so much I had to make another loaf the next day for myself to eat at home.