Garden Herb Olive Oil Dip

Sometimes simple is best! When I have cured meats at home, like some pastrami my sister brought to me, I like to pretend I’m in a medieval fantasy game and make an old timey tavern spread. I’ll boil up some eggs (from the chickens of course), bake some crusty bread, buy some nice cheese, pull out any jams or preserves I’ve made, and make a dip for the bread–it could be a gravy or an olive oil dip depending on what mood strikes me.

Currant tomatoes are a PAIN to collect and when I do they can’t really be used much except for salads so I end up with a lot of these tiny pearl sized tomatoes. In a desperate attempt to store them, I dehydrated them and realized they make for a really nice addition to herbed olive oil dip. They also naturalized in the garden, coming up unprompted every year. I leave them alone and they become bushy monstrosities with thousands of itty bitty tomatoes in drooping clusters. I don’t grow them on purpose any more but won’t say no to free.

I also grow a lot of herbs which makes this the perfect and easy garden to table fare: marjoram, oregano, basil, parsley, rosemary, sage minced with course salt and pepper, and then some dehydrated tomatoes and peppers (if I have.) Drizzled with olive oil and it’s bursting with the flavor of adventure. It’s a fun thing to do for picnics too, or for fighting dragons.