Fried, Roasted, and Stewed: 20 Recipes with Olives

Start a special dinner with Giada DiLaurentiis's gorgonzola cheese- and thyme-stuffed fried olives (pictured with Giada's Cheese-Stuffed Dates with Prosciutto).

Recipe: Italian Fried Olives

This sweet and salty sauce with dried cherries and port is wonderful over succulent chicken thighs. Feel free to substitute cranberry juice cocktail for port, which is a fortified wine that provides an immediate depth of flavor.

Recipe: Chicken Thighs with Green Olive, Cherry, and Port Sauce

Broccoli, accented by black olives, makes a delicious — and extra healthful — pizza topping.

Recipe: Pizza with Broccoli and Black Olives

Tangy lemon and briny olives perk up simple steamed cauliflower.

Recipe: Cauliflower with Lemon and Olives

Here we toss grilled tuna with pasta, artichoke hearts, green olives, and tomatoes. Grilling the tuna gives this ultra-fresh pasta dish a subtle smokiness. But if you're pressed for time, try canned tuna in place of the grilled fish.

Recipe: Tuna Pasta with Olives and Artichokes

This bright, briny salsa, full of vitamin E-rich olives, is more like a crunchy tapenade. It's brilliant over white fish like hake.

Recipe: Minty Green Olive-Celery Salsa

"When I think of Piedmont, I think of rustic wild boar dishes," Marcia Kiesel says about the inspiration behind these slow-cooked pork shoulder chops, which she pairs with the region's robust Nebbiolos.

Recipe: Braised Pork Chops with Cipollini and Olives

The Mediterranean flavors of a warm tomato tapenade will brighten all kinds of white fish as well as chicken. Make it a meal: Orzo and sautéed spinach will round out this meal.

Recipe: Roasted Cod with Warm Tomato-Olive-Caper Tapenade

Frying the potatoes and sausages before adding the rest of dish's ingredients gives them an irresistible crispiness. The addition of lemon and white wine brings depth and brightness of flavor to an otherwise run-of-the-mill meal of meat and potatoes.

Recipe: Potatoes and Sausages with Olives, Lemon, and Parsley

Chef Alain Coumont, founder of the restaurant chain Le Pain Quotidien, makes this creamy (yet cream-free) rice dish with lemony Lucques olives and nutty organic Camargue red rice, but almost any green olive or short-grain brown rice would be terrific.

Recipe: Brown Rice Pilaf with Green Olives and Lemon

Common kitchen staples take on a Mediterranean flair when tossed together in this penne with tuna, plum tomatoes, and black olives.

Recipe: Penne with Tuna, Plum Tomatoes, and Black Olives

Slow-roasting fennel caramelizes its natural sugars and softens what in a raw state is a very crisp texture to something like that of a rich roasted onion. Topped with olive tapenade, feta, and mint, it makes a side dish that can't be beat.

Recipe: Roasted California Fennel with Olive Tapenade, Feta, and Mint

With just a few rustic, rich-tasting add-ins — sherry, slivers of green olive, comforting cubes of bread — chicken thighs gain savory Spanish flavor.

Recipe: Chicken with Olives and Peppers

Serve this simple but unique spread with zucchini or cucumber rounds or fire-toasted thin baguette slices.

Recipe: Green Olive and Almond Spread

This Greek side-dish salad is both tangy and sweet, pairing roasted beets, black olives, and oranges.

Recipe: Roasted Beet and Olive Salad with Orange and Mint

Not your Irish grandmother's stew, this version was inspired by flavors from the south of France: figs, green olives, and herbes de Provence. To shorten the cooking time, we use ground lamb.

Recipe: Lamb, Fig, and Olive Stew for Two

Olives and feta marinated with rosemary, lemon, and garlic are great served on crisp flatbread-style crackers or warm slices of crusty baguette.

Recipe: Marinated Olives and Feta

This is an elegant dish. Making a pocket in the chicken breast to hold the stuffing is easy, particularly if you use a good, sharp, thin-bladed knife.

Recipe: Provolone and Olive Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Hearty rigatoni topped with lean ground beef and a sauce studded with piquant green olives makes a quick, filling dinner during the cold winter months.

Recipe: Rigatoni with Beef and Green Olives