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10/14/2002 Archived Entry: "Parmesan and Black Olive Biscuits"

Daniel Young is among my nearest and dearest. I met him 17 years ago when I was the food editor and restaurant critic of the Daily News and he was a copy boy at Money magazine. My editor at the News wanted me to review coffee shops and diners. I said my stomach (and ego) could not take doing that again. I’d seen Paree. There was no way I was going back to the farm league. Instead, through our then business editor, Steve Yahn, I found Danny to do the dirty work. He then began writing the column called “Under $10,” which later became “Under $15.”

(Yes, the New York Times copied us. But they were so late in getting with the program that by the time they got to doing a cheap eats column they had to go for “Under $25.”)

At any rate, I was Daniel Young’s editor until I left the Daily News in 1996. Then Daniel took over as first-string critic. The News had to call him back from Paris to do the job. I only saw Paree, figuratively. Daniel was living there.

He now has his own apartment in Paris, he’s fluent in French and he has written two books on French food. The first one, published several years ago, is the Paris Café Cookbook, which is not only a great read, and has great recipes, but is useful as a guide to inexpensive eating in Paris.

His new books is called Made in Marseille. The first thing you will notice when you flip through the book is that the recipes are not exclusively French. Marseilles is a mysterious city of many cultures. It’s a port, and as such it is the entry for immigration to France from all around the Mediterranean. It is also France’s second largest city and very cosmopolitan.

Like my treasured Naples, it also has a reputation for being disreputable. That’s not exactly true. What you should know is that neither city is as dangerous as its reputation. Both places are relatively untraveled by Americans and, for my money, that makes them all the better for American tourists. They are both still very real, not geared up with t-shirt shops and souvenir stores.

And the food is fabulous. Bouillabaisse is the most famous dish of Marseilles, but there are many other dishes to entice you. I always say the food of the southeast of France (Provence) is my personal favorite because it has so many similarities to Italian food. Okay, there’s my prejudices showing. Before I get myself into any more trouble, let me offer the following recipe. Daniel made these for a dinner party recently, serving them drinks when we arrived. No one was able to keep their hands off of them. With the holiday entertaining season coming up, you’ll find them handy.

Parmesan and Black Olive Biscuits
(Biscuuits au Parmesan et Olives Noires)
Makes 12 to 14 biscuits

2 cups flour
2 cups (1/2 pound) coarsely grated parmesan cheese
2 egg yolks
10 ounces (2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted and cooled (1 1/4 cups)
3 tablespoons water
1/4 cup whole black olives, pitted and chopped

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Combine the flour and Parmesan cheese and mix well.

Beat the egg yolks into the butter. Pour into the flour-and-cheese mixture and mix well. Add the water and olives and mix until the mixture is even and the bits of olives are well distributed.

Roll small clumps of the batter between the palms of your hands into smooth balls about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Place these balls on a nonstick baking sheet at least 1/2 inch apart and press down lightly on each with a spatula or the back of a wooden spoon so they’re slightly flattened into a biscuit shape. (They will eventually take the shape of chubby oatmeal cookies.)

Bake in the oven until golden brown on the bottom, 25 to 30 minutes. Serve warm or store in a tightly lidded cookie jar for up to one week.