Garlicky olives and panzanella

We got some jumbo green olives from the Greek store the other day, and decided to try and make those delicious marinated olives you can get from Whole Foods that cost $11.99/lb.  I'd say this was a raging success.  We used garlic (lots), preserved lemons, and red pepper flakes, and the result was very tasty when warm, and divine once it had sat in the fridge overnight.  Yum!

Garlicky Olives:
Olives, of some quantity (1-2C?)
A few cloves of garlic
1/4 of a preserved lemon
Red pepper flakes (~1/2 - 1tsp)
Olive oil

Warm some olive oil in a pan.  Dice your garlic and preserved lemon.  Toast the garlic lightly, then add the olives to the pan with the lemon and red pepper.  Cook for a bit, probably 10min, then put in a bowl and serve with toothpicks.  If you have the patience, leave the olives in the fridge overnight so the flavors can meld.  Enjoy!

Clearly, this was a long day.  Ed went out riding his bike and got mega sunburned, but revived upon smelling the garlicky olives, and then was happy to eat some panzanella, which is one of my favorite hot-weather salads of all time, even more so when you have some day-old bread that really needs using.  It's darn tasty, and gets a good Ed-rating.

Panzanella:
1 avocado
1-2 good tomatoes
1 cucumber
1/4 red onion
Lots of basil
1/4 loaf of french bread, or the equivalent amount of other bread
1 lemon
olive oil
salt
butter

To make the croutons, cut the bread into ~1/4" slices.  Toast the slices in a pan with the butter until one side is toasty golden brown.  Remove the bread from the pan (one side should be slightly chewy, one side should be crunchy and taste like butter), chop into bite-sized pieces.

Chop everything else into bite sized pieces.  Dress with salt, lemon juice, and olive oil.  Toss it all around in a bowl.  Serve, and enjoy!