I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that I own an olive pitter. I am even more embarrassed to tell you that I've owned it for well over five years and have never used it until the other day. I actually bought it to use on cherries (there was a certain black forest cherry cheesecake I used to love to make prior to becoming vegan, and I still have never gotten around to veganizing it... but I digress); I don't cook with olives all that often. But when I do (most notably to create this dish), I've somehow always forgotten about this little prize, which was sitting at the back of my silverware drawer. I used it for the first time a couple of days ago and it works SO well! The pits just shoot right out, in a very satisfyingly forceful manner.
