EVOO

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http://www.grist.org/advice/season/2008/05/08/

 

 

Liquid Gold

 

 

How to use extra-virgin olive oils, from the extraordinary to the

merely wonderful

 

By Roz Cummins

<http://www.grist.org/cgi-bin/search.pl?query=gristauthor=%28Roz%20Cummins%29 & re\

verse=on & sort=gristdate>

 

08 May 2008

I met with my friend, chef Didi Emmons

<http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/great_in_08/experts/view.bg?articleid\

=1068551>,

on a recent spring morning for breakfast in Harvard Square. We met at

the Hi-Rise Pie Company, where we bought a loaf of potato bread and

crept up the stairs to the little rooms filled with ancient chairs and

tables.

 

Olive oil

Peak oil.

Didi pulled a dark green glass bottle from her rucksack. I wondered what

the other patrons thought, since it was a bit early in the day for a

tipple. But once we tore our loaf of bread into pieces and started

dipping it in the liquid that we poured out of the bottle, I suspect

they realized that the bottle contained olive oil, not some

early-morning libation.

 

It wasn't just any olive oil, but olive oil pressed from unripe olives

grown in Tuscany, Italy's most celebrated olive region. My previous

experience with what I realize in retrospect must have been oil pressed

from unripe olives was a distinctly unpleasant one. I was at a very nice

Italian restaurant in L.A., and I ordered the olive oil tasting plate.

When I tried the three oils that were presented, I experienced what Didi

describes as " machetes down my throat. " Wow! It was like having lemon

juice rubbed into esophageal paper cuts. It was hard to consume this oil

on even a purely mechanical level.

 

And yet it is precisely this quality that makes many Tuscans seek out

oil pressed from unripe olives. What seems inedible to me is a gustatory

thrill for them, and they stand in line to get the oil as soon as it is

available each year. Didi explained that it mellows in the bottle over

time. The one we were tasting, from the 2007 harvest, had been in the

bottle for several months and had a smooth flavor followed by a

pleasant, peppery finish. " It doesn't taste of olives, does it? " Didi

asked me. " It tastes like a playground of all of the good things the

earth has to offer: minerals, essential oil ... " I interrupted her to

add, " It tastes like a reduction of sunshine. "

 

" You get so into this oil, " Didi continued, " that you begin to think of

it as a solution to all of your problems. You want to use it everywhere

.... you begin to think that it might taste good on top of your cereal in

the morning. It's like falling in love with a really good cheese that

you want to eat all the time -- except it's healthy! "

 

This kind of oil is expensive, so you don't want to use it for cooking.

" Heat would make it lose its flavor, " Didi noted. " Essentially, you're

buying a sauce. Use it that way. Pour it on top of hummus, use it in a

white bean purée, use it in any potato dish. Don't use it with something

that has a really strong flavor, like pesto -- that would just be a waste. "

 

She recommends cooking with a cheaper yet still good-quality olive oil

or an expeller-pressed canola oil. I use a relatively inexpensive

extra-virgin organic olive oil for everyday use, and Didi likes Trader

Joe's Kalamata olive oil for uses that don't involve high heat or strong

competing flavors. In the course of my conversation with Didi, I learned

that Italy had passed a new law in response to a recent counterfeit

olive oil scandal. To get the full story, Didi pointed me to Rosemary

Melli, an importer <http://famousfoods.com/oliodimelli.html> of artisan

olive oil and also the governor of Slow Food New England. Rosemary

informed me of an important new law governing the labeling of Italian

extra-virgin olive oil. (To be " extra-virgin, " an olive oil must be

completely cold-pressed -- no heat or chemicals can be used in the

chemical process.)

 

According to Rosemary, unscrupulous producers were making oil from

sources other than olives, adding chlorophyll for a pale green color,

and labeling them as extra-virgin olive oil. To protect the reputation

and value of Italian extra-virgin olive oil, the government recently

decreed that any Italian product labeled extra-virgin olive oil must be

produced as a " single estate " oil -- " meaning that the oil must be made

from olives grown on the same estate where they are pressed, " Rosemary

said. That means Italian olive-oil producers can no longer buy olives

from unknown sources, press and bottle them, and slap a " product of

Italy " and " extra-virgin olive oil " label on them.

 

All this talk of olive oil got me to thinking of inexpensive dishes that

let olive oil shine. I remembered Didi's recipe for skordalia -- a

spread made of potatoes, garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice -- from her

book /Entertaining for a Vegetarian Planet

<http://astore.amazon.com/gristmagazine/detail/0618104518/102-1183543-3665742>/.

Anytime you can serve one carbohydrate on top of another, well, count me

in. Didi's version is made even better than the traditional rendition by

adding basil and scallions.

 

I used a very nice organic extra-virgin olive oil from Italy that gave

the location where it was grown. It cost $9.99 for 16.9 oz (about half a

quart). That might seem like a lot of dough for a small bottle, but its

price is quite tame compared to the fanciest available oils, which range

in price from the mid-twenties to forty dollars. This recipe contains

strong flavors -- garlic, lemon, basil, scallion -- so while it's nice

to use a good olive oil, an extraordinary one would likely be overpowered.

 

Spread the word.

Photo: Eddie Jim

*Green Skordalia*

/Reprinted with permission from Didi Emmons; makes about three cups./

1 1/3 pounds large red or Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and halved

Kosher salt (1 1/2 teaspoons)

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil (nothing too special or expensive)

3-4 garlic cloves, crushed

2/3 cup packed chopped fresh basil or cilantro

1/2 cup chopped scallions, green parts only

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Freshly ground black pepper

Grilled or toasted bread

 

1. Place the potatoes in a large saucepan and add cold water to cover

and salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until

tender, about 25 minutes. Drain the potatoes and return them to

the pan.

 

2. Add the olive oil and garlic to the hot potatoes and mash with a

potato masher until smooth. Add the basil or cilantro, scallions,

and lemon juice, and mash until everything is incorporated and

smooth. Stir in 1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt and the pepper.

 

3. Transfer the skordalia to a serving bowl and serve warm or at room

temperature with the grilled or toasted bread. If the mood

strikes, lay a few streaks of top-quality olive oil over the top.

 

 

 

This dip can be prepared up to two days ahead and stored in an airtight

container in the fridge.

 

 

/Roz Cummins is a food writer who has worked in every possible

permutation of food co-op, natural foods store, and granola-type

restaurant. She lives in the greater Boston area and feels it is her

mission to put the " eco " back in home economy./