Olive Oil 101

I am deeply, madly, truly in love with olive oil. I have flirted with butter and held hands with a spray substance that I actually can believe is not butter, but at the end of the day I am an olive oil girl at heart, so when Central Market recently offered an olive oil class, I jumped on the opportunity.

The class itself consisted of a lecture portion (and by lecture I mean we were lectured over and over to only buy extra virgin olive oil . . . duh!), an olive oil tasting, and then a hands-on cooking experience. The essential wisdom imparted by the class can be distilled to the following:

• Only buy extra virgin olive oil. Never buy light olive oil.
• Olive oil only stays good for about a year and should be stored in a cool, dark place.
• Everyone should have at least two olive oils: One for cooking and one for "finishing"

Finishing oils are what you use to drizzle over fresh pasta, use in dressings, and use as a dipping oil. If you are meant to taste the olive oil in a recipe, you should use a finishing oil. Discovering your perfect "finishing" oil is the fun part, and it turns out that tasting olive oils is a lot like tasting wines. What is the color and clarity? What does it taste like? Grassy? Fruity? Spicy? After tasting about a dozen pre-selected high quality olive oils, a clear winner emerged: Daniele Salvagno's Novello Prime Olive.

I am going to warn you right now: If you don't have a Central Market near you, skip on down to the next photo because what I am about to write will break your heart.

Novello Prime Olive is only available at Central Market, there are only around 1500 bottles of it (mine is hand-numbered 282), and it is around $20 a pop. But if you can clear the first two hurdles and live with the third, this stuff is the nectar of the gods! The flavor is fruity with a hint of spice on the finish (according to my very developed palate. Alright, I'll confess: According to the lady who taught the class who had a very developed palate). It is a gorgeous shade of emerald green (see the photo above) with a faint swirl of something slightly cloudy in it. The cloudy stuff is what makes this olive oil so delectable: This unfiltered olive oil is ribboned with the tiniest bits of olive pulp and skin. Soooooo delicious. In fact, it is so good that you can understand why the owner feels compelled to sign his name in gold on every box. If I made something this good, I'd be signing autographs too.

http://moreplease.centralmarket.com/foodie-faves/central-market-exclusive-olio-novello/

I have used it on pastas and pizzas, but my favorite way to enjoy it is as a dipping oil.

Dipping Oil

Gently stir the following ingredients together and serve with fresh chunks of ciabatta bread:

• 1/4 cup of Olive Oil
• pinch of salt
• couple turns of fresh cracked black pepper
• pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 clove of garlic, minced
• Optional: a few leaves of fresh basil (chopped), grated parmesan cheese, sundried tomatoes, or whatever sounds yummy to you!

No Central Market? Want a quality olive oil for about $5? Ybarra Aromatico was a very close second to the Novello for me. This inexpensive olive oil is widely available at grocery stores and online, and it has quickly become my everyday olive oil. It is good enough to stand on its own and use as a dipping oil (see the recipe above).

What about olive oils for cooking and baking? My two favorites were the Iliada and . . . (surprise!) the Colavita, which can be found on the shelf of every grocery store in the United States. Either of these would be lovely when baking the . . .

Olive Oil Cake

(by Emily Swantner)

• 3 cups of flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups of sugar
• 1 cup of EV Olive Oil
• 2 teaspoons of grated orange zest
• 5 large, cold eggs
• 1 cup of sherry
• 2 teaspoons of demerara sugar (a grainy, raw sugar)
• 1/3 cup slivered almonds

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Grease and flour two loaf pans. Sprinkle the bottom of each pan with the demerara sugar and then top with the slivered almonds.
3. Thoroughly mix the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Set aside
4. Using a mixer, beat the sugar, oil, and orange zest on high speed until well-blended.
5. Add the eggs one at a time to the step 4 mixture while continuing to beat until thick and pale.
6. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture. Beat on low speed until blended.
7. Add 1/2 of sherry. Beat on low speed until blended.
8. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture. Beat on low speed until blended.
9. Add 1/2 of sherry. Beat on low speed until blended.
10. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture. Beat on low speed until blended.
11. Pour the finished batter into the pans, covering the sugar and almond layers.
12. Bake in the oven for 45-60 minutes (or until cake tester comes out clean). Allow to cool for 15 minutes before removing from pans.