A doorway decorated for the Chestnut Festival in Penna San Giovanni.
Sunday, 31 October 2010
Saturday, 30 October 2010
Thursday, 28 October 2010
Help Available With Your Olive Harvest
Thanks to Russ and Sergio at La Grande Quercia for this brilliant photo. This is a fabulous boutique bed and breakfast in Abruzzo.
If the thought of your olive harvest leaves you feeling like this read on ...
An Italian speaking American based in Turin is available at weekends and would like to volunteer to help you. If you can provide an opportunity for olive picking please make contact via An American In Turin.
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An Italian speaking American based in Turin is available at weekends and would like to volunteer to help you. If you can provide an opportunity for olive picking please make contact via An American In Turin.
Thursday, 21 October 2010
How Many Olives Are Needed to Make Olive Oil?
There are a huge number of olive varieties and these vary in their oil content. The amount of oil that an olive produces is also influenced by the growing and climatic conditions and of course the milling process.
Generally it will take somewhere between 4 and 8 kg of olives to make a litre of cold pressed extra virgin olive oil and that will involve picking over 1000 olives.
Generally it will take somewhere between 4 and 8 kg of olives to make a litre of cold pressed extra virgin olive oil and that will involve picking over 1000 olives.
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| hand picked olives waiting to go and be milled |
EVOO or CPEVOOO!
The acronym EVOO stands for extra virgin olive oil but I thought I could go one better with cold pressed, extra virgin, organic olive oil.
If you go olive picking the chances are that this is what you will be bringing home. I guess it is then HP (hand picked) CPEVOOO enjoy!
Remember if you want to arrange your own olive picking experience visit http://www.olivepicking.com/ to find out how.
If you go olive picking the chances are that this is what you will be bringing home. I guess it is then HP (hand picked) CPEVOOO enjoy!
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| hand picked cold pressed extra virgin olive oil |
Remember if you want to arrange your own olive picking experience visit http://www.olivepicking.com/ to find out how.
Olive Oil Pizza Bread
I have been making OLIVE OIL Pizza Bread tonight. It is a delicious way to use some of your special extra virgin olive oil and a great accompaniment to any sort of pasta dish.
Pizza Bread Recipe:
750g strong white flour
1 sachet easy blend dried yeast
200ml milk
225ml warm water
1 tablespoon olive oil
plus: rosemary leaves, chilli flakes, sea salt and more olive oil to put on the top!
Mix the flour and yeast together in a large bowl. Mix the water, milk and olive oil together and pour into the flour, stirring to make a ball of dough which leaves the sides of the bowl clean.
Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes until smooth and silky. Wash and dry your bowl, wipe inside it with a film of olive oil and put the bread mixture back in to rise (this will take about an hour and a half in a warm place).
When the dough has risen put your oven on to its highest setting and put a baking sheet in to heat.
Turn the dough out of the bowl and divide into three pieces (I normally freeze two for later - when using thaw and pick up recipe again at this stage). Roll into a round about 1cm thick. Leave for 5 minutes then poke the tips of your fingers into the dough to make holes that will retain the olive oil. Drizzle the top with olive oil, sprinkle with chopped fresh rosemary, add some dried chilli flakes and a sprinkling of sea salt.
Now comes the tricky bit - take your very hot baking sheet out of the oven, stand it somewhere heatproof like the oven hob while you carefully place your bread onto it. At this stage your neat round will probably end up a much more rustic shape but that is all part of its charm.
Bake for about 10 - 12 minutes (turning the baking sheet round after 8 minutes if it is browning too much on one side).
We normally devour this as soon as its cool enough to eat.
Pizza Bread Recipe:
750g strong white flour
1 sachet easy blend dried yeast
200ml milk
225ml warm water
1 tablespoon olive oil
plus: rosemary leaves, chilli flakes, sea salt and more olive oil to put on the top!
Mix the flour and yeast together in a large bowl. Mix the water, milk and olive oil together and pour into the flour, stirring to make a ball of dough which leaves the sides of the bowl clean.
Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes until smooth and silky. Wash and dry your bowl, wipe inside it with a film of olive oil and put the bread mixture back in to rise (this will take about an hour and a half in a warm place).
When the dough has risen put your oven on to its highest setting and put a baking sheet in to heat.
Turn the dough out of the bowl and divide into three pieces (I normally freeze two for later - when using thaw and pick up recipe again at this stage). Roll into a round about 1cm thick. Leave for 5 minutes then poke the tips of your fingers into the dough to make holes that will retain the olive oil. Drizzle the top with olive oil, sprinkle with chopped fresh rosemary, add some dried chilli flakes and a sprinkling of sea salt.
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the dough sprinkled with rosemary, chili and sea salt
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Now comes the tricky bit - take your very hot baking sheet out of the oven, stand it somewhere heatproof like the oven hob while you carefully place your bread onto it. At this stage your neat round will probably end up a much more rustic shape but that is all part of its charm.
Bake for about 10 - 12 minutes (turning the baking sheet round after 8 minutes if it is browning too much on one side).
We normally devour this as soon as its cool enough to eat.
This recipe has been based on one in the Low Fat No Fat Cookbook published by Reader's Digest.
the baked olive oil pizza bread
Friday, 15 October 2010
Olive Varieties - the Cornicabra
Did you know that Spain has more than 250 varieties of olive in cultivation? Many of these have wonderfully evocative names like the 'cornicabra' which means 'goat's horn' and gets its name from the shape of the fruit (plus I have to say some imagination!) The oil itself is fruity and golden yellow with a smooth and velvety texture.
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| The Cornicabra |
Picture credit: http://www.asoliva.es/
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