DIANA HENRY
OLIVE OIL INGREDIENT FOCUS Diana Henry celebrates olive oil with three recipes using the storeboard staple photographs MELISSA REYNOLDS-JAMES
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ast year someone on Twitter posed one of those questions that provokes an endless thread, strong feelings, even arguments. All they did was ask this: if you could have only one fat for the rest of your life, would you go for olive oil or butter? They’re both glorious, mouth-filling and rich, but they couldn’t be more different. If you’re British – and over 50 – you probably didn’t grow up with olive oil at all, except on foreign holidays, but once we discovered it we embraced it with the fervour of converts. My first experience of it was in France, on one of those life-altering teenage trips. At home we used sunflower oil for everything, including vinaigrette, which we made by shaking the ingredients in a jar. I can still remember the taste, a little too acidic, with a fat that had a flavour so lacking it felt as if it was simply an absence. Dijon mustard, salt and a pinch of sugar basically carried our vinaigrette. In France my exchange partner made vinaigrette in the salad bowl, just before she added the leaves. The components were the same but the extra virgin olive oil that Clothilde whisked in with a fork was what made all the difference. It came from Provence, and it tasted fruity – there was something in it that reminded me of figs – and ever so slightly ‘hot’ (there can be something akin to radish leaves in the flavour of an olive oil). Flavour is the thing to look for when buying. I usually have three bottles of extra virgin olive oil – the oil that comes from the first pressing of the olives – on the go. There’s a general bottle of blended oil from Spain or Greece (I’d use a Provencal one if I could get it
more easily but supermarkets don’t generally stock them) for vinaigrettes, salsa verde, pesto, anything where the nuances of a more characterful oil would be overwhelmed. I try to get something that isn’t too strong in character (I never use extra virgin oils from Tuscany, for example, as I find them too bitter). Two bottles of single estate extra virgin olive oil sit alongside this general one. These come from a specific producer and I often use them neat, pouring them onto hot fish, green beans or tomatoes that have such a good balance of sweetness and acidity that I won’t need to use lemon or vinegar. Some people call these ‘finishing’ oils but I think that diminishes them slightly. With something as simple as fish or vegetables the olive oil is fundamental to the dish. The best way to taste olive oils is to drizzle them on bread and sprinkle with a little salt. If you can, try before you buy – some places offer tastings – to see what suits you. What I like may be different to what you like, and an extra virgin olive oil can become the soul of a dish.
Good Food contributing editor Diana Henry is an award-winning food writer. Her new book, From the Oven to the Table (Dhs115, Mitchell Beazley), is out now. @dianahenryfood
60 BBC Good Food Middle East October 2019
