The Olive Guy

Recipes & uses

Use it where you can taste it.

None of these are complicated. They are all built so the oil is the loudest thing in the dish, which is the only reason to buy a good one.

5 minutes

Bread, oil, salt

The test kitchen for any olive oil. If it is good you will want a second piece, and if it is not you will know immediately.

Ingredients

  • Good sourdough or ciabatta, thickly sliced
  • A garlic clove, halved
  • Extra virgin olive oil, generously
  • Flaky salt

Method

  1. Grill or toast the bread until it is properly charred at the edges.
  2. Rub the cut garlic across the hot surface once or twice. The bread acts like a grater.
  3. Pour the oil over so it soaks in rather than sits on top. Use more than feels sensible.
  4. Finish with flaky salt and eat straight away, while the bread is still warm.

3 minutes

A dressing worth making

Three parts oil to one part acid is the ratio people repeat. With a peppery single-estate oil, pull it back closer to two to one so the oil does not flatten everything.

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar or lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • Salt and pepper

Method

  1. Put the vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper in a jar and shake until combined.
  2. Add the oil and shake hard for fifteen seconds so it emulsifies properly.
  3. Taste it on a leaf, not off a spoon. It should be slightly sharper than you want, because the salad will soften it.

10 minutes

Whipped ricotta

Almost nothing to it, and the oil does most of the work. Serve with warm flatbread as something to pick at before dinner.

Ingredients

  • 400 g fresh ricotta
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more to finish
  • Zest of one lemon
  • Salt, black pepper, a pinch of chilli flakes

Method

  1. Beat the ricotta with the oil, lemon zest and a good pinch of salt until it turns smooth and glossy.
  2. Spread it across a plate in a thick swoosh, leaving hollows.
  3. Pour more oil into the hollows, then add pepper and chilli flakes.

1 hour 30 minutes

Slow beans in olive oil

A whole cup of oil goes into this and it is the point. The beans take it up and turn silky. It keeps for days and improves.

Ingredients

  • 400 g dried cannellini beans, soaked overnight
  • 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 head of garlic, halved across
  • 2 bay leaves, a strip of lemon peel
  • Salt

Method

  1. Drain the beans and put them in a heavy pot with the garlic, bay, lemon peel and oil.
  2. Cover with water by about three centimetres. Bring to a bare simmer.
  3. Cook very gently for one to one and a half hours until the beans are completely soft. Do not let it boil hard.
  4. Salt at the end, not the beginning. Serve warm with more oil poured over.

1 hour

Olive oil and orange cake

One of the few baked things where a distinctive oil is worth using, because the flavour survives the oven.

Ingredients

  • 200 ml extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 200 g caster sugar
  • 250 g plain flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • Zest and juice of one orange
  • A pinch of salt

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius and line a 22 cm tin.
  2. Whisk the eggs and sugar until pale and thick, about four minutes.
  3. Pour in the oil in a steady stream while still whisking, then the orange juice and zest.
  4. Fold through the flour, baking powder and salt until just combined.
  5. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tin.

Storing it

Keep the bottle sealed, out of direct light, and away from the stove. Heat and light are what turn good oil rancid, not time on its own. A cupboard is perfect. The fridge is not necessary and will make it cloudy, though that does no harm and clears at room temperature.

If you bought the five litre container, decant a bottle at a time and keep it sealed. Every time you open a large container you let air in.

Order a bottle