Cooking with Olive Oil
•Frying •Searing and Sautéing
•Mediterranean diet
•Sauces and Dressings •Marinating •Baking
Raw Olive Oil
Olive oil is best used raw to bring to the forefront certain characteristics of a dish. Think of raw olive oil as you would salt. Raw olive oil adds body and depth to food, and can serve to balance high acidity (from fruit juices such as lemon, vinegar, wine, tomatoes, etc.) in any dish.
It can also be used to harmonize the spice mix in food. Add a little raw olive oil to a spicy dish and you will notice the improvement. Olive oil also helps a dish to taste more luscious, provides lubrication to the palate, helps to carry the flavors of the dish and creates a rich, viscous texture
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Baking with Olive Oil
We always use our olive oils in baking breads and certain desserts. Our olive oils have a far more distinguished taste than butter, and we have found it adds a desirable dimension to any dessert or bread.
Olive oil added to the dough ingredients contributes to the flavor of the bread flours and it coats the gluten proteins thus tenderizing the resulting dough by reducing the amount of gluten formed. It also produces a more moist bread and slows down the deterioration of the dough. In addition, it will increase the ability of the dough to trap gas, thus helping the dough to rise and increase in volume.
Think of olive oil as you would wine. If you use a poor quality olive oil, it will give the dish an off-taste, just like wine that is not fit for drinking would harm the flavors of a dish when cooking with it. Like wine, pair your olive oil with the dish you are preparing.
Pasta sauces with onions, herbs and garlic are better matched with a fruity olive oil. Grilled meats and roasts, aged cheeses or dishes with generous amounts of garlic or spices are best matched with a fruity-spicy olive oil. Poached fish or sauces without garlic are best with a mild olive oil.
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The Mediterranean diet
Some 20 countries can be thought of as Mediterranean. Their populations vary in culture, ethnicity, religion, economic status and other factors that can influence dietary intake.
The dietary patterns that prevail in the Mediterranean have many common characteristics, however, most of them stem from the fact that olive oil occupies in all of them a central position.
Olive oil is not important just because it has several beneficial properties - it also allows the consumption of large quantities of vegetables in the form of salads and equally large quantities of legumes in the form of cooked foods. Thus, we may define Mediterranean diet as the dietary pattern that has developed in the olive growing areas of the Mediterranean region and was dominant in the late '50s and early '60s.
Other essential components of the Mediterranean diet are wheat, olives and grapes, and their various derivative products. Total fat intake is generally high but, almost always, the ratio of monounsaturated to saturated fats is much higher than in other places of the world.
The traditional Mediterranean diet may be conceived of as having 8 components: (1) high monounsaturated-to-saturated fat ratio, (2) high consumption of vegetables, (3) high consumption of cereals, (4) high consumption of fruits, (5) high consumption of legumes (6) low consumption of meat and meat products, (7) moderate consumption of milk and dairy products, and (8)moderate wine consumption.
Actual foods and dishes include large quantities of pasta and whole grain bread, and cooked meals, soups, and salads rich in olive oil in which legumes and vegetables are consumed in large amounts.
Intake of milk is moderate, but consumption of cheese is high.
Meat used to be consumed modestly, whereas fish consumption was a function of proximity to the sea. Wine has been consumed in moderation and generally during meals in many Mediterranean Countries, in Moslem Mediterranean Countries, however, consumption of alcohol is prohibited on religious grounds.
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