Fresh-Pressed Olive Oil Club

Roasted Chicken with Mango and Nut Salsa

Roasted chicken is the little black dress of the table, welcome on the menu of a dinner party or a weeknight meal. The following bright-tasting salsa is also terrific with fish, a popular entrée in Chile, a country with over 2,000 miles of Pacific coastline. Dice the vegetables extra fine and serve the salsa with cold shrimp for a warm-weather appetizer.

Ingredients

For the salsa:

  • 3 ripe mangos, peeled, pitted, and diced
  • 1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and diced
  • 1 jalapeño, cored, seeded, and finely diced
  • 1/2 cup diced red onion (about 1/2 a small onion)
  • Zest of one lime
  • 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
  • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons honey
  • 1 teaspoon merquén or 1/2 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
  • 1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts or shelled pistachios, roughly chopped
  • Coarse salt (optional; don’t use if nuts are salted)

For the chicken:

  • One 4-pound roasting
    chicken, giblets removed
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Coarse salt (kosher or sea)
  • Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Step 1

Make the salsa: Combine the mangos, bell pepper, jalapeño, onion, lime zest and juice, olive oil, honey, and merquén. Stir gently with a rubber-bladed spatula. Add the nuts and a pinch of salt, if using, and stir to combine. Set aside while you roast the chicken.

Step 2

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Truss the chicken, if desired. Rub on all sides with olive oil and season generously, inside and out, with salt and pepper. Place on a wire rack over a rimmed baking sheet or roasting pan. Place in the oven. Roast until the chicken is golden brown and an instant-read meat thermometer reads 165°F when the probe is inserted in the deepest part of a thigh, about an hour and 15 minutes. Let the bird rest for 10 minutes before carving. Stir the salsa once more before serving with the chicken.

Serves 3 to 4

Flank Steak with Avocado Chimichurri

To make this lean cut of beef tender, three steps are needed: a long marination, a fast grilling, and slicing against the grain—in the opposite direction of its meat fibers.

Ingredients

For the steak:

  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt (kosher or sea)
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
  • 2 pounds flank steak or hanger steak

For the chimichurri:

  • 1 bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, rinsed, shaken dry, and trimmed (keep on the top half of the stems)
  • 1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, rinsed, shaken dry, and trimmed (keep on the top half of the stems)
  • 3 to 4 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon fresh or 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon merquén or hot red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons cold water
  • Coarse sea salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and diced

Directions

Step 1

Make the marinade: Whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and garlic. Place the steak in a glass baking dish that will hold it and pour on the marinade, flipping the meat to coat both sides. Cover and place in the fridge for four hours or up to overnight.

Step 2

Two hours before serving, make the chimichurri: Place the parsley, cilantro, garlic, oregano, and merquén in a food processor and finely chop, running the machine in short bursts. With the motor running, add the olive oil in a thin stream, followed by 3 tablespoons vinegar and 3 tablespoons of water. Taste the chimichurri, adding another tablespoon of vinegar if you want it more tart and, if necessary, another tablespoon of water for a pourable consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste; it should be highly seasoned. Set aside. Fold in the avocado chunks just before serving.

Step 3

Preheat your grill to medium-high. Remove the steak from the marinade and pat dry. Grill for 3 to 5 minutes per side, depending on thickness—it’s best medium-rare. Let the meat rest for 2 to 3 minutes, then thinly slice on the diagonal. Arrange on a platter and serve with the avocado chimichurri.

Serves 4 to 6

Quinoa and Black Bean Burgers

Even carnivorous types crave a well-made vegetarian burger from time to time. I love the combination of quinoa, a protein-rich grain related to amaranth, spinach that is cultivated by small farms in the Andes, and black beans. If desired, you can transform this into a vegan burger by employing an egg substitute and vegan cheese.

Ingredients

  • One 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1/2 cup vegetable broth or water, plus more if needed
  • 1/4 cup quinoa
  • 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided use, plus more for your hands
  • 4 ounces cremini mushrooms, cleaned and finely chopped
  • 1/2 poblano or red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and diced
  • 2 tablespoons minced onion
  • 1 to 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon merquén or smoked paprika
  • Coarse salt (kosher or sea)
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 cup panko or other dry bread crumbs, or more as needed
  • 1/3 cup cashews, coarsely chopped
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 1/3 cup drained feta, crumbled

For serving:

  • Your favorite burger buns, preferably toasted, and condiments

Directions

Step 1

Line a rimmed sheet pan with paper towels. Spread the beans out on the prepared sheet pan to dry for at least 30 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and mash roughly, leaving some beans whole. In the meantime, bring the broth and quinoa to a boil in a small saucepan. Reduce the heat, and simmer the quinoa until it’s tender and the liquid has evaporated, 15 to 20 minutes. Fluff with a fork and add to the beans.

Step 2

Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons of oil, the mushrooms, poblano, and onion; sauté for 5 to 6 minutes, or until the mushrooms have given up their liquid and the pepper and onion have softened; add the garlic, cumin, and merquén and cook for 1 minute more. Season with salt and pepper. Let cool slightly. Add to the black bean/quinoa mixture. Stir in 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the panko, cashews, egg, and feta. If the mixture is too dry to shape into patties, add broth or water a tablespoon at a time. If too wet, add more panko.

Step 3

Rub a bit of olive oil on your hands, then shape the black bean/quinoa mixture into patties. (Each will require about 1/2 cup of the mixture, but you’ll want your burgers to be as large in diameter as your buns.) Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan. Fry the burgers, flipping once, until they are heated through and have developed nice caramelization on each side. Serve on buns with your choice of condiments.

Serves 4 to 5

Easy Potato Gnocchi

Intimidated by the idea of making pasta at home? Gnocchi is a happy compromise because you don’t need a pasta machine or endless rolling to achieve delectable results. A 2:1 potato to flour ratio works best; for accuracy, measure with a kitchen scale. For the smoothest dough, use a potato ricer, a handy and inexpensive tool (see the “Quick Kitchen Nugget” in Olive Oil Hunter News). 

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds Yukon gold or red potatoes, peeled
  • 1 large egg, slightly beaten
  • 1 pound all-purpose or 00 pasta flour, plus more for shaping
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 teaspoons fine sea salt, divided use

Directions

Step 1

Peel and quarter the potatoes. Steam them on a steaming rack placed over a few inches of water in a large, covered pot until tender, about 25 minutes. The water should stay at a simmer; check halfway through to see if you need to add more. 

Step 2

Let the potatoes cool slightly and then press them through a ricer set over a large bowl, working in batches. Add in the egg, flour, olive oil, and 1 teaspoon of salt, and use your hands to mix the ingredients well and knead into a ball. Dust a clean section of your countertop with a handful of flour. Turn out the dough, shape it into a log, and cut it into 6 even sections. One at a time, roll each section into a rope about 1 inch in diameter, lightly flouring your hands as needed. Use a bench scraper to cut each rope into 1-inch pieces.  

Step 3

Bring a very large pot of water to a boil. Add the rest of the salt and the gnocchi. Lower the heat to a medium boil and cook until the gnocchi rise to the surface, just a few minutes. Scoop them out with a spider strainer, and top with sauce as desired.

Yields 4 servings