Fresh-Pressed Olive Oil Club
Spanish and Portuguese Harvest Page 11

Chocolate Mousse with Olive Oil and Sea Salt

Posted on by The Olive Oil Hunter

Olive oil adds intrigue and richness to this decadent dessert. Heat the egg-and-milk mixture very slowly in a heavy-bottomed pan to avoid curdling the eggs. If desired, substitute 1 tablespoon of orange-flavored liqueur for 1 tablespoon of coffee and garnish with candied orange peel. 

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs, thoroughly beaten
  • 3/4 cup whole milk
  • 6 ounces good-quality semi-sweet dark chocolate
  • 3 tablespoons freshly brewed strong coffee
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • Tiny pinch fine salt Sea salt, such as Maldon, or grey lavender salt, to serve
  • Lightly sweetened whipped cream, to serve 

Directions

Step 1

Whisk the milk and eggs together, beating for at least a minute. Put in a small, heavy saucepan over low heat. Put a thermometer into the milk mixture and carefully heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture reaches 160°F. Take off the heat. 

Step 2

In another small, heavy saucepan, put the chocolate over low heat. (Break up the chocolate into shards if not using small baking pieces.) Heat slowly, stirring frequently, until the chocolate is completely melted. Take off the heat and stir in the coffee and the olive oil. 

Step 3

Add the milk-and-egg mixture to a blender or food processor, along with the maple syrup, vanilla, and a pinch of fine salt. Blend. With the food processor or blender running, slowly pour in the chocolate-and-coffee mixture and blend until well combined. The final mix will be frothy and smooth. 

Step 4

Fill four 6-ounce ramekins and put in the refrigerator to chill. Depending on the size and depth of the dish, this mousse will take from a half hour to three hours to set. Serve with whipped cream and just a pinch of rough salt. 

Serves 4 — Recipe adapted from thekitchn.com

Spanish Cod with Celery Salsa Verde

Posted on by The Olive Oil Hunter

We often detect celery leaf–like flavors in the superior-quality oils we deliver to your table and were excited to find the following recipe. It uses celery leaves in a deliciously creative way. 

Ingredients

  • For the salsa:
  • 1 small garlic clove, minced
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 cup chopped celery leaves
  • 2 tablespoons chopped mint
  • 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
  • 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil 
  • For the cod:
  • 2 skinless cod fillets (6 to 8 ounces each)
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 lemon wedges, seeded 

Directions

Step 1

Make the celery salsa verde: In a small bowl, combine the garlic, lemon zest, mustard, and salt. Stir in the celery leaves, mint, parsley, and 1/3 cup of olive oil. Taste for seasoning and adjust the salt as needed. 

Step 2

Pat the fillets dry with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper on both sides. In a large skillet, warm the remaining olive oil over medium-high heat. Carefully lay the fillets in the hot oil and cook until the sh separates into opaque white flakes. Transfer to dinner plates. Finish with a squeeze of fresh lemon and the celery salsa verde 

Serves 2 — Recipe adapted from Jamesbeard.org 

Mediterranean Diet for Diabetes

Posted on by The Olive Oil Hunter

The following article by health and medicine writer Nicholas Bakalar is reprinted from the New York Times, January 13, 2014

More good news on the Mediterranean diet. Sticking to a Mediterranean-style diet may help reduce the risk for Type 2 diabetes, even when people don’t lose weight or increase exercise levels.

The Mediterranean diet is rich in olive oil, nuts, fish, beans, fruits and vegetables, with few dairy products and moderate alcohol consumption.

The study, published in Annals of Internal Medicine, randomly assigned 3,541 men and women, ages 55 to 80 and free of diabetes, to one of three diets: a Mediterranean diet supplemented with either two ounces of extra-virgin olive oil, one supplemented with an ounce of mixed nuts a day, and a control group advised to eat a low-fat diet. They followed the participants for an average of about four years, with no intervention to increase physical activity or limit calories.

Compared with the control group, and after adjusting for health and socioeconomic factors, the risk for diabetes was 40 percent lower with the Mediterranean diet supplemented with olive oil and 18 percent lower with the diet supplemented with nuts.

“The strength of our study is that it has a large number of participants with a long followup and a randomized design,” said an author, Dr. Ramón Estruch, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Barcelona. “The diet works by itself without considering physical activity or changes in weight, which were insignificant between groups.”

The study in Annals of Internal Medicine referenced in the article above can be found here.

Even Fried Food Has Nutritional Value When Cooked in Olive Oil

Posted on by The Olive Oil Hunter

 The following is excerpted from an article by Yvette Brazier that appeared in Medical News Today on January 25, 2016.

Frying in extra virgin olive oil is healthier than other cooking methods, according to research published in Food Chemistry.

Numerous studies have extolled the virtues of the Mediterranean diet. There is evidence that it leads to a lower risk of heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular problems, improves gut health, slows the process of brain aging, and reduces the risk of various chronic, degenerative conditions. The Spanish Mediterranean diet features a high volume of vegetables and extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), both of which are good sources of phenols, the antioxidant effect of which is believed to contribute to the reduction of health risks.

Concentrations of antioxidants can be either increased or decreased, depending on how the food is processed.

Researchers from the University of Granada in Spain wanted to compare cooking methods to find out which one would give the best antioxidant capacity, and maximize the amount of phenolic compounds provided by vegetables used in the Mediterranean diet, including potato, pumpkin, tomato and eggplant.

Phenols transfer from olive oil to vegetables during frying

Under controlled conditions, the team cooked 120 g of potato, pumpkin, tomato and eggplant without seeds or skin. They compared three methods: frying, boiling, and cooking with a mixture of EVOO and water. The ratio of vegetable to water followed traditional Spanish cooking methods.

They also used high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to measure the levels of phenolic compound in each vegetable.

Frying in EVOO was found to increase fat content and reduce moisture; other methods did not have this effect. Cooking in oil increased the levels of phenolic compounds, but cooking in water did not. This is thought to be due to phenols being transferred from the EVOO to the vegetables, adding to the vegetables some beneficial compounds not normally found there.

Results showed that frying in EVOO is the most effective way to increase the antioxidant capacity and levels of phenolic compounds in raw potato, pumpkin, tomato, and eggplant. In other words, the cooking process improves the quality of the raw foods.

All three methods led to a higher level of antioxidant capacity in all the vegetables. The final levels of phenols, moisture, fat, dry matter, and antioxidant activity of each vegetable varied according to the composition of the original vegetable and the cooking method.

Any raw vegetable that started with a high level of phenols had its phenolic content boosted further by the use of EVOO in cooking, suggesting that frying and sautéing should be used not only to conserve the goodness, but also to enhance it.

Reference: Ramírez-Anaya JP, Samaniego-Sánchez C, Castañeda-Saucedo MC, Villalón-Mir M, de la Serrana HL. Phenols and the antioxidant capacity of Mediterranean vegetables prepared with extra virgin olive oil using different domestic cooking techniques. Food Chem. 2015;188:430-8.