Salads and Vegetables
Toss crisp salad greens in some extra virgin olive oil to provide a protective moist coating and prevent wilting, or add 1/3 lemon juice to 2/3 extra virgin olive oil for a simply delicious dressing.

With its fruity full flavours a small amount drizzled over steamed, roasted, grilled or sautéed vegetables such as eggplant, zucchini, leeks, fennel, potatoes and tomatoes adds a beautiful depth of flavour like nothing else. It is that magical ingredient!

Marinades
Used in marinades, extra virgin olive oil harmonises the other flavours and helps the ingredients to penetrate and tenderise the food. Choose an extra virgin olive oil - based marinade for lean meat, poultry or white fish, which may dry out during cooking. If the food is to be grilled or barbecued, brushing it with marinade during cooking will add extra flavour and keep it moist.

Frying
For the best and healthiest results from cooking and frying with extra virgin olive oil use a non-stick pan and add only a small quantity extra virgin olive oil. Nutritionist Rosemary Stanton advises you to heat the oil slowly and keep it at a constant temperature – at a moderate heat of 150ºc (300ºF) for raw ingredients, 165ºc (315ºF) for deep fried food, and 180ºc (350ºF) for food that only takes a minute to cook, such as fish. If you need to reheat the pan to cook another batch, use only half as much oil for the same browning effect.

Roasting and Searing
Rub extra virgin olive oil and a small amount of sea salt over chicken and select cuts of meat before roasting or pan searing to seal in the juices and produce delicious crisp skin.

Baking
Extra virgin olive oil gives bread, cakes and pastries distinctive flavour and produces a soft, moist dough. It also improves the keeping quality of the bread. And of course is so much healthier than using other oils and butter.

Ingredients (serves 4)

Method

To make garlic, lemon & sage oil, heat oil in a medium non-stick frying pan over low heat. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds or until aromatic. Remove from heat. Add sage, and saffron. Stir to combine and set aside.

Combine stock and wine in a saucepan and bring to the boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and hold at a simmer.

Heat oil and butter in a heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until soft. Add Swiss brown and button mushrooms and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until mushroom softens.

Add the rice and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until grains appear glassy. Add a ladleful (about 125ml or 1/2 cup) of stock mixture to the rice mixture and use a wooden spoon to stir until liquid is completely absorbed. Continue to add stock mixture, a ladleful at a time, stirring constantly and allowing the liquid to be absorbed before adding the next ladleful. Cook until rice is just tender and risotto is creamy. (this will take about 25 minutes)

Add the enoki and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until tender, Remove from heat. Stir in the Parmesan and parsley. Taste and season with salt.

Spoon the risotto among serving bowls. Top with oil mixture and sprinkle with extra Parmesan to serve.

250ml (1 cup) Olio Bello Mandarin Pressed extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to grease
110g (3/4 cup) plain flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
90g (1/2 cup) fine semonlina*
3 eggs, plus 6 egg yolks
220g (1 cup) caster sugar
60ml (1/4 cup) amaretto liqueur
Icing sugar, to dust
Glace tangerines* and melted chocolate, to serve

Method

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Grease a 27cm spring-form pan with a little extra oil and line the base with baking paper.

Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl, then stir in semolina and a good pinch of sea salt. Place eggs, yolks and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on high speed for 5 minutes or until light and thick. Fold semolina mixture into egg mixture. Mix oil and amaretto, then stir into semolina mixture and combine well.

Pour into pan, then tap on bench 2 or 3 times to remove any bubbles. Bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cover loosely with foil if browning too quickly. Cool slightly, then remove from pan and cool completely. Serve slices with tangerines and a drizzle of melted chocolate.

Notes: * Fine semolina is from selected supermarkets and health food shops. Glace tangerines are from gourmet food and cheese shops, and selected delis.

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil "Olio Bello M/R Premium Blend"

1 large onion, sliced

2 celery sticks, sliced

450g aubergines (eggplant) diced

5 ripe tomatoes, chopped

3 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp capers

12 olives, stoned

Pinch of salt

4 tbsp chopped fresh parsley, to garnish

2 tsp crushed dried chillies

1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme or oregano

½ cup extra virgin olive oil (Olio Bello Romanza)

Method

Sterilise a 30cm 12in square of muslin (cheesecloth) with boiling water and lay it over a plate. Bring up the sides of the muslin and place in a mesh colander, sit in a larger bowl to catch the whey and leave for 2-3 days in the fridge.

Next, sterilize two 450g jars by heating in a gas oven at 150 C / 350 F for 15 minutes.

Now, mix together the dried chillies and herbs. Roll teaspoonfuls of the cheese into balls with your hands and lower into the jars, sprinkling each layer with the herb mixture.

To finish, pour the oil over the cheeses to cover them completely, and store in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

Hints

If the heat of the chillies is not to your taste, try using fresh basil. You will need 1 tbsp of fresh basil, torn into small pieces. This will make a lovely herb flavoured cheese.

To give the mix a true Mediterranean flavor, add the zest of ½ of a lemon to each jar.

Recipe by: Beverly Jollands (From Beverly’s book, The Olive Oil Cookbook)

Heat half the oil in a large heavy saucepan. Add the onion and celery and cook over a gentle heat for about 3 - 4 minutes to soften.

Add the remainder of the oil with the aubergine and stir to absorb the oil.

Cook until the aubergine begins to colour, then add the chopped tomatoes, garlic, vinegar and sugar.

Cover the surface of the vegetables with a circle of greaseproof paper and simmer for 8 - 10 minutes.

Add the capers and olives, then season to taste with salt. Turn the Caponata out into a bowl, garnish with parsley and serve at room temperature with warm crusty bread and olives

Hints

Anchovies and pine nuts also make good additions to Caponata.

Add with the capers omitting the salt
Recipe by: Olive Book by Southwater Publications

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1 cup caster sugar

4 tablespoons cocoa

5 tablespoons Olio Bello Mandarin Pressed Oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons white vinegar

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons vanilla essence

Method

Sift together dry ingredients in a bowl - make three wells. Into these put
the oil the white vinegar and the vanilla essence.

Over all of this pour 1 cup of lukewarm water and mix well.

Pour into 8 inch x 8 inch square cake pan.

Bake at 180C for 30 - 40 minutes.

Serving Suggestion

Try mixing a little Olio Bello Mandarin Oil with light sour cream and
a couple of teaspoons of icing sugar for the ultimate taste.

Lemon Oil & Rosemary Cake

Ingredients

Syrup:

Juice of 2 lemons

125ml water

2 sprigs rosemary

200 gm castor sugar

Cake:

100g roasted almonds

55g pane de casa bread

2 teaspoons chopped rosemary leaves

60g castor sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

4 eggs, beaten

200 ml Olio Bello Lemon Oil

Zest of 1 lemon

Method

Grind bread, almonds and rosemary in a food processor until as fine as
possible.

Combine with sugar & baking powder. Add lemon zest, lemon olive oil & eggs.

Pour into greased 22cm spring form cake tin.

Put into cold oven & bake at 180C for 45-50 min. Leave in tin 5-10 min to
cool.

Serving Suggestion

To make syrup - gently heat all ingredients until the sugar is dissolved.

Boil for 5 min.

Allow rosemary to infuse. Pierce holes in cake and strain syrup
over whilst warm.