Acken Danielle L. - The olive oil & vinegar lovers cookbook

To Aunt Maria, who inspired us to start this journey.

CONTENTS

SPECIAL SECTIONS

INTRODUCTION

When my husband, Stephen, and I were first married, we stuffed two suitcases to capacity and jumped on a plane to the lovely city of Mainz, Germany. We had been invited there by some close friends to help them launch a caf. While we were in the middle of learning a new language, starting a new business, making new friends, and getting acquainted with our new home, we often visited some very close family friends who lived in Italy: Aunt Maria and her daughter, Aunt Graziella (who is one of Stephens mothers closest friends from childhood). The pair of them lived in their ancestral family home, a small, thriving olive grove just outside of Fano, Italy.

Fano is a quaint, old city in the region of Marche. This little-known and often-forgotten region has since become very close to our hearts. Its set right along the coast of the Adriatic Sea, bordered by Emilia-Romagna on the north and Arbruzzo to the south, and shares inland borders with both Tuscany and Umbria. It epitomizes the pastoral landscape we all think of when we picture Italyrolling hills dotted with little yellow houses (these are made from local clay soil and are characteristic of the region) divided by rows of oak trees. The town of Fano itself is incredibly charming. Its bustling markets offer such a wonderful variety of amazing food: fresh local produce, cured meats like prosciutto (which is sliced right there by the lovely local butcher), and bread and cheese to die for (and the cheese sits on carts with wheels the same size as me!). While Germany was becoming our new home, Fano was becoming our new home away from home.

Harvest time at the aunties olive grove was always a big event! All of their friends and family would come and help pick olives, and then everyone would head over to the frantoio (a local olive oil press) to celebrate with a huge party, complete with food, wine, and musicall the hallmarks of a lively Italian-style get-together. Aunt Maria passed away in 2015, but Aunt Graziella still harvests the olives every year and her friends still turn up to help her.

And how delicious their olive oil is! We ate it on absolutely everything: We drizzled it over toast for breakfast, we ate it with charcuterie and cheese, we tossed pasta in it, and we bathed potatoes and roasts in it. To be honest, we would even drink it straight. But where had this elixir been all my life? It was absolutely nothing like the extra virgin olive oil I was able to buy at the grocery store back home in North America.

When we moved back home, we were disappointed and frustrated by the greasy, flat, and mostly plastic-tasting olive oils that were available to us. And we tried a lot of them. Why did the fifty-dollar bottle and the eight-dollar bottle taste basically the same? And, more importantly, why did neither of them taste anything like the olive oil we enjoyed back in Marche, Italy?

We eventually found out that olive oil (as its meant to be enjoyed) is an evolving, changing, fresh juice that should be consumed quickly. There really isnt much difference between squeezing juice from an orange and extracting oil from an olive, yet in North America, olive oil is viewed as more of a shelf-stable condiment that will last forever. As a result, the olive oil were used to consuming is actually considered to be old and rancid. Food science is a fast-paced world and it can be difficult to keep up, but Im increasingly convinced wed be safer avoiding consuming older oils, especially if theyre sold in plastic bottles.

The Mediterranean diet is so healthy primarily because of all the antioxidants and healthful properties found in fresh extra virgin olive oil. There have been countless reliable studies done on the positive effects of fresh olive oil, and I never tire of looking for fresh research on the subject. Diets and eating habits seem to come and go, but olive oil is a constant. Its been the popular choice for over 2,000 years, and I dont see it going anywhere soon.

Stephen and I decided wed have to act on our newfound knowledge, and we soon put our hearts into educating people about real, fresh olive oil by opening up a small retail store in our hometown of Victoria, BC, Canada. Our aim was to teach people how to taste it, how to enjoy it, and how to integrate it into everyday life, and we worked with olive groves and suppliers who deal with the absolute best-quality, fresh olive oils and balsamic vinegars.

I loved talking to customers about all the fun things they could do with their new ingredients, and it was not uncommon for many of those customers to come back to the store to tell me theyd forgotten my suggestions. At first, I typed up my own recipes and printed them out to give away in the retail store, but I simply couldnt keep up with the demand. People wanted more ideas and more ways to use more types of olive oil and vinegar. Customers eventually asked us to start offering cooking classes, which we did. Everything I do builds on my personal mission statement: change the way people think and feel about olive oil and how they use it on a daily basis. Writing a cookbook therefore seemed like the next logical step.

As much as we loved retail sales and interacting with customers on a daily basis, though, I felt it was time to broaden the horizon of my mission, so I invested some time in becoming an olive oil sommelier. As I combined my love and passion for feeding people, tasting olive oil, and learning as much as I can about this ingredient, I realized it was time to reach out to more than our lovely loyal customers every day. I wanted to introduce a broader range of people to the world of olive oils and how to use them. Revising this cookbook is part of that expanded purpose, as I continue to share my knowledge and explain how to integrate olive oil into every meal, simply, healthfully, and deliciously.

The table is traditionally where loved ones meet. And the dinner table is where we found olio nuovo, new oil or fresh oil, at Aunt Maria and Aunt Graziellas home in Fano. It is the center of the home, of the family. It is where connections are established and conversations begin, where ideas form and life happens, all over delicious meals. Ensuring the food is delicious, so everyone wants to sit and chat to make the most of it, but simple enough that it doesnt take hours to make, is vital to me, and Ive tried my best to incorporate that approach into these recipes, so you can spend even more time with family and friends around the table.

I hope that youll join me in discovering how good-quality olive oil is the everyday ingredient that can transform every meal into something truly special. Delicious food doesnt need to be to be complicated; and using olive oil means that quality, simple ingredients will shine brightly, no matter the dish. If you ask me, olive oil is the silent hero of the cooking world. I dont know anyone who picks out their olive oil to determine what they will cook that evening (well, aside from myself); usually the protein or starch is the hero, and all the other ingredients fall into place. Maybe its time to change that approach. For example, you can cook two versions of the one prawn recipe in exactly the same way, using good olive oil in one and old olive oil in the other; people will think theyre different dishes, when its actually all down to the olive oil. I hope that within these pages youll find straightforward, uncomplicated staples that will heighten every day dishes, elevate old staples, and make every day simply delicious.