Choosing an Olive Oil

 

When I first started dating my now husband of many years, I was often fascinated by the differences in his mother’s Italian cooking based on her heritage and experience. Her father was a first generation Italian immigrant who owned and cooked in his own restaurant in New York City. Her food was not fancy or critically acclaimed. But it was always delicious and often accompanied by a story or explanation. Tossed salad was always served with dinner and eaten after the main course. On the table were two glass decanters with stoppers, one with ruby red liquid, the other a distinct green-gold. Yes, red wine vinegar and olive oil. 

“Extra virgin olive oil is best for salads,” she explained, “because you are going to eat it and really taste it. Cooking oil (also olive oil and likely used for sautéing or frying) doesn’t have to be the same.” 

On the floor of her pantry was a large, rectangular, 3 liter container of extra virgin olive oil – used to fill the salad dressing decanter and whenever the olive oil should take center stage for its flavor. Long before a now famous television food personality first spoke the catch phrase, “EVOO,” Rita was well ahead of the trend.  

So how do you decide which is best?

Ever stand in front of the olive oil section at your local grocery store or specialty shop and wonder why you have such a range of choices? What's the difference? Why is it EVOO - is extra virgin olive oil never touched by human hands? Why the range in price and will anyone ever notice the difference once it's mixed with other ingredients?

The short answer is - yes, different olive oils have varying tastes, extra virgin means the process used to make the olive oil does not involve any heat or chemicals, the price is partly correlated to the way the olive oil is made and the classification the end product has (as well as the quality of olives). 

For more details about the different olive oils - Click here.

Haven't been using olive oil for anything other than salad dressing? Try replacing butter or margarine with olive oil. The taste is a bit fuller and brighter, a little goes a long way and it is a bit better for you. 

Drizzle a spoonful of olive oil over cooked pasta and toss to coat evenly to keep it from clumping together. It's also a great base for scampi or add a bit of garlic, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste for a complete dish. This technique is not recommended when using a thick or heavy sauce (like vodka sauce) that you want to cling to the pasta.

My mother-in-law is 91 and continues to share her opinions on important matters like olive oil, the need for cutlets to be pounded "real thin," a preference for Manhattan clam chowder over New England, who the Jets should have gotten in the last draft, politics, and if drinking dark colas really has any impact on the formation of kidney stones. 

Yes, I do have a large, rectangular container of EVOO on the floor of my pantry. I don't necessarily fill the glass decanter with it but my younger son does maintain a squeeze bottle of it for easy dispensing for cooking. We do what we need to do to feel and be Fed Well including handing down our food traditions.

WWND - What would Nora do? Ephron that is.

 

I have never watched a biography more than once. I rarely re-read books - only the ones I truly love. Like meals I want to enjoy, over and over, comfort food for the brain. Last night, I re-enjoyed Nora Ephron: Everything is Copy. It does not matter that I know damn well how it ends.

Lately, I am somewhere between concerned and obsessively anxious about finding a full-time job that will be fulfilling, meaningful, provide a chance to grow, and all while paying an above average salary. Is that really to much to ask by a woman in their early 50's with enough experience that she was advised not to put the years on her resume for fear of sounding too old? (Yes, I wrote that run-on sentence just as out of breath as I would have if I were sitting across from you.)

I have writing heroes - Dorothy Parker and Nora Ephron sit on thrones. Queens of the written word with a bit of razor sharp wit. Okay, maybe even an abundance of razor sharp wit.

I have food heroes. Alex Guarneschelli and Julia Child. An odd combination? No. I disagree. Guarneschelli is the utmost leader in food adjectives, passionate discussions about ingredients, dishes, and meals always occur when she speaks in any medium. Child - well, do I really need to discuss this with you? 

Wait - there are connections? Nora Ephron and the movie, Julie and Julia. No, Ephron did not write it, that was Julie Powell, but she directed it. Ah.

So, what do I do with this information and dotted lines with a bit of crossover? Can I take a bit of something from each of these women, lessons learned, trails blazed, and mix it all together to create my own dish? Yes. 

It's not happening fast enough -  I can admit it. After that crazy breast cancer journey, the calendar, no the clock on the wall is a constant presence, a tap on the shoulder, a more than gentle nudge, that time is precious and finite.

I spend my days finding ways to be Fed Well. Every day, compiling ingredients and putting them together. Some days a low and slow simmer, and others the temptation to throw everything in the microwave and just cook up something, anything is tempting. 

What would Nora do?

Memories of Grandma's Beef Stew

 

Take a moment, pause, put down your phone, let go of the mouse, sit still and take a few breaths. Now, visit your very earliest memories – no, not that traumatizing injury but can you remember a meal or the smell of something delicious cooking? I can think of a few but one that hits me right in the feels includes my paternal grandmother who I didn’t have enough time with to get to know very well.

I was about four or five, sitting with a coloring book and crayons at one end of her long kitchen table. I remember the room fairly clearly as only having lower cabinets along one wall that had to be ten or more feet long. I once wondered if someone could lay on top of what seemed like a never ending countertop. My grandma was at the other end of the table, transferring the contents of a large pot to a bowl.

I heard squishing.

The sound, to my post toddler yet inexperienced with life brain, translated to, “ew.”

I made the sound out loud.

“Ew.”

I immediately realized my mistake and looked down at my coloring with feigned intensity designed to convince my grandmother when she invariably brought her attention to me, that she would doubt she heard me correctly or hopefully question if she heard anything at all.

It didn’t work.

“It’s not ew,” she said. “It’s beef stew and it’s delicious.”

Damn it.

I looked up as if I were seeing what she was doing for the first time. The thick brown gravy had cooled into a pudding consistency. I could see the mixture punctuated distinctly with green peas and for me, their presence alone was a real deal breaker.

“I wasn’t talking about the food. I was talking about my coloring.”

Ah – my first memory of a clear, premeditated lie. Although an argument could be made for not only the desire to save my own ass but to spare her any bad feelings both toward me and about her cooking.

The memory becomes blurry from here but what I wouldn’t give to go back, just to that moment, and take away that, “ew.” And replace it with, “Can I try it?”

Imagine what that could have felt like instead. 

As a grandmother, I know for a fact I would stop whatever I was doing to feed my grandson or granddaughter and if they asked for something I made from scratch? Well. The world would simply stop turning while I attended to this request.

Beef Stew

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds of beef
• A possible combination of fresh carrots, celery, onions and mushrooms
• Flour, salt, pepper
• Maybe a bit of tomato sauce if the mood strikes
• Beef broth

Vague Grandma-like directions:

1. Toss all ingredients in flour to coat
2. Brown the beef in a tablespoon of vegetable oil
3. Add the onions
4. Once the onions are softened, add the remaining vegetables and stir
5. Add the rest, cover and simmer in an oven for hours – slow and low

Serve over egg noodles or rice or with large chunks of potatoes.

Hold the peas.

I only have a small handful of other memories with my grandma. Many of those are tied to the few pictures I have or stories that were handed down. She died young. After this birthday, I will have lived longer than she did and yes, I am very much aware of it. 

I absolutely know I would very much have loved to have more time with her – we would have been Fed Well.

 

Mother's Day Brunch: The Results

 

I had one of the best Mother's Day's at my home - ever. We were all healthy, able to gather, the morning and early afternoon were sun filled and the whiffle ball game yielded no injuries! What more can anyone ask for?

Ah - what did we eat? I thought you'd never ask.

Here's the main menu:

• Three types of grilled luganega - Italian sausage sold in a spiral. We had hot, with cheese, and a no fennel version.
• Baked ham
• Two casseroles with egg and cheese, one with sausage and the other with bacon.
• A veggie frittata - no dairy.
• Deviled eggs
• Pancakes - plain and blueberry
• Breakfast potatoes
• Fresh fruit bowl
• Cranberry sauce because my grandson currently cannot get enough of it.
• Prosciutto bread
• Raspberry sorbet champagne punch

For dessert:

• Chocolate torte with berry sauce
• Crumb cake
• Cherry pie
• Chocolate chip pudding cake

Forgot to make/include and still sitting in the refrigerator or on the counter:

• fresh apple slices with caramel and chocolate dipping sauces
• cinnamon rolls

Here's what I really want to talk about - those potatoes.

My younger son really loves the unseasoned, small cubes of frozen potatoes with eggs. It is a meal he can eat anytime of day and one he considers to be comfort food. So, it stands to reason I would delegate the preparation of these brunch carbs to him.

He mixes the potatoes in a large, stainless steel mixing bowl with a bit of olive oil, salt, paprika, and seasoned pepper. They are then spread out in a single layer and baked according to the package directions. Normally, a home run.

I made things challenging by adding a second bag to ensure the quantity we would need but only provided one baking dish rather than two separate cookie sheets. I know. I know.

But, realizing the challenge, we thought we started the potatoes with enough time to stir, and cook them more than the single layer version.

Not everyone arrived on time and that was a good thing. The potatoes continued to cook.  And cook.  And cook.

Punch was served. Mix a bottle of soda (pick your fave clear or raspeberry flavored), a bottle of champagne, and some cranberry juice are combined in a punch bowl with ice and a container of raspberry sorbet or sherbet.

Everyone has now arrived and are seated. The potatoes are READY!

They were just waiting for all the guests! The trick though, seriously, is to stick with it, don't give up and just keep cooking.

In between the main meal and dessert - that is when we play whiffle ball and take family photos. We are lucky to have two special Grand Poo-bahs attend and they are our matriarchs! Four generations of fun and laughter made it the best Mother's Day (click here for more Mother's Day recipes you can make anytime) and all were Fed Well.