Yesterday I mentioned that I often receive products from producers with the hope, from them, that I will write about them. I usually play around a bit, and if I end up liking them, and the recipes work out, I’m happy to recommend whatever it is. Because I really do get a lot of questions about what brand of olive oil/balsamic/pasta/fill-in-the-blank I use.
A few weeks ago a friend of mine who produces olive oil, asked if she could drop by some samples. “I’d love for you to work in the oils into some recipe.”
Since her oils are so special, I held off writing anything until I could think of something beyond using the phrase ‘drizzle with extra virgin olive oil to finish.’ That pretty much goes without saying, right?
While Marina Colonna does make regular extra virgin olive oil (that you are free to drizzle on anything your heart desires) her citrus oils were what I really wanted to play around with. Long before people started infusing olive oil with just about everything, olive oil producers in Abruzzo were using lemons in a completely different way.
But first, a word about infused oils. I hold almost all infused oils in the same regard as I do things like hazelnut flavored coffee. Yuck-o-rama. Usually, all those oils you see with branches and twigs, or pieces of various citrus peels are old musty oil that has been ‘infused’ with artificial flavors and ingredient that have no business being there. A bright ribbon around the bottle is usually a dead giveaway.
Instead, what Marina does is actually press the citrus fruit along with the olives themselves. Drawing on the age old Abruzzo tradition of cleaning out your olive press with a run of lemons, Marina has been combining different citrus with the olives themselves, so that the pure, clean oils from the zest combine with the olives to produce a sunny, fresh and completely elegant oil full of all the best of both fruits.
Her original oil, Grandverde, uses lemons and is just about my favorite thing to drizzle on top of vegetables and fish. Lately Marina has been experimenting with other citrus – mandarins and oranges – and this is what she wanted me to play around with.
I’d actually never considered cooking or baking with any of these oils, since I suspected the volatile citrus essense would cook away and dissipate. So as I was muddling this over in my mind, tasting the oils, getting ideas, I came up with something that is a simple twist but turns something ordinary into something not only extraordinary, but completely addictive.
One of my daily breakfast routines is to toast a slice of Roscioli pane di lariano, drizzle it with a bit of oil and salt and gobble it up while I read the news, trying not to get my keyboard too dirty. As tomatoes come into season, things get progressively messier.
Last Saturday, as I was slicing my Sicilian tomatoes I groggily reached for the bottle of regular oil, but before I realized I was doing it, my bruschetta was soaked with the Colonna Arancio.
Well, why not, I thought? I often grate some orange zest on top of winter tomato pasta, so really the pairing was not that strange. So I continued, topping my bread with freshly sliced pachino tomatoes, some sea salt and even more of the fragrant orange oil.
As I tried my best to keep things off my keyboard, I realized I’d not only found my new favorite breakfast food, but a new use for one of Marina’s oils as well.
You can read more about Marina’s citrus oils here. A full list of her retail outlets around the world is here
You can play around with her citrus oils by ordering the sampler from Zingerman’s here, or full bottles of her Bergamot and Grandverde (Lemon) here.
I share your disdain for flavored oils, so am excited to read your endorsement of this oil! I looked at the map and noted that there is a retailer in Positano that sells it. I would LOVE to pick some up when I am there in 95 DAYS (but who’s counting) but I could not find the name of the store. Any ideas?
Sorry, but I’m not sure I know where in Positano. Does it not say on the Colonna site? You can always write to them.
Oh, Elizabeth, being a child of Abruzzo, these oils are in my blood, and I love them. So often I hear the yuck-o-rama comment when I mention citrus oils, but once people taste the real thing, the ones that are pressed with the fruit, they always change their mind. The real key is to get the ones that are made as your friend does, by pressing the citrus and oil together, not by adding some heavily citrus flavoring to already pressed olive oil.
I have been using these oils in cakes, salads and gelati, and they are marvelous. Your idea of using the orange oil with tomatoes is genius. I have never done that, and I will have to give it a go. I will see if I can find your friend’s oils here in Los Angeles. I get such a kick out of trying brands that are new to me. Thank you for the introduction.
In fact, my next project is to make some sort of little lemony pound cakes using the oil instead of butter. Stay tuned!
Oh Elizabeth, I am delighted to see there is even a store in New Zealand and it has the FULL range of Colonna Oils. Can’t wait to try them. Thanks again for all your inspiring blogs
Amanda
Let me know if you find them, and what you end up doing with them.
In Positano there is a Hotel called Le Sirenuse which uses our little mignon bottles as room gifts, so I don’t think it is possible to purchase them but we can send oil anywhere you like. In Italy if the order is over 20 kg postage is free, under that it is only a few euros on top of the cost of the oils, so wherever you are we can get the oils to you.
Thanks Caroline! Too bad I can’t purchase them in Positano, but I will be back in Italy in September, visiting Milan, Venice and Puglia, so I will pick some up on my travels. If all else fails, I will buy some online.
Thanks again Elizabeth for another great inspiration – now if only I could get Sicilian tomatoes this time of year!
You and I share a favourite breakfast treat! One of the things I love is roasted peppers in EVOO, basil and orange rind…utterly delicious! And, when serving osso bucco my gremolata includes both lemon and orange rind. The upshot being….I would love to have the opportunity to “play around” with this oil…lucky you!