My daughters and I really like the bread dipping oil served at Bravo Cucina Italiano, a restaurant chain in the Pittsburgh area. There a several "copy cat" recipes on the internet, but I think those recipes are much too light on the tomato taste that is characteristic of the Bravo oil. After a couple tries, I think this tastes a lot like Bravo's, or even if it isn't, it is pretty damn good:
1/2 c. olive oil
2 t. sun-dried tomato paste
1/2 t. dried basil
1/2 t. dried thyme
1/2 t. dried rosemary
1/4 t. very finely minced garlic or garlic powder
salt (very little)
pepper
Whisk sun-dried tomato paste and oil in a bowl. Add basil, thyme and rosemary crushing them very finely with your fingers. Whisk. Add garlic and salt and pepper. If possible, let it all blend for a couple hours before using. Delicious.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Lip Balm
I was on a soft food diet for several days after dental surgery, so with bananas in the house I whipped up a batch of "Lip Rejuvenation Formula" from The Passionate Olive, 101 Things to Do with Olive Oil. The recipe calls for one-half ripe banana and 2 tablespoons olive oil, but that is way too much olive oil. Just mash the banana and oil together to make a paste, put it on your lips and leave on for 20 minutes. Rinse off and your lips really are smoother. One banana makes a hell of a lot of paste, so invite all your chapped lipped friends over for this one.
The Passionate Olive, 100 Things to Do with Olive Oil by Carol Firenze is a fun, if silly, book. Among the 101 uses are cooking, of course, massage, health tips, beauty treatments (for you and your pet), first aid, head lice (and hairball) treatments, making your own baby wipes -- to name just a few.
But not to worry, I will share selected ideas with my readers as we go along.
The Passionate Olive, 100 Things to Do with Olive Oil by Carol Firenze is a fun, if silly, book. Among the 101 uses are cooking, of course, massage, health tips, beauty treatments (for you and your pet), first aid, head lice (and hairball) treatments, making your own baby wipes -- to name just a few.
But not to worry, I will share selected ideas with my readers as we go along.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Poppyseed
I have been under the weather of late. Bronchitis and then dental surgery.
A while back we tried a Poppy Seed dressing:
1 T poppy seed
1 T honey
4 T olive oil
juice of one lime
salt and pepper
Whisk to mix
The poppy seed gave it a sweet and nutty taste which was nicely offset by the lime. If I make it again, I will use less poppy seed (one tablespoon is a lot of poppy seed). Emma liked this dressing very much.
A while back we tried a Poppy Seed dressing:
1 T poppy seed
1 T honey
4 T olive oil
juice of one lime
salt and pepper
Whisk to mix
The poppy seed gave it a sweet and nutty taste which was nicely offset by the lime. If I make it again, I will use less poppy seed (one tablespoon is a lot of poppy seed). Emma liked this dressing very much.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Hoelzel Dressing
Last week my friend Dan challenged me to replicate the Duquesne Club's Hoelzel Dressing. He said he has had it made by others and, "it was not the same".
There are several Hoelzel recipes on the internet, similar but not the same as the version I used that came directly from the Duquesne Club and which appears in the Three Rivers Cookbook I.
The recipe is very simple: two parts olive oil to one part tarragon vinegar, salt and pepper. With such a simple formula, I wondered about Dan's comment. But then it occurred to me that with such a simple recipe, even a minor change in any of the ingredients could yield a very different result. So, this weekend I made three batches of Hoelzel: one with Italian olive oil (Partanna brand), one with Greek (Salonika) and one with Spanish (Zoe). For the vinegar, in all cases I used Roland brand White Wine Vinegar with Tarragon Sprig, and fresh ground pepper and sea salt.
Up to this point I have been using Italian (first Bertolli and then Colavita brands) and recently Zoe. But I had not been looking for differences among them. Now that I was, the Greek oil was definitely more green in color than the other two, but that was the only apparent difference. I was thinking that perhaps I had just made three dressings that would taste very much the same. I was wrong.
My daughter Rebecca had four college friends visiting, kids I had never met before and I am sure they came away thinking what an odd mother Rebecca has. But they were good sports about it and at least feigned some interest, or at least curiosity (about Rebecca's weird mom, perhaps??)
With no lump crab meat handy, we tried the three variations with bread and I think the consensus was more or less the following: All three varieties were very tart, but very good. The Greek variety had the most flavor; the Spanish the least. I think the Italian variety was the favorite, although I was partial to the Greek. Sorry, Spain.
A note to all my distant followers: The Duquesne Club is a very well known, exclusive city club in downtown Pittsburgh. Part of the history of Pittsburgh business and industry. Beautiful building and dining rooms, very old, very wood, very white male (although there are women members and minority members, too). Outstanding food; exquisite service. The dressing was developed in the 1940's and is named after member, John Hoelzel, who suggested it. It is traditionally served over lump crabmeat as an appetizer and I believe also available as a salad dressing.
I have written to the Executive Chef, Keith Coughenour, to try to identify the type of oil used. Of course, I suppose it is possible that a particular type of tarragon vinegar is the difference, but I doubt it. I will follow up with his reply.
There are several Hoelzel recipes on the internet, similar but not the same as the version I used that came directly from the Duquesne Club and which appears in the Three Rivers Cookbook I.
The recipe is very simple: two parts olive oil to one part tarragon vinegar, salt and pepper. With such a simple formula, I wondered about Dan's comment. But then it occurred to me that with such a simple recipe, even a minor change in any of the ingredients could yield a very different result. So, this weekend I made three batches of Hoelzel: one with Italian olive oil (Partanna brand), one with Greek (Salonika) and one with Spanish (Zoe). For the vinegar, in all cases I used Roland brand White Wine Vinegar with Tarragon Sprig, and fresh ground pepper and sea salt.
Up to this point I have been using Italian (first Bertolli and then Colavita brands) and recently Zoe. But I had not been looking for differences among them. Now that I was, the Greek oil was definitely more green in color than the other two, but that was the only apparent difference. I was thinking that perhaps I had just made three dressings that would taste very much the same. I was wrong.
My daughter Rebecca had four college friends visiting, kids I had never met before and I am sure they came away thinking what an odd mother Rebecca has. But they were good sports about it and at least feigned some interest, or at least curiosity (about Rebecca's weird mom, perhaps??)
With no lump crab meat handy, we tried the three variations with bread and I think the consensus was more or less the following: All three varieties were very tart, but very good. The Greek variety had the most flavor; the Spanish the least. I think the Italian variety was the favorite, although I was partial to the Greek. Sorry, Spain.
A note to all my distant followers: The Duquesne Club is a very well known, exclusive city club in downtown Pittsburgh. Part of the history of Pittsburgh business and industry. Beautiful building and dining rooms, very old, very wood, very white male (although there are women members and minority members, too). Outstanding food; exquisite service. The dressing was developed in the 1940's and is named after member, John Hoelzel, who suggested it. It is traditionally served over lump crabmeat as an appetizer and I believe also available as a salad dressing.
I have written to the Executive Chef, Keith Coughenour, to try to identify the type of oil used. Of course, I suppose it is possible that a particular type of tarragon vinegar is the difference, but I doubt it. I will follow up with his reply.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Walnut Oil
For Christmas I treated myself to a can of walnut oil (hazelnut oil, too, but haven't tried that yet.)
On Christmas Day we tried a simple vinagrette from the La Tourangelle website (www.latourangelle.com):
Tarragon Walnut Vinagrette
Mix 1/4 c. shallots (we used scallions)
3 T. white wine vinegar
4 T. chopped fresh tarragon (we used 2 T. dried)
1 t. dijon mustard
7 T. walnut oil
salt and pepper
This was a dressing much better on salad than with bread, although Rebecca thought the tarragon taste was too much. I thought it was very good. The walnut oil has a wonderful scent, and although the tarragon scent and taste were very strong, you could still taste the nutty flavor of the oil.
On Christmas Day we tried a simple vinagrette from the La Tourangelle website (www.latourangelle.com):
Tarragon Walnut Vinagrette
Mix 1/4 c. shallots (we used scallions)
3 T. white wine vinegar
4 T. chopped fresh tarragon (we used 2 T. dried)
1 t. dijon mustard
7 T. walnut oil
salt and pepper
This was a dressing much better on salad than with bread, although Rebecca thought the tarragon taste was too much. I thought it was very good. The walnut oil has a wonderful scent, and although the tarragon scent and taste were very strong, you could still taste the nutty flavor of the oil.
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