I was jumping for joy the other day when my special shipment of olive oil arrived from Greece! I was so excited! Excited because I was ready to sample and cook with some of this wonderful golden liquid. I know this is going to sound biased but Greek extra virgin olive oil is the best. No arguments. My parents sent me 20 litres of the stuff and I have been busy decantering it in my special bottle that will accompany all my future cooking experiments.
Australia produces some good local olive oil but I find the local produce to be too peppery. Lovely to dip your bread in but anything more than that, it can’t really hold its ground. My understanding is that the locally produced olive oil is too young and the olive groves here need a number of years to mature. I remember when I visited Greece as a child and we went to a local olive oil producing factory, my parents were toasting bread ready to dip into the first pressed oil. They explained that this was the “elixir of life” and that it could cure all sorts of ailments. I looked at them really strange not fully comprehending what they meant. Now as an adult I fully see what they mean. There’s no need for me to repeat all the advantages of eating a good quality extra virgin olive oil. We know it’s monosaturated and has no traces of trans fat. Yes it does contain fat but it’s good fat and everything in moderation…Some purists will argue you shouldn’t heat extra virgin olive oil because the flavours change! Yes of course the flavours change. Your dishes will have an added flavour dimension that they were missing before!
Anyway, when my shipment arrived I wanted to enjoy the oil in the most simplest way. I had purchased some vine ripened tomatoes the day before (I know…naughty foodie…out of season!) so I sliced them in half, sprinkled some sea salt and drizzled that beautiful Greek extra virgin olive oil over them liberally. The taste was beyond description…it was simplicity personified. The combination of oil, salt and juicy tomato was a great match. I can’t wait for the (real) summer time to arrive to fully get into it!
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{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Sometimes to enjoy the simple things in life with simplicity (LOL) is the best way to enjoy life. Too many words and I didn’t say anything, I know :-p Enjoy your olive oil and don’t worry about the out of season tomatoes, we won’t tell anyone :-p
Olive oil, bread and if you’re lucky, a good tomato and you’re right…little beats that. Is the olive oil from the horio or a major brand you prefer?
Simplicity at its best. And you can’t beat good olive oil. Delicious!
Lucky you!
Pes ta! I mean, when I first went to England to study I carried with me my precious bottle of olive oil. It was nothing special, but good commercial olive oil to get me through my salad eating habit. I could have made a fortune from the bottles I brought back from people who tasted it, You see, Italians are so good in maketing they had really convinced everyone in the UK that their rancid stuff was the best! They buy Greece’s worst olive oil, re-bottle it (in pretty bottles of course) and sell for 3 times the price. By the time I left, Greek olive oil had made an appearance in UK supermarkets and a couple of Greek food stores had popped here an there selling decent stuff. I think whoever has not tasted Greek olive oil should do so now and have a life changing experience. And of curse the good stuff is always enjoyed with simple foods.
20 ltrs of pure heavenly joy Peter. And what a simply wonderful way to inaugurate it! WOW…beautiful first pic & am envious of the true taste you found!
Mmmmmmmmmmmmm nothing beats a good olive oil, that drizzled on some greens is just perfect. Lovely blog by the way. Stumbled across it through taste spotting.
you are lucky – only the real stuff is the best, and you got it straight from the source
i can’t blame you for announcing it
I brought a bottle of premium olive oil back home from Greece as well as some feta cheese. If only I could have a case of Greek yogurt as well:D
Out of season or not, that does look delicious! Imagine how much better it will be in a few months when tomato season is in full swing!
I want some…
I was just thinking today how much I enjoy the flavor of olive oil. I like to dip bread into it. Yeah?
Yum! My Dad, being Lebanese, also waxed lyrical about the medicinal properties of olive oil when I was a kid. We ate olives and olive oil with za’atar every day of my childhood.
I love Greek olive oil, but also adore Spanish and of course Lebanese too!
I absolutely agree with you, extra virgin olive oil from greece is the best there is, period. The australian stuff i find to be too dilute in flavour, almost watery, whereas the greek brands i get have a more intense flavour to them. When i was young and there wasn’t anything interesting to eat around the house, i could always count on enjoying a piece of bread drizzled with the good sort of olive oil my dad insisted on buying and then sprinkling the bread with a bit of rigani and salt. Simple but oh so good, mmmm, i think i know what i’m going to eat when i get home from work now.
Holy smokes 20L of the real stuff, I want some
I absolutely love these photos, just simple and beautiful…so much of your style and character shines thru.
I love it! We tend to make food so complicated sometimes, and the simple things are right there staring us in the face! Stellar post
The photo at the top of the page gave me a tingling sensation over my whole body. It reminded me of my times in greece, on the island of kythera in particular….. when you have great ingredients, simplicity is the key!