…and why not? A wedding is as good a time as any to drink whisky says whisky afficionado Rosemary Moon. I did not include whisky in the drinks suggestions in my book A Banquest on a Budget but I think maybe I should have done! “I recently read a wonderful piece by a fellow whisky advocate,…
Dates for the Diary
Friday 2nd September, 2016 Olive Oil Tasting and Appreciation Course Venue: Shepherds Bush, London Time: 10.00am to 4.30 pm Details Thursday 4th September, 2016 Publication date for my book Quick and Delicious Vegetarian Meals Thursday 15th September, 2016 Publication date for my book with Dr. Simon Poole The Olive Oil diet Friday 23rd…
Great Cakes
Torta del pane No apologies for the fact that this lovely Swiss cake from the Ticino region is not usually made with olive oil, but you could use a delicately flavoured olive oil instead of the butter. Choose a wholemeal or dark bread and do not remove the crusts before weighing for the recipe. No…
Flavoured olive oil labelling anomaly
Flavoured oils are very popular and I can see why. Here you have an instant flavouring to perk up a quick pasta dish or give added interest to a simple salad. That’s really useful when you have rushed home from work and need to put together an interesting meal at speed. Other people who are…
Hebden Goat’s Cheese
Just heard a great story from Andy Swinscoe at The Courtyard Dairy in Settle about the creation of a traditional unpasteurised goats cheese on a farm in the Pennines near to Hebden Bridge. The cheese won Best Raw Milk Cheese at the Great Yorkshire Show. Gillian’s Story: Gillian Clough farms only ten acres (that’s just…
Three of the Best
I am really encouraged by the range of aroma, taste and flavour and downright quality of extra virgin olive oil this year. Over the last few weeks I have been busy tasting a variety of evoos from around Europe and most of them are pretty good. However, just a few of them really stand out…
Greek Casseroles
Starting a new recipe collection: Not everyone realizes quite how versatile extra virgin olive oil can be in the kitchen but the growers certainly do. Some time ago I put together a collection of recipes from olive oil producers around the world and published it as my e-book Remarkable Recipes. Great olive oil recipes for…
Extra virgin olive oil tasting day in London
Karen Cryan is a real olive oil enthusiast “There’s nothing like a good Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) and I tasted sixteen of them at Judy Ridgway’s olive oil tasting class held in London last year”. Here Karen describes her quest for olive oil knowledge and reviews one of my olive oil classes. “My zeal…
Sicilian olive oil great choice for pasta
It’s nearly ten years since I visited the Disisa olive groves in the Monreale región of north western Sicily. I was impressed with the oil from these groves then and so I was very glad to see recently that the Disisa oil is now on sale on thegiftofoil webste. The name Disisa is derived from…
Dramatic designer bottles catch the Eye
This is the latest in eye-catching designs for the Galateo & Friends Signature range of Italian extra virgin olive oils. It is by the internationally acclaimed artist, Lazaro Rosa Violan and joins three other specially commissioned evoo bottle designs for this company. Lazaro opened his design studio in Barcelona in 2003 and since then has…