Talking about my visit to Jaen in my recent “Memories” post reminded me of another visit to that part of the olive oil world a year later. One of the producers I visited then was Melgarejo who own a very modern mill near Jaen itself. Here the fifth generation of the family showed off the versatility of their equipment, pressing three batches of olives from the same day’s harvest at different settings and achieving appreciably different taste profiles.
As I usually do, I asked for some recipes to showcase their oils. Here are three of the lighter dishes that they suggested that are particularly suited to the summer months.
Orange Salad from Melgarejo
ORANGE SALAD WITH EGG AND ONIONS
This dish offers a refreshingly light first course in hot weather. Serve with a crispy flat bread. Try using the wonderfully flowery Hojiblanca varietal olive oil in this dish.
These quantities serve four.
Ingredients:
- 4 large oranges
- 16 small spring onions
- 1 small Spanish onion, peeled and finely sliced
- 2 eggs, hard boiled
Dressing
- 120ml extra virgin olive oil from Jaen
- Juice of 2 lemons
Method:
1.Thinly grate the zest from the oranges and keep on one side. Remove all the skins and any remaining pith. Cut each orange into thin slices and keep in the fridge with the zest until required.
2.Mix the dressing ingredients and place in a shallow bowl.
3.Trim the spring onions and lay in the bowl with the dressing to soak for half an hour or so in the fridge.
4.To put the dish together, arrange the orange slices on small plates and add the spring oinions. Mix the dressing again with a fork and add the reserved orange zest. Pour over the oranges and onions.
5.Garnish with a few thin slices of Spanish onion and wedges of hard boiled egg.
6.Serve at once.
WHITE GARLIC SOUP
This is a great summer soup best made with Melgarjo Picual pressed from Picual olives alone. The flavours of tomatoes, herbs and nuts and brings great life to all the recipes in which it is used.
These quantities serve four.
Ingredients:
- cold water
- 100 g white breadcrumbs
- 200 g peeled almonds
- 2 cloves
- 2 spoons of vinegar
- Salt
- 200 ml Picual extra virgin olive oil from Jaen
Method:
- Put the crumbs in some water to soak. Squeeze dry.
- Grind the almonds with the cloves, the wet crumbs, vinegar, and some salt to make a white paste.
- Add extra virgin olive oil little by little and whip all together. At the end add water slowly to make a fine cream. Chill and serve very cold.
SPANISH MARINATED SALMON
This recipe can be made well in advance. The dish will keep in the fridge for at least a week provided that the fish is well covered by the marinade.
These quantities serve four to six people
Ingredients:
- 4-6 salmon steaks, depending on size
- salt and pepper
- 1 carrot
- 1 leek
- 1 piece of celery
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 bay leaf
- peppercorns
- 2 cloves
- 16 fl oz Arbequina extra virgin olive oil
- 4 fl oz white wine vinegar
- 4 fl oz fish stock
- chives
Method:
- Wash the salmon and remove the scales. Season with salt and pepper and leave to drain
- Wash the vegetables and cut into julienne strips. Place in a large earthernware dish with the unpeeled garlic, bay leaves, peppercorns and cloves. Cover with the oil, vinegar and stock and bring to the boil.
- When it has boiled for five minutes, carefully add the salmon steaks. Bring back to the boil, lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Remove from the heat, cover and leave to cool.
Some of these and a range of other family recipes from the producers are available in my book Remarkable Recipes From the people who really know about extra virgin olive oil – the Producers. This is available in spiral softback from my website or in ebook format from Amazon Kindle.
The Melgarejo range of varietal olive oils is available from www.oldolivetree.co.uk and www.bienmanger.com