3 sumptuous recipes made with our delicious extra virgin olive oil

The foundation of the Mediterranean diet for thousands of years, olive oil is not only the healthier option when it comes to cooking oils, it’s also delicious and a joy to cook with!

Cooking with olive oil has been the foundation of the Mediterranean diet for thousands of years.

Scientific studies have backed up the claims that olive oil is the reason the peoples of the Mediterranean have astonishing low rates of heart disease, and a higher average life expectancy than the rest of Europe!

On top of being the healthier option when it comes to oils, it’s also delicious and a joy to cook with!

Here are three recipes which are brought to life with our extra virgin olive oil.

Caprese salad

This simple Italian salad is made of sliced fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, and sweet basil, seasoned with salt and of course, olive oil. Caprese Salad is quick to make, and even though it’s rather simple as a recipe, it’s surprisingly tasty.

Caprese Salad with Extra virgin Olive oil

Ingredients

  • 2 punnets cherry tomatoes
  • 6 cloves garlic, peeled and slightly crushed
  • 350g / 12oz dry large pasta spirals
  • 250g / 8.8oz tub fresh bocconcini
  • 1 cup fresh basil
  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 3 tablespoons balsamic glaze
  • Salt and pepper

 

Method

Start by preheating the oven to 190ºC / 375ºF degrees fan bake. Then take a baking dish and spread out the cherry tomatoes and garlic cloves. Season, drizzle with oil, then roast for 15-20 minutes or until the skins have blistered. Set aside.

Cook the pasta as per packet instructions, drain, and place into a bowl. Add the roasted tomatoes and garlic to the pasta, then use your hands to tear the bocconcini into the mix, followed by the torn basil.

Pour over a generous drizzle of Olivado organic extra virgin olive oil then toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper and serve warm with the balsamic drizzle.

A full instructional video can be found here.

Beef Tenderloins with Mediterranean Salsa

Also known as eye fillet in this part of the world, beef tenderloin is cut from the loin of beef, which is near the kidneys of the cow. This is called the psoas major muscle which does very little work, so is therefore the tenderest part of the beef. For prime meat it’s only right to have a prime recipe to cook it with!

Ingredients

  • 1 pack Beef Tenderloins
  • 1 teaspoon, Olivado organic extra virgin olive oil
  • ½ cup fresh basil leaves, plus extra to serve
  • ½ cup Olivado Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 1-3 cloves garlic, crushed

Mediterranean Salsa

  • 20 green olives, pitted
  • 2-3 flat anchovy fillets, optional
  • 2 tablespoons capers, drained
  • 2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 200g / 7oz vine ripened cherry tomatoes
  • 1 cos lettuce, cut into quarters
  • To serve, baby potatoes

 

Method

Remove the beef tenderloins from the fridge and packaging. Season with freshly cracked pepper and 1 teaspoon Olivado Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Allow to rest at room temperature for 10 minutes. Salt the meat just prior to cooking.

Roughly chop half of the basil leaves and place in the Olivado Organic EV Olive Oil with the garlic. Leave to infuse for 5 minutes.

To make Mediterranean salsa roughly chop the olives with the anchovies, capers, remaining basil leaves and parsley. Place in a bowl, add lemon juice and pour in half of the basil infused oil. Season to taste with freshly ground black pepper.

Heat a non-stick frying pan on a medium heat. Cook the tenderloins for 2-3 minutes each side.

Remove, drizzle with our Organic EV Olive Oil infused with basil oil and allow to rest for five minutes, covered with foil.

In the same frying pan turn the heat to medium-low and toss the tomatoes in the pan, until the skins are just beginning to split. Toss with a little basil oil.

Serve the tenderloins with blistered tomatoes and basil leaves, drizzled with basil olive oil. Add Mediterranean salsa, cos lettuce and baby potatoes.

Homemade Gnocchi

Gnocchi means “lumps” in Italian, which is fitting. There is a lot of confusion about gnocchi being pasta, which it is, but there’s a type of gnocchi which is made from potato, which is what most people think of when talking about the dish. This recipe is the potato variety, not pasta!

Ingredients

  • 4 medium sized potatoes
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • Pinch of salt

 

Method

Gnocchi topping:

  • A generous dash of Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • Handful each of fresh herbs like basil and Italian parsley
  • 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Gnocchi:

Boil the potatoes with skins on for about 40 minutes. Take them off the heat when they are tender enough to slice through without resistance. Drain and peel then mash the potatoes well and crack the egg over them.

Don’t fully stir in the egg, just mix it in so that the mixture becomes sticky. Add 1 cup of the flour in gradually to ensure the dough has a firm (but not dry) consistency. Keep a little flour aside for final gnocchi rolling.

Judging the amount of flour can be a little tricky but the less flour you use, the more tender the gnocchi will be.

Once the dough is ready, break it apart and roll into cylinders, then cut the cylinders into small pieces. Powder them in flour and mould the pieces into small cylinder shapes.

Boil a large pot of water and add a pinch of salt and our olive oil.

Add the freshly made gnocchi and boil until gnocchi starts to float, this should take two minutes.

Drain gnocchi and drizzle with sauce or a generous dash of our Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

We recommend watching the instructional video first before trying to make this recipe!

Only use the best when it comes to olive oil

There are literally thousands of different types of olive oil available to buy, so how do you know which one to go for?

We’ve talked before about our extra virgin olive oils and why they are different from others on the market, especially when it comes to quality and taste.

There are three basic types of olive oil; ordinary, virgin, and extra virgin.

To be classed as extra virgin olive oil, the oil must contain no more than 0.8% acidity, contain no chemicals, and maintain a low temperature during the extraction method.

Our extra virgin olive oil meets all these criteria and more, which keeps the fruits’ essential nutrients and minerals.

Not only does our extra virgin olive oil meet every standard set out by the International Olive Council, but all of our oils are produced to the same exacting standards, such as our award-winning extra virgin avocado oil.

These are just three delicious recipes you can make with the help of our extra virgin olive oil, but you’ll find hundreds more on our InstagramFacebook and Pinterest pages, so feel free to explore!

If you’ve any questions about our products or recipes, then don’t hesitate to contact us and one of our friendly and knowledgeable staff will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

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Sustainability

Olivado are leading the way in the avocado industry with our approach to regeneration, sustainability and utilising all waste to energy. We work hard to leave our communities and environment in a better state than when we started. We are carbon neutral now and we have made a commitment to be carbon positive by 2022. Shop with us and do your part for the planet.