About a week ago I received a parcel of goodies from Olives et Al and feel guilty that I have been a bit tardy in reviewing what they sent me. The truth of the matter is I have been overwhelmed with their wonderfulness!
First out the box was a jar of Sumac and this is what it
says on the label ...
“Inspired by adventure we spent a year journeying across the Med on two
motorbike collecting recipes everywhere we went. Discover some of our stories – and tell us yours ...”
So, of course I immediately visited their site and was
beguiled for ages and ages, I suggest you do the same. There is so much to
read, such a lot of useful information ranging from how to taste olive oil (it’s
more complicated than I made it sound there!) to how to have shiny hair. Lots of recipes, ideas and fabulous pictures and
that’s not all; click on a fabulous picture and up comes an interesting little
story that makes me want to wander off and see some more of our lovely World.
This is just a snippet of their clickable pics, there are loads!
All this excitement before I'd even tasted the products!
Olives et Al sent me four interesting items and there is a lot to play with so this is a preliminary
post with another one to follow when I've had a more thorough experiment. Firstly ...
Sumac
Now you might think me a bit of a doofus but despite having an inordinately huge interest in food and being quite well
travelled myself (including North Africa and Greece) I had never tried
sumac.
My first taste was a tentative dip and lick of the finger – hmm, lemony – and my second was using it
to brighten the crust on some haddock. I
am very partial to panko crumbs so this time I mixed some sumac with them
together with some Maldon sea salt “et
wulla” (as they say in the States!) lovely crunchy, tangy, salty divine
fish.
The very next day I sprinkled sea salt and sumac onto salmon
fillets before pan frying them and serving with oven baked sweet potato chips
and a salad dressed with the lovely Mojo Pink Grapefruit Dressing and Marinade
which was also in the parcel – see below for more details on this.
Olives et Al’s sumac is 100% pure crushed berries sourced
from a Women’s Cooperative in the West Bank and is totally authentic.
I can’t believe I have waited so long (so very, very long!)
to try this delightful spice and my mind is spinning with ideas!
Mojo Pink Grapefruit Dressing & Marinade
Now this one says on the label ...
“Why are labels covered in photos?
Have a look at the website for the full story and loads more pics.
Live more and eat very happily”
Live more and eat very happily”
I am glad they say “dressing and marinade” because I am
always encouraging people to use various vinaigrettes to marinate meat and fish before cooking and especially useful in
this Time of the Barbecue.
The flavour of this dressing is quite powerful (and I’m not
surprised as it contains garlic, cumin, Dijon mustard and oregano with loads of
lovely black pepper heat) but in a good way!
The recipe was apparently discovered in the
Cayman Islands which is close to “home” for me.
I actually first tried mojo in the Canary islands where it is a garlicky,
citrus and olive oil mixture often used as a dipping sauce (luckily I have some
wonderful Vicky’s Bread on hand) and I believe it may be the Latin influence in
the Caribbean that has caused the sauce to migrate.
Last night for dinner we ate up the remains of a roast
chicken; my real man had ... another roast dinner whilst I ate a delicious
salad of diced chicken, salad leaves, tomatoes and red onions tossed in Pink
Grapefuit Mojo. We both had new potatoes that were only yesterday in our friend
Carol’s garden – lucky us! I tossed mine in a little Preserved Lemon Butter.
Preserved Lemons
I've had preserved lemons before and am glad to be having them again! The first thing I did was cut some slivers off one
and the second I did was to scatter some of said slivers over
smoked salmon with sour cream. Lovely (especially after I added lots of black pepper - not shown!).
Next I made Preserved Lemon and Black Pepper Butter
(see here for lots of compound butter ideas because they are so useful) and inserted
some under the skin of a chicken breast. It roasted up wonderfully, the skins
was crisp, the flesh was fragrant and I roasted a few potatoes alongside which
turned out well too.
Message from the future – here is an easy no-churn recipe for utterly brilliant Preserved Lemon Ice Cream; sweet and lemony as heck with a very slight salty bite from the pieces of preserved lemon.
Neat & Dirty Lemon Vodka Olives
According to Olives et Al this preserving of olives in
alcohol is a world first – thank God someone got round to it at last!
I had a quick nibble, as one would, and have
to say I approve. I haven’t done
anything more yet but will be reporting back.
No comments:
Post a Comment