I cooked the roasted cauliflower recipe mentioned below and it was very good. The rich nuttiness of the roasted cauliflower compliments very nicely the tangy caper dressing. I cooked it for an hour and the cauliflower was nicely browned so I took it out. It was very crisp, almost too much, so I think next time I will add a little water to the dish while it is baking to cook the cauliflower through a little bit more. After you take it out you kind of wonder how do you serve a whole head of cauliflower. Next time I will cut the cooked cauliflower in quarters then pour the dressing on to make sure each serving gets a lot of the tangy dressing. I will definitely do this again. It was very simple to cook but the flavor was very elegant. It turns a boring cauliflower into something special.
Monthly Archives: February 2010
One of My Favorite Recipe Sites
One of my favorite recipe sites is www.recipezaar.com. It has over 400,000 recipes that are searchable. The recipes range from the novice cook to the very experienced. In style they range from the typical American recipes to the exotic. There is something here for everybody.
Often at night I will go to the site and search for a few ingredients I have in my fridge or pantry. I invariably get many choices that are rated by other users along with reviews. I typically read at least ten of them along with the reviews of people who have actually cooked the recipe. I then generally print out the recipe that comes the closest to what I want to cook then add ideas from all the others I have read. I have rarely been disappointed. It also gives me a lot of ideas I would not have thought of myself.
The other night I was tired of my typical chicken thigh recipe so I found a new recipe from http://www.recipezaar.com that removes the skin, coats with spicy mustard and worchestershire sauce, then coats in seasoned breadcrumbs and bakes at 375 for 40 minutes. It was very simple and tasty. This is just one example of simple but tasty recipes on the site.
Happy recipe hunting!
February is Olive Oil Month
Below is a press release announcing that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has proclaimed February California Olive Oil Month. This underscores the growing realization of how important olive oil is for our health and how important these local businesses are for supporting their communities statewide. We hope this recognition will help more Americans experience the beauty of this California made artisan product. The vast majority of California olive oil producers are small locally owned businesses that focus on very high quality. Through buying certified extra virgin olive you help support this emerging vibrant industry that focuses on high quality and small production rather than mass produced homogeneity.
February 12, 2010, Berkeley, CA Oil Month this February, Governor Schwarzenegger urges everyone to make
California olive oil a staple in their kitchens and cuisines. He emphasizes
the rich history and important role of olive oil in California agriculture,
noting California produces 99 percent of U.S. olive oil, and has set
standards to align its grades and quality with producers around the world.
As the state¹s olive oil production continues its rapid growth, California
competes with the finest oils from around the world in both taste and cost.
With hundreds of olive oils from around the world from which to choose,
California Olive Oil Council Executive Director Patty Darragh urges shoppers
and chefs to look for the COOC seal, as the guarantee for extra virgin olive
oil produced in California. Darragh adds, ³The COOC Taste Panel, founded in
1998, has certified nearly 200 extra virgin olive oils from our recent 2009
harvest, and these oils are already available on store shelves, farmers
markets, online merchants, and foodservice channels.²
About the California Olive Oil Council and its Seal Certification
Founded in 1992, the California Olive Oil Council (COOC) is a non-profit
trade and marketing association whose purpose is to promote the growing of
olives and the production of fresh, high-quality extra virgin olive oil in
California. The COOC represents 90% of olive oil production in the state
with a membership of 350 growers, producers, and supporting members from the
retail and service industries. The organization supports certified olive oil
standards and provides grower, producer and consumer education. Through its
Seal Certification program, the COOC helps everyone from home chefs to
restaurants find guaranteed extra virgin olive oils for their kitchens. For
more information, visit http://www.cooc.com.
The proclamation in its entirety follows.
###
February 2010, as ³California Olive Oil Month²
PROCLAMATION by the
Governor of the State of California
Our Golden State¹s agricultural diversity is unrivaled in the world, and
olive
oil is one of our fastest growing industries. Olive trees were first brought
over by Spanish missionaries, and their acreage in our state is expected to
grow annually by 10,000 acres in the next ten years. Moreover, our state
produces 99% of all olive oil from the United States.
California olive oil is made from a great variety of olives and production
methods and offers a range of flavors to choose from. In 2007, I signed SB
634, which aligns our state¹s olive oil grades to international standards.
This law requires bottles of olive oil to meet certain guidelines and
ensures that there is consistency in quality.
Additionally, extra virgin olive oil has many health benefits. It is high in
monounsaturated fats, a healthy type of fat, which reduces both overall and
bad cholesterol levels. Extra virgin olive oil also contains a great amount
of polyphenols, important antioxidants that promote heart health and
longevity.
Olive oil is an important part of our economy and heritage, and this month,
I encourage the people of our Golden State to make California olive oil a
staple in their kitchen and cuisine.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, Governor of the State of
California, do hereby proclaim February 2010, as ³California Olive Oil
Month.² IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great
Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 21st day of January 2010.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER
Governor of California
Take a Tour of Apollo Olive Oil
Below is a link to a 4 minute brief glimpse into how Apollo Olive Oil is made. You will see some of our orchards, how the olives enter the mill, the unique under vacuum milling process and the fresh oil emerging from the decanter which we taste immediately to ensure high quality. We are very proud of our little mill and the award winning olive oil it produces, it is a labor of love.
Which oil should I buy?
This is a question we are frequently asked and the answer can help you with not just our oils but other high quality olive oils. If you are buying a California olive oil the first consideration should be to buy an oil that is certified by the COOC. All oils certified by the COOC under go a human taste test by trained experts. Many olive oil defects cannot be detected by a chemical analysis so a human taste test is essential to ensure high quality. It is very inexpensive to become certified so all high quality producers do so. You also want to look for a harvest date. All high quality producers print a harvest date on their bottles. You also want to choose producers whose bottles are dark glass. This helps prevent the degradation of oil due to exposure to light.
We describe our oils in the following way:
Mistral is light intensity and used on white wine dishes.
Sierra is medium intensity and used on red wine dishes.
Barouni is strong intensity and used on red wine dishes and other hearty fare.
The word intensity above refers to the pungency in the back of the throat that real extra virgin olive oil has. This is evidence of anti-oxidants.
However, as with wine, all the rules above can be broken if you are looking for contrasts. So which oil you choose depends on how you like the olive pungency. Typically the more you intake real extra virgin olive oil the stronger you prefer your oil.
Because of the high anti-oxidant level in our oils they can easily last two years from harvest date. Anti-oxidants protect our body and they protect the oil from degrading.