STIR FRY BEEF WITH GINGER AND OLIVES

This stir-fry with a difference comes from California and uses a robust extra virgin olive oil and black olives from the region. However, any well flavoured extra virgin olive oil can be used with black Kalamata olives from Greece. It makes a good dish to serve on Boxing Day or New year’s Day.

Ingredients:

• 75ml robust extra virgin olive oil
• 2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
• 2cm root ginger, peeled and cut into thin strips
• 800g fillet of beef, cut into thin strips
• 100g black olives, stoned and cut in half
• Salt and pepper

Method:

1. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and add the shallots and ginger.
2. Stir fry for one minutes and the add the beef.
3. Continue stir-frying for two more minutes.
4. Toss in the olives and seasonings and remove from the heat.
5. Leave to rest for another two minutes and serve.

LENTILS ITALIAN STYLE

Lentils are traditionally eaten on New Year's Day in Italy where they are considered to be a symbol of good luck and prosperity. The story goes that their round shape is reminiscent of coins and so eating them on New year’s Day is supposed to ensure riches for the coming year. The accompaniment of choice for lentils in Italy is cotechino, a mild-tasting, slow-cooked pork sausage. I am not so keen on these sausages and prefer to serve my New Year lentils with roasted black pudding or merguez sausages.

Ingredients:

• 250g lentils
• 2 rosemary sprigs
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 75ml extra-virgin olive oil
• 100ml vegetable broth, plus extra if needed
• salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste

Method:

1. Wash the lentils cold water.
2. Drain well and place in a large saucepan. Cover with cold water.
3. Add 1 sprig of rosemary together with 1 clove of garlic.
4. Bring to a gentle boil, and simmer for 15 minutes.
5. Drain the lentils, discarding the rosemary and garlic clove.
6. Mince the remaining garlic.
7. Heat the olive oil in the same pot.
8. Add the remaining rosemary and garlic and stir over a low heat for about a minute.
9. Add the lentils, broth, salt, pepper, and tomato paste. Stir well.
10. Cook until the lentils are tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed.
11. This take about half an hour.
12. Add a little more broth if the mixture gets too thick.
13. Adjust the seasoning and serve hot.

APRICOT AND ALMOND OLIVE OIL BISCOTTI

I discovered that this classic English recipe works far better with noodles than it ever did with rice or potatoes and a good extra virgin olive oil just adds to the flavour. Look for the widest noodles you can find and layer the sauce between the stands when you serve it out. This looks attractive and allows the noodles to take up some of the sauce. Serve at lunch or as a supper dish with a tossed salad.

Ingredients:

• 500ml cake flour
• 200ml castor sugar
• 10ml baking powder
• 180ml chopped dried apricots
• 180ml lightly toasted almonds, roughly chopped
• 10ml grated lemon rind
• 50ml Morgenster Lemon Enhanced Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 3ml orange essence

Method:

1. Combine the flour, castor sugar and baking powder in a bowl.
2. Mix in the apricots, almonds and lemon rind.
3. Combine the olive oil, eggs and essence and mix well.
4. Add to the dry ingredients to form a dough that is slightly sticky.
5. With well floured hands, divide the dough into two logs.
6. Place each log on a baking tray lined with |non-stick baking paper.
7. Bake at 180°C for 20-30 minutes or until pale golden in colour and a skewer inserted into the log comes out clean.
8. Remove and cool the logs.
9. Cut into 1-2cm-thick slices and return to the baking tray.
10. Place in the oven at 160°C for another 10-15 minutes until slightly dried out.

If you are interested in more recipes using extra virgin olive oil see “REMARKABLE RECIPES from the people who really know about extra virgin olive oil – the producers” at Amazon for kindle and for iTunes.