Love Life, Eat Real
Years ago, renowned cardiologist Serge Renaud found that heart attack patients eating a typical Cretan diet of fruit, vegetables, fish, nuts, and olive oil had a seventy per cent lower incidence of heart attack and death after two years than other patients.
Continue reading “Be young at heart with olives”
Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could have the cholesterol levels of children, even in our seventies, eighties and beyond, and if chronic diseases such as heart disease and cancer were almost unheard of?
Continue reading “Olives in the Longevity Hot Spots”
One of the most effective ways you can stave off the ageing effects of time is to eat plenty of foods known as ‘Sirtfoods’. That’s because these foods have the ability to activate sirtuins – genes which keep us young and slim by instructing the body to repair and rejuvenate our cells.
Continue reading “Olives and olive oil: powerful anti-ageing ‘Sirtfoods’”
Super for summer and alfresco dining, this simple yet delicious recipe by our good friend, James Strawbridge, it one to be trying as soon as the sun comes out.
For the Fish
2 fillets of Cornish hake
1 tsp finely chopped rosemary
Generous pinch of sea salt
Zest of ½ lemon
Pinch of cracked black pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
40-50g knob of butter
For the bean salad
350g Bold Bean Co Queen Butter Beans
Pot of Sun Dried Cherry Tomatoes
1 tbsp chopped fennel fronds or dill
Zest and juice of ½ lemon
1 tbsp olive oil
Sea salt and cracked black pepper
Pinch of fennel seeds
For the greens
Large handful of Rainbow chard or spinach, roughly chopped
Broad bean tops [optional]
½ red onion, finely sliced
Pot of Garlic, Peppers & Mustard Seed Olives
1 tbsp olive oil
Pinch of salt and pepper
Juice of ½ lemon
Lightly cure your fish by sprinkling with salt, pepper, lemon zest and pepper. Leave on a wire rack for 30 mins to draw out some excess moisture.
Make your bean salad by mixing the butter beans with sun dried cherry tomatoes, fennel and lemon. Season to taste and keep at room temperature.
Cook your wilted greens simply in a large pan for 3-4 minutes until soft and finish with fresh lemon juice and a small pinch of salt. Add the olives, they should provide a sweet, briny seasoning to this side dish.
Cook your fillets of Cornish hake in a hot pan with a little oil and sear on one side. Then flip over after 2-3 minutes and add a knob of butter. Spoon the hot foaming butter over the fish until cooked.
Serve the dish simply with a handful of greens, large spoon of the bean salad and a fillet of pan-fried fish.
This spicy scallop dish by our good friend, James Strawbridge is the ultimate surf n’ turf treat. The addition of our La Verde olives helps provide a herby profile and salty tang to the seasonal shredded spring greens.
8-12 scallops
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp of paprika
Pinch of sea salt
185g La Verde olives
75g ‘Nduja spicy sausage
200g spring greens, shredded
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1 preserved lemon, thinly sliced
Coat your scallops in olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and paprika. Heat a non-stick frying pan and cook your scallops for 2-3 mins on each side.
In another pan heat your spicy sausage, shallot, olives, lemon and spring greens.
Stir well and serve as soon as the spring greens wilt and the shallot softens with pan fried scallops on top.
These delicious olive breadsticks are great for entertaining but are equally good for a picnic or packed lunch. Made with an olive blend of your choice, they’re the perfect partner for our award-winning tapenades. Make 36 breadsticks.
1kg strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
20g salt
20g yeast
800ml tepid water
4 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for oiling
1kg pouch of olives (blend of your choice), roughly chopped
Fine semolina, for dusting
Oil 2x 2-3 litre square plastic containers.
Put the flour into the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the salt to one side of the bowl and the yeast to the other. Add 3/4 of the water and begin mixing on a slow speed. As the dough starts to come together, gradually add the remaining water.
Mix for a further 5-8 minutes on a medium speed. The dough should now be wet and stretch easily when pulled. Add the olive oil and mix fro a further 2 minutes. Add the olives and mix until evenly spread throughout the dough.
Put the dough into the oiled containers and leave until they have at least tripled in size, for approximately an hour.
Line 4x baking trays with baking parchment or silicone paper and preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.
Dust the work surface heavily with flour and add some semolina too. Carefully tip the dough onto the surface. It will be very loose and flowing, but don’t worry. Rather than knocking it back as you usually would with bread, handle it gently so that you keep as much air in the dough as possible.
Dust the top of the dough with flour and then stretch it out gentle to a rough rectangle. Starting at one long edge, cut the dough into approximately 36 strips. Stretch each piece out until 20-25cm long. Place 6x strips onto each of the prepared baking trays, spacing them apart.
Bake the breadsticks for 10-15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.