In Good Taste: The ancient olive
If only we could persuade the guinea fowl to roost somewhere other than the olive trees, our heavily-laden beauties might be more attractive to pick.
I find the silvery grey leaves of the olive quite breathtaking, for all they represent. Like an ancient vineyard, olive trees seem to carry the past in their branches, and I can imagine the leaves whispering to each other in the breeze about times that we can only imagine or read about in the history books.
In the Bible olive oil is mentioned more than 140 times and “the king of all trees” as the olive is regarded, is mentioned more than one hundred times. The Romans are credited with saying “The necessary ingredients of civilisation are wine, and olive oil” . More recently Homer Simpson observed, “olive oil…asparagus…. if your mother wasn’t so fancy, we could shop at the gas station like normal people”.
Around the Mediterranean region the olive tree, its fruit and oil have been appreciated, revered and enjoyed for ages. In the Western world, though, it’s only fairly recently that we have come to have the same regard for these great gnarly trees. Even Jo Bloggs can now be heard discussing the different nuances in taste, colour and aroma of a just-pressed new season oil. And only recently has (s)he come to realize that a slightly more expensive bottle of locally grown, first pressed oil is actually something to be savoured, rather than just a cooking ingredient.
I don’t know of any soup that doesn’t benefit from a good slurp of olive oil just as it is served. The oil mellows the soup and rounds out the flavours. The heat from the soup enhances the natural taste of the oil as well. A double whammy .
Try this soup which uses those lovely green lentils which have so much flavour. I prefer to cook them first and then add them to the soup base. This soup can be made into a meal by adding some slices of fried Italian sausage; cooked chicken chopped into small pieces, a cup of cooked chickpeas or cooked prawns added at the last minute.
Spiced Lentil Soup
1 cup of green lentils
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 medium carrots, finely chopped
2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
2 large cloves of garlic, crushed
1 ½ teaspoons each of ground ginger and cumin
¾ teaspoon each of turmeric and paprika
¼ teaspoon of cayenne (or to taste)
2 400g tins of chopped tomatoes in juice
2 cups of chicken stock
1/3 cup each of chopped coriander and Italian parsley
Juice of one lemon
Salt and pepper
Best new season extra virgin olive oil for serving.
First of all place the lentils in a pot and cover with 2 inches of water. Place over heat and bring to a simmer. Remove any scum with a slotted spoon and continue cooking for 15 minutes, or until JUST tender. Drain the lentils through a sieve.
Into a large pan add the olive oil and when heated add the onion, carrot and celery. Sauté slowly till softened. Add the garlic and the spices. Stir around until fragrant. Now pour in the tomatoes and add the lentils along with the stock. Stir all together and simmer over a low heat until the lentils have soaked up some of the liquid, and are very tender, about 30 minutes. Season generously with salt and pepper and squeeze in the lemon juice. Just before serving stir through the fresh herbs. Ladle into bowls and slurp a generous swirl of the new oil over each bowl. Serve with good warm crusty bread.
Of course the olive and its oil have as many uses outside the kitchen as in. You can use a drop of oil to hydrate your pearls and polish your diamonds (if you are so lucky..), lubricate and polish your skis and snowboards (just the weather), soothe frostbite (hope the weather doesn’t get THAT bad), make a furniture polish, and use to preserve wooden utensils and chopping boards. It seems that there are still another million wonders to olive oils health benefits and cures too, which makes me think that it could be all we need, as the Romans said. And of course the wine.
Anyway I’m going to try the old Italian belief and hang an olive branch from the chimney to try and prevent any more lightning and next time you happen to have an eye infection, you could try the old trick of looking inside a bottle of olive oil, and the infection should dutifully disappear. I wonder if any optimistic optometrists and ophthalmologists will go for this one?
Fiona Feasey
