Come si mangia l’olio is the title of a new book published recently in Italy. The book contains recipes from six chefs: Gaetano Simonato (Tano Passami l’Olio, Milan), Vito Mollica (Il Palagio, Firenze), Lino Scarallo (Palazzo Petrucci, Naples), Guido Havercock (La Tavola di Guido, Castellina in Chianti) Oliver Glowig (Ristorante Oliver Glowig, Rome), Pietro Leemann (Joia, Milan) and the pizza chef Vincenzo Capuano (Rossopomodoro Lab, Milan).
The book is full of information and great photos. The authors are three passionate olive oil lovers (extra vergine, what else?) Marco Provinciali, Andrea Leonardi Filippo Falugiani.
-All recipes are created with a specific olive oil as a base. We want the olive oil to be the main ingredient for once, says Marco Provinciali.
It is a book of big format that will be distributed to Italian star restaurants.
-The large size makes it not fit on a bookshelf and you have to put it on a table, plus it will be seen if you throw it in the trash, jokes Andrea Leonardi.
The texts are written in both English and Italian.
-Today, we have access to olive oils of a quality that we have never seen before. We have the knowledge and technology both in the field and during the crucial pressing that makes it possible to produce olive oil of extremely high quality. But consumers still know far too little about the differences between olive oils. The idea is to spread knowledge with the help of master chefs, says Filippo Falugiani.
Pietro Leemann chef and owner of the Joia restaurant in Milan, Italy’s only vegetarian restaurant with a Michelin star, contributes with a recipe in the book.
-Fat in food is a bridge between flavours. It is important that the fat is a “good” fat as in a high quality olive oil with lots of vitamins and antioxidants.
In Italy there are more than 600 hundred different varieties of olives and just as grapes they have different flavours and aromas. By using different types of olive oil from various locations in Italy, you can transform a dish.
-Italy is associated with tomatoes and mozzarella but it is the olive oil that makes the difference. Cheese and tomatoes are available in countries other than Italy. However, there is probably no one who can beat a good Italian olive oil extra vergine, concludes Pietro Leemann.
Come si mangia l’olio, Edition Polistampa, around 32 euros.
Åsa Johansson is BKWine’s person in Italy. She lives in Florence since the early ’00s. Asa writes regularly on wine and food in Swedish and Italian publications as well as online.
