Great Taste

Holiday shopping? How 'bout fresh, fresh, fresh olive oil from Italy

Great Taste wants to spread the word about Sopra Sotto's northern Italian olio nuovo and southern Italian olio novello. 

From Sopra Sotto: 

These young oils are vibrant green in color with a viscous silken texture and the aroma of freshly cut grass, pepper, green apple, artichoke and olive leaf on the pallet. The very first press of the oil is designated as extra virgin.  The qualities in this very exceptional oil are creamy, piquant, zesty, and unfiltered. Olio Nouvo or Olio Novello is the oil in its most intense state, immediately bottled after pressing and not allowed to settle.  

Geographic location and olive varietals play a role in the nouvo or novello oil’s flavor profile. Many of the olive groves in Italy are filled with ancient trees.  Although these ancient trees do not produce as much fruit as younger trees, the fruit is more intense and complex in flavor.  The diversity in climate, varietals and topography gives the nouvo or novello oils of each region their own unique aroma and flavor.

Following are the Olio Nouvos / Olio Novellos now available at Sopra Sotto:

Tenuta di Capezzana Olio Nuovo:  Pressed the week of October 25, 2010, this beautiful lime green olive oil is from the Tuscan Region.  Aromatic of lemon with a buttery texture.  Notes of artichoke, green tea and apple, this olive oil finishes with hints of wintergreen and pine.  Drizzle on seafood, sautéed greens, or roasted Brussels sprouts.  Olive varietals:  Frantoio, Moraiolo, Pendolino, Leccino, Santa Caterina.  

Olio Verde Olio Novello:  From a Sicilian country estate, this lush green-gold oil was pressed the week of October 7^th.  Tastes of fresh cut grass and lime.  Consistently well balanced, this harvest is pungent and well-rounded.  Drizzel on fish or bruschetta or serve with lamb, grilled steak, sardines, or roasted potatoes.  Olive varietals:  100% Nocellara del Belice.

Casale Olio Novello: Pressed on October 20^th and 21^st , this deep green olive oil is from Pianella, Abruzzo and NEW to Sopra Sotto! Aromatic of olives with a nutty taste.  Hints of green tea, artichoke and cinnamon, with a pungent peppery finish.  Serve with grilled meat, hearty fish and roasted squash.  Olive varietals:  90% Dritta and 10% Lecchino olives. 

Frescobaldi Laudemio First Pressing:  Pressed the week of October 25^th, this oil is a luscious emerald green color from Florence, Italy. Robust, complex oil redolent of fresh cut grass and citrus with cinnamon and a peppery finish. Serve with everything; winter soups, farro, roasted vegetables, grilled meats, even pizza. Olive varietals :  Frantoio, Moraiolo, Leccino. 

Prices for the oils range from $32 to $45 for one-half liter (16.9 ounces). 

 

Who knew? Cocina criolla in the Bay Area--Fantastico!

Last week's trip to Marin County, California, made us feisty for fresh olive oil, good avocados, young arugula and ocean seafood. We savored hot and cold sliced fennel and scolded ourselves for never thinking to top salads at home with pistachios.

We didn't get to Chez Panisse across the bay or the French Laundry up in Yountville. We left our hearts in Marin locavore land. (Maybe we went loco-loca; we didn't even cross the Golden Gate bridge.)

Regional highlights included vegetarian couscous lunch at rustic, handsome Insalata's in San Anselmo and California-grown olive oil pressed on site at Frantoio Ristorante in Mill Valley. There were Cowgirl Creamery cheese moments.

But the K.O. experience between San Francisco and the Wine Country was cocina criolla at Sol Food in San Rafael. I ordered take-out from the tiny Puerto Rican eatery so I could satisfy my curiosity and then move on.....What a fool, what a fool.  A visit to Sol Food's nearby bigger space happened soon after. With more time, third and fourth visits would have followed. 

Plantains--platanos--are napkin weights at Sol Food. When cooked, they anchor a meal like russet potatoes do in the Midwest or polenta in parts of Italy. I learned that vegan mofongo--fried green plantains mashed with olive oil and garlic--was my fave, but I also loved pancake-shaped tostones, and sweet, delicate maduros. (Are you still with me? This can be a lot of exotic terminology if you haven't had exposure to it.....Novice that I am, I came home and researched on Google for...it must have been...hours.)

A special using platanos was pastelon de carne--sweet plantain and beef "lasagna" with jack cheese and roasted red peppers. But on my maiden expedition I had three types of plantain sides (described above) with pollo--chicken thighs that had been deboned and skinned, then marinated in oregano and garlic and baked. Delicioso. There was house-made pique, a bright orange hot sauce that took the pollo up another notch.

For dessert I skipped classic flan in order to try tembleque--coconut pudding with mango sauce--and did not regret it.

Aside from its culinary appeal, Sol Food features piped-in authentic music and hip, tropic-inspired decor, both of which dazzle and delight. 

Sol Food, 732 Fourth Street and 901 Lincoln Avenue, San Rafael, California

Closer to home

What, you don't want to travel thousands of miles to try authentic Puerto Rican dishes?  Puerta Azul in St. Paul closed a while back so it looks like Chicago is the next stop, with about a half-dozen spots to choose from. Let me know if you find anything closer that's worth passing on to readers.   

Waiting for burrata

Every other week LeeAnn Zubay looks for the arrival of a limited-supply specialty cheese shipment to her shop, Culinary Market.  

Sometimes she will receive one of her favorites, burrata, a fresh cheese that is a specialty of southern Italy's Puglia region. In the last 10 years, burrata has become the rage at high-end Italian restaurants and markets in New York City and along the West Coast. It's still a challenge to track it down outside these areas.    

"I found a cheesemaker in California that makes it the right way," Zubay says. That way is "shaved mozzarella with cream added and tied up in a [mozzarella] beggar's purse."

To bite into delicate, silky burrata is to enjoy something far beyond basic fresh mozzarella. Many pair the liquid-center cheese with sliced heirloom tomatoes, green beans, grilled vegetables, peaches or prosciutto, but Zubay goes for simplicity:  "I don't like to do anything more to it than a great olive oil, coarse salt, and pepper....We're in heaven."

Zubay's olive oil of choice is Olave, an organic extra virgin olive oil from Chile, which she describes as "grassy."  She also carries flavor-infused extra virgin olive oils by Olave, such as basil, and recommends creating a tasting with burrata and varieties of infused oils.  

This week, the California burrata didn't come in, but Great Taste will stop by Culinary Market anyway. There are some 60 cheeses to choose from, including other fresh varieties for spring. 

(For purists: Zubay also plans to have Italian-imported water buffalo milk burrata in June.) 

Culinary Market
308 1st Avenue NW, Rochester
(507) 280-3875

Does Maureen McNally dream in Italian?

"Sometimes I dream of Italy...." laughs the owner of Sopra Sotto and Rochester's Italian culinary goddess. "But I don't dream in Italian."

We also asked Maureen some foodie questions.

Q: What is your favorite dish for spring?

A: Tagliatelle with asparagus and Gorgonzola.....Get some fresh asparagus; it's easy.

Q: Your crostatas are so good.....Best-kept secret in Rochester.

A: We make our own crostatas. Right now we're making citrus with hazelnut chocolate, a cherry one with Kirsch, and a mixed berry--sometimes with Marsala wine.

Q: When you are cooking on your own, how do you like to use truffle oil, and which one is your favorite?

A: I like white truffle oil....I use it in marinade for steak, and as a finishing on meat. I put a little in an omelet [batter]. Most of all I like to have it with pasta with fresh Parmigiano and porcini mushrooms.

Q: You have a huge selection of extra virgin Italian olive oils. Which one is your favorite?

A: I like the selection from Luigi Tega in Umbria. Probably the most wonderful finishing oil he does is Lirys, made from the Moraiolo olive. My personal favorite is his Mandarin orange olive oil....I use it on everything.

Q: Heidi Ash is coming to your store today for a chocolate tasting. Tell me about her 185 Chocolat.

A: We started carrying it last fall. She is a heart transplant patient who was coming in here all the time. She lives in Duluth and sells chocolates here and in Duluth. When she makes a raspberry silk, you know it's from fresh raspberries.....I just keep small amounts because she makes them fresh. She has a praline called Caramel Knowledge--It's like liquid caramel. She has a lemon chocolate truffle. She makes excellent chocolate--She really does.

Q: What else is coming up at Sopra Sotto?

A: We have a "Cooking with Wine" class on May 30. Antonio [Cecconi] is doing the class. We have ingredients classes--small scale classes just to focus on one or two ingredients and how to use them.