News From The Ranch
Facebook
Twitter
Blog
MEDITERRANEAN CUISINE
MAY 2012
EVOO with Fresh Herbs
IN THIS ISSUE
Find A Store Near You
WHAT'S HAPPENING AT THE RANCH
YouTube 
Visit our new YouTube page to meet our ranchers and millers. See what's keeping them busy.

Click here to see YouTube
FACES AT THE RANCH
Roberto Ayala, Corning Ranch Manager

Tree Inspection

Roberto Ayala, manager of our Corning Ranch, examines some trellised olive trees.
OUR HAT WINNER!
Autographed Hat from Bob Singletary

Thanks to S.J. Detrick for suggesting we add a link to our website in our redesigned eNewsletter. S.J. has won this hat autographed by our Master Miller Bob Singletary. And a big thanks to everyone who sent us suggestions. We received several great ones.
FAN PHOTO OF THE MONTH
Fan Photo Carolyn Mann Cilantro Pesto

Send Us Your Photos!

Congrats to Carolyn Mann, who sent us this great photo of her cilantro pesto made with our Arbequina oil. Carolyn has won some complimentary olive oil. We received several fab photos. Thanks everyone! You too can win by sending us a photo showing how you use our oil. Put "Fan Photo" in the subject line and send it to the email address below. Each month we'll pick one to display and send that person some oil.

[email protected]
MAY EQUALS SPRING BLOOM AND MEDITERRANEAN FOOD
Puglia Market at Martina Franca
Spring is in full swing and the ranch is awakening. Warming temperatures are providing the olive trees with the energy to produce beautiful new regrowth and blossoms. The trees  should start blooming in the next week or so. We're crossing our fingers that we won't encounter heavy rains or hail while the blossoms are open. By the end of the month, we'll begin to see the very first signs of developing fruit.

May for us also means we'll be cooking the cuisine from our favorite spot on the culinary map: the Mediterranean. In fact, the food think tank Oldways has declared this month Mediterranean diet month.

Mediterranean cuisine not only tastes good, but it's good for you: vegetables, fruit, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seafood all cooked or served with good extra virgin olive oil. Think of grilled vegetables served with rich, nut-thickened romesco sauce from Spain, or seafood stew from Italy.

Paula Wolfert, the noted author and food anthropologist, writes in her book Mediterranean Cooking (Ecco Press, 1995) that "rich, clean, and fruity olive oil is the great medium for cooking" in the Mediterranean.

To promote Mediterranean diet month, we've teamed with Valley Fig Growers, a California grower-owned cooperative that's North America's largest marketer of dried figs. Figs, like olive oil, are a natural part of Mediterranean cuisine. You'll find a recipe below for a flavorful dried fig and black olive spread.

It's just the kind of dish that allows us to put a California spin - extra virgin olive oil and figs from the Golden State - on Mediterranean-inspired cuisine.  
Our Favorite Mediterranean Dishes
Grilled Vegetables With Salsa Romesco
Example Image - 180 x 150 pixels Grilled green onions, artichokes and asparagus are paired here with Spain's famed salsa romesco, a flavorful nut-thickened sauce that's a specialty of the Catalan city of Tarragona. "I call it 'Catalan ketchup' because it seems to be good on everything," Joyce Goldstein writes in Tapas (Chronicle Books, 2009), where this recipe appears. Our robust Miller's Blend or Arbosana olive oils would be naturals for preparing the romesco.

 Click here to see the recipe
Salmon Fillet Poached in Olive Oil
Salmon Fillet Poached in Olive OilWe love to prepare seafood by gently poaching it in olive oil. As Paula Wolfert notes in The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen (John Wiley & Sons, 2003), where this recipe appears, poaching yields "a glistening, almost translucent, texture and an incredible succulence." She first encountered olive oil-poached seafood on the island of Mallorca. You could use our Arbequina or Everday oils to poach the salmon.

Click here to see the recipe
Dried Fig and Black Olive Spread
Dried Fig and Black Olive SpreadThis dish - courtesy of Valley Fig Growers - combines two of our favorite foods: luscious dried figs and briny black olives. Marie Simmons created this dish, which appears in her excellent cookbook Fig Heaven (William Morrow, 2004). You can spread it on crostini with crumbled feta or blue cheese. Or smear some into celery boats or red pepper wedges. Try it using our Arbequina oil.

 Click here to see the recipe
Classic Fish Stew from Livorno
Classic Fish Stew from LivornoThis stew originated originated with fisherman in the Italian port city of Livorno. "Tradition dictates that at least five different types of fish be used," Mary Ann Esposito write in her book Ciao Italia  in Tuscany (St. Martin's Press, 2003), where this dish appears. Our Everyday oil would be fine for this dish. And we'd give each bowl a finishing drizzle of our robust Miller's Blend or Arbosana oils.

Click here to see the recipe
Escarole and Beans
Escarole and BeansA classic Mediterranean combo: legumes and vegetables ... in this case, escarole and cannellini beans. This pairing was once considered a dish for the poor "that now finds its way on the menus of upscale restaurants," Mary Ann Exposito writes in Ciao Italia Tuscany (St. Martin's Press, 2003).  Serve it hot as an accompaniment to meat or fish, or as an antipasto over slices of crusty  bread. Our Everyday oil would be a good choice.

Click here to see the recipe
Meet Our Most Veteran Rancher
Miguel Lopez
Miguel Lopez
Miguel Lopez
Miguel Lopez is our longest serving employee. Miguel has been in our olive orchards since 2000, not long after we planted our first trees in Oroville. The 60-year-old Miguel grew up 20 minutes south of there, in Marysville. He tells us he loves farming. And he tells us how he likes to prepare his favorite fish: salmon.

California Olive Ranch planted its first olives in September 1999, in Oroville. When did you  begin your job with the company, and how did you happen to join us?

I began in April 2000. Before that I managed a prune ranch just down the road. I had begun working for the owner there when I was 10, coming after to school to the check fruit moth traps. I also did odd jobs in the shop. The owner, Fred Heringer, had a few ranches. And in my mid-twenties I began managing one of them until Fred Heringer died and the family sold the ranch. I needed a job. Mike Denny, who was California Olive Ranch's chief executive at the time, was looking for a manager. The rest is history.

What was California Olive Ranch like when you started?

When I came to California Olive Ranch about 60 acres of olive trees had been planted the previous September. I was the only employee at the time. About a month later I hired another person. Between the two of us we worked in the olive orchard and started to prepare the soil for the next planting, in May. I hired around 20 employees in May for that planting.

Did you have a prior background with olives or olive oil?
Miguel Lopez 2001 Oil
Holding Our First Batch of Olive Oil in 2001


The only previous experience I had with olives was when I was about 17. Things were slow around the Heringer Ranch, so I decided to give olive picking a try. I did that for 2 weekends. I was making only 25 cents for every gallon the olives produced. I returned to the Heringer Ranch, which had peaches, pears and prunes. I worked in all of the fields until I stated managing just the prune orchard, which totaled about 400 acres.

Tell us about what do you do for California Olive Ranch, and what you like about your job?

I manage the company's first ranch, in Oroville. What do I like about my job? All of my life I've been in farming, except two years when I was 20 and worked in the sawmills. I missed farming and came back. With farming, you're always doing something different. It's not boring. Then there are the people you work with. When I was at Heringer Ranches you couldn't ask for a better boss. It's the same at California Olive Ranch. The people here make you feel like a friend, and that makes it enjoyable. I've been very lucky in life and hope it stays to the end.

How has California Olive Ranch improved the quality of its olives over the years?

We've come a long way. We've probably reduced the amount of fertilizer we use by about half. We've also done a lot of research into how to get better oil from the olives on our own ranches and those of our contract growers. And we use better equipment in the field and in our mill; we can pick more olives from the trees and extract more oil from them at the mill.
 
Tell us about your favorite way to prepare salmon.

Salmon is my favorite fish. I like to marinade it with our oil, slices of sweet pepper, lemon, tomatoes, lots of sliced onions - I love onions - and mushrooms. I cover the fish in foil and put it on top of the BBQ grill for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

When my boys were young (I have four boys now aged 40, 38, 33, and 31) we used to fish and camp in the hills. When my boys grew up I started doing that with my grandkids. I have nine grandkids: five in this area and four in Wisconsin. Somewhere along the line it kind of slowed down, but I've decided this year is going to be different.