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PAIRING FOOD WITH WINE AND OLIVE OIL
 JUNE 2012
EVOO with Fresh Herbs
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WHAT'S HAPPENING AT THE RANCH
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Visit our YouTube page and meet our Master Miller Bob Singletary. You can also see what's keeping our ranchers and millers busy.

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FACES AT THE RANCH
Lizandro Magana - Artois ranch manager

Meet a Rancher

Lizandro Magana manages our ranch in Artois.
FAN PHOTO OF THE MONTH
Grilled halloumi cheese and heirloom tomatoes

Send Us Your Photos!

Congrats to Billy Griswold,  who sent us this fab photo of grilled halloumi cheese and heirloom tomatoes drizzled with our Arbequina oil and fresh lemon juice. Billy has won some complimentary olive oil. You can win next month's contest by sending us a photo showing how you use our oil. Put "Fan Photo" in the subject line and send it to this email address:

[email protected]
NATURAL FOOD PAIR: CALIFORNIA OLIVE OIL AND WINE
Chiarello Zinfadel Spaghetti
As a maker of California extra virgin olive oil, we tell people the Golden state makes more than great wine. We do, however, look to California's winemakers for inspiration and parallels. Olive oil and wine have plenty in common. Just like different wines are made from different grapes, like Cabernet Sauvignon or Sauvignon Blanc, different olive oils are made from different olives. Think Arbequina or Arbosana.

We also must pay close attention to Mother Nature. Around the ranch these days, our trees are changing week by week. They recently completed their bloom and began shedding their flowers. As we slide into June, we'll see fruitlets of pollinated fruit begin to grow on all the olive varieties.

Like grape growers, our ranch staff will be carefully monitoring the developing fruit to gauge the olive crop we'll have this fall. And our growers will be performing their spring cleanup, mowing tall grasses in the orchards so trees can drink up the water getting supplied to them during a critical growth period.

We see California's olive oil revolution, in fact, much like the remarkable emergence of California's wine business in the 1970s - when Napa wines bested French wines at a Paris tasting.

And when it comes to food, different olive oils - like wine - pair well with various dishes. John Ash, a California chef and wine guru, gives this advice for pairing wine and food - advice that could apply to olive oil. "Above all, (it) 'ain't rocket science,'" he says in Sid Goldstein's book, The Wine Lover's Cookbook (Chronicle Books, 1999).

Ash also notes that wine (like olive oil) essentially is food. "At its simplest, it's just another element of flavor on the plate." Below are recipes that offer food and wine pairings - and olive oil pairings.

And remember: Next time you're shopping for a California wine to pair with a meal, don't forget the California olive oil! 
Dishes that Marry Food, Wine and Olive Oil
Pizza Margherita
Pizza Margherita Dominic Orsini, the winery chef at Silver Oak Cellars, uses heirloom tomatoes, basil, and fresh mozzarella for his colorful version of this classic Italian dish. He recommends pairing the pizza with the winery's 2007 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Just before serving the pizza, Orsini recommends brushing the crust's rim with olive oil. We'd use our Arbequina oil to make the dough, and we'd also brush it on afterward.

   Click here to see the recipe
Shaved Zucchini Salad
Shaved Zucchini Salad Silver Oak Cellars winery chef Dominic Orsini says this dish is good for hot summer day. The zucchini is raw, giving the salad a nice crunchy texture. It includes toasted pumpkin seeds and shaved Parmesan. Orsini recommends pairing the dish with the winery's Twomey Pinot Noir or Sauvignon Blanc. Our Arbequina would be a good choice for the dressing.

 Click here to see the recipe
Corn Succotash
Corn SuccotashThis dish - from Silver Oak Cellars winery chef Dominic Orsini - showcases summer or autumn garden produce. While you can mix up the varieties of vegetables, make sure to include corn, onions, zucchini, peppers and some type of bean. Orsini recommends serving this dish with the winery's Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or Pinot Noir. You could prepare the succotash with our Everyday Blend, and give it a finishing drizzle of our Arbequina.

  Click here to see the recipe
New York Steaks with Gorgonzola-Walnut "Butter"
New York SteaksThe "butter" here isn't really butter but instead features Gorgonzola cheese. The recipe appears in The Wine Lover's Cookbook (Chronicle Books, 1999). Sid Goldstein, the author, recommends pairing this  steak with a young Cabernet Sauvignon. He notes the cheese tames the intensity, concentration, and tannin in the wine. He also suggests a young Syrah. Use our Everyday Fresh in the marinade and our Arbequina or more robust Miller's Blend in the tabbouleh.

 Click here to see the recipe
Rustic Paella
Rustic PaellaMediterranean food guru Joyce Goldstein notes that paella "need not be an an elaborate and expensive dish." She created this version for the book Perfect Pairings (University of California Press, 2006), written by her son: the noted sommelier Evan Goldstein. Joyce contributed the recipes. Evan recommends serving "excellent around Sangioveses,"  including those from Italy and Argentina. Our more robust Miller's Blend and Arbosana oils would be good for making the dish. 

 Click here to see the recipe
Grilled, Herb-Marinated Fish
Grilled, Herb-Marinated Fish"All over the Mediterranean," says Joyce Goldstein, "fish is rubbed with fresh herbs and grilled over a wood fire." Her recipe appears in Perfect Pairings (University of California Press), by her son Evan, who's a Master Sommelier. The fish is served atop white beans. Evan recommends pairing it with "earthy, minerally Chardonnays" - like those from Burgundy. Our Arbequina and Everyday Fresh oils would be good in the marinade.

 Click here to see the recipe
A Chef Who Loves Fine Wine and Olive Oil
Dominic Orsini
Dominic Orsini

Dominic Orsini is the winery chef at California's Silver Oak Cellars. The highly regarded Silver Oak, which operates wineries in the Napa and Alexander Valleys, turns 40 this year. To celebrate, Orsini is throwing a pizza cook-off in August. He's invited artisan pizza makers from northern California. They'll come to Silver Oak and use four wood-fired ovens to prepare thin-crust pizzas made with local ingredients. It reflects Orsini's focus on using fresh, local ingredients.  

 

You credit your grandmother for your own skills as a chef. How so?

 

I grew up outside of Philadelphia, in Phoenixville. I'd visit my grandmother's house in Philadelphia. She and my grandfather had a beautiful garden. All summer we picked fresh strawberries, tomatoes, zucchini, corn, raspberries, cucumbers, watermelons. At a young age I ate a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables. That lifestyle had an impact on me.

 

What's your earliest food memory?

 

It was that time in my grandparents' garden and the foods I had. I ate homemade tomato sauce and gnocchi. They had an elderberry bush and made their own elderberry wine. My grandmother was a good cook. She grew up in the Pennsylvania Dutch country and was a Mennonite. She spent most of her life proving to her Italian in-laws she could cook as well as they could.

 

What inspired you to become a chef?Dominic Orsini 2

 

It was my family telling me to get a summer job. I was 14. My first job was at a Burger King on the Jersey shore, where we spent our summers. I was loading the frozen burgers onto the conveyor belt. By 16 I started working at a French bistro in Malvern, next to Phoenixville. I learned to make simple desserts: chocolate mousse and cr�me br�l�e. I also was responsible for smoked salmon plates, p�t�s, and terrines. It gave me an understanding and familiarity with fine dining. By the end of high school I didn't want to go to college. I asked my mother: 'Can chefs make money? Is that a real career?' You should have seen my parents' eyes light up. They said you've got to go to the Culinary Institute. I went to the CIA in Hyde Park.

 

What's your philosophy toward cooking?

 

I'm striving to create an indigenous cuisine reflecting where we are. All the vegetables we grow here we serve. I bake my own bread in a wood oven using locally milled flours. We also use a 4-year-old sourdough starter for the bread that was made from Cabernet grapes here. We take old wine and make our own vinegar. We use everything we can to represent the cooking of northern California.

 

How do you use California Olive Ranch extra virgin olive oil in your cooking?Dominic Orsini 3

 

I used to use an imported olive oil from Sicily. I started looking at California oils and tried your Arbequina. I thought: 'This is exactly what I want.' It imparts this rich, buttery umami flavor. I use it in everyday use. My butter use has fallen off the map. For example, I now use a splash of vegetable stock or white wine in a pan and add a little olive oil to make an emulsion. We use it to coat the vegetables, instead of a butter sauce. We use the Arbequina in vinaigrettes. I use a lot of olive oil. It's a healthy cuisine, and I find a meal with vegetables that have been saut�ed with olive oil is much lighter.

 

How did you develop a strong interest in wine and become involved with a top-flight winery?

 

It started in culinary school. I was studying European food and wine. And then I started learning about the Napa Valley. I came out to California for a visit in 1996, and I fell in love with Healdsburg and Santa Rosa. It was a great place for a young chef to be. I later moved over to Napa. And here I am.