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COOKING OVER LIVE FIRE
 JULY 2012
EVOO with Fresh Herbs
IN THIS ISSUE
ZESTER CONTEST

Enter the Zester Daily Contest to win a bottle of our Arbosana extra virgin olive oil and The Gardener & The Grill cookbook.
 
ARBOSANA COUPON
Get 20% Off Our Award-Winning Arbosana Oil



Receive 20% off all online purchases of Arbosana this month. Enter the coupon code GRILLING at checkout.
 
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WHAT'S HAPPENING AT THE RANCH
YouTube 
Visit our YouTube page and meet our Master Miller Bob Singletary. You can also see what's keeping our ranchers and millers busy.

Click here to see YouTube
FACES AT THE RANCH
Kirsten with James Oseland

Meet Kirsten

Kirsten Wanket, a vital member of our marketing team, with Saveur Editor James Oseland at the magazine's Food Blog Awards Party in NYC (where our olive oil was used for the dinner). 
FAN PHOTO OF THE MONTH
Whitney Miller Baked

Send Us Your Photos!

Chef and food blogger Whitney Miller (aka the "Pastry Princess") shared her photo and recipe for baked "not fried" peach pies. As a result, she's won some olive oil. Whitney, author of the cookbook Modern Hospitality (Rodale Books, 2011), used our olive oil to make the crust. 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]
JULY PRIORITIES: TENDING THE OLIVES ... GRILLING
Brick Chicken - Steven Raichlen
The temperatures are climbing at the ranch. That's good: Olives like heat, and they're starting to grow. That means we're heading into the fields a lot, checking to see if the olives have enough water. We also want to get a handle on how big the crop will be. 

When we get home, we don't want to heat up the kitchen.  And the hot days lead to perfect nights.  So you'll find us at the grill (for sure on July 4th), with a bottle of our extra virgin olive oil nearby. Olive oil plays a leading role in our grilling: for marinades, vinaigrettes, basting, you name it.  We also like to finish a grilled dish - like flavorful eggplant, juicy whole chicken, or sumptuous porterhouse steak - with a healthy drizzle of California olive oil.

Steven Raichlen, best-selling author of Planet Barbecue (Workman Publishing Co., 2010), shares our passion for good olive oil, telling us he thinks it's "great stuff." His advice: "Use it where you're going to get the best bang for the buck."

While burgers and ribs may be the first items that spring to mind for many people when grilling, veggie lovers have every reason to cook over live fire - armed with a bottle of olive oil.

"Grilling is a very easy way to cook vegetables and fruits to retain their color and flavor. A simple brush of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt are all you need," Karen Adler and Judith Fertig write in their book The Gardener & The Grill (Running Press, 2011). "Grilling makes foods taste fuller, richer, and meatier - even without any meat."

Below you'll find grilling recipes for veggie, meat and seafood lovers alike. Also, check out our Facebook page where you'll find giveaways this month of our oils as well as  steaks and cedar planks from our friends at Snake River Farms and Double R Ranch. And, while you're at it, please become Facebook fans of Snake River Farms and Double R Ranch.

Happy grilling! 
Our Favorite Grilling Recipes
Grilled Rib Eyes with Crispy Potatoes
Grilled Rib Eye with Crispy Potato and Smoked Bacon Vinaigrette We teamed with the meat experts at Double R Ranch and Snake River Farms to develop this dish. The steaks are flavored with an olive oil and thyme-infused marinade. The thinly sliced potatoes, meanwhile, are combined with olive oil, smoked bacon, and shallots and  roasted until crispy. The cooked spuds are dressed with a simple vinaigrette. Drizzle your grilled steak with a robust olive oil like our Arbosana or Miller's Blend. 

   Click here to see the recipe
Italian-Style Grilled Vegetables
Grilled Vegetables in the Style of Santa Margherita Steven Raichlen created this dish after visiting the town of Santa Margherita on the Italian Riveria. There he was served grilled veggies flavored with a drizzle of olive oil and a squirt of lemon. "I guarantee you'll never taste better grilled vegetables, nor feast your eyes on a prettier platter," he writes in The Barbecue! Bible (Workman Publishing, 2008), where the recipe appears. You could try our Arbequina, Miller's Blend or Arbosana oils.  

 Click here to see the recipe
Cedar-Planked New York Steak with Rosemary and Honey
Cedar Planked New York Steak with Rosemary and Honey Another recipe partnership with our friends at  Double R Ranch and Snake River Farms. The steaks are flavored with a marinade made from olive oil, rosemary, red chile flakes, fennel, garlic and lemon zest. They get a nice dose of smoke when grilled on cedar planks. The steaks receive a finishing drizzle with a honey and rosemary sauce. Try our Arbequina for the marinade and the sauce.

 Click here to see the recipe
Tequila Salmon
Tequila SalmonHere's a marriage of two yummy items: salmon and tequila. The dish appears in Weber's Big Book of Grilling (Chronicle Books, 2001), by Jamie Purviance and Sandra McRae. The salmon is infused with citrus and tequila via a marinade that also includes jalape�o pepper, fresh cilantro, cumin and garlic. The salmon is served with a green salad. Try our Everyday fresh for the  marinade and our Arbequina for the salad dressing.

 Click here to see the recipe
Skewered Lemon-Rosemary Cherry Tomatoes
Skewered Lemon-Rosemary Cherry Tomatoes Grilling is our favorite way to cook veggies. The  heat kicks the flavor up a notch by caramelizing the veggies. This recipe comes from The Gardener & The Grill (Running Press, 2011). Cherry and grape tomatoes as well as sweet onions are marinated with olive oil, rosemary and lemon juice and then grilled on skewers. Try our Arbequina or Everyday Fresh for the marinade.

  Click here to see the recipe
Grilled Tuna with Red Wine, Caper and Olive Sauce
Grilled Tuna with Red Wine, Caper, and Olive SauceAnother Steven Raichlen creation from The Barbecue! Bible. The tuna is paired with a sauce known as ra�te. Raichlen notes "it's richly rooted in the Mediterranean, with a deep flavor that goes well with grilled tuna." You could prepare the sauce using any of our oils, particularly our Miller's Blend or Arbosana. 

 Click here to see the recipe
A Primer On Our Arbosana Extra Virgin Olive Oil
A Robust Oil Milled From a Small Olive
Arbosana Olive from Artois Ranch

Rather than run a chef profile this month, we want to share some big news. Our Arbosana extra virgin olive oil recently was named BEST AMERICAN OIL at the TerraOlivo international olive oil competition in Israel.

 

Bob Singletary, our Master Miller, says the weather last year was "perfect" for Arbsoana.  

 

"The lack of rain later in the season meant that we didn't lose any intensity in the flavor of the olives. We also didn't have any cold snaps or rains," he says.

 

"The good weather last fall also meant  we could harvest the Arbosana olives at the perfect time."  

 

Our robustly flavored Arbosana, by the way, pairs well with grilled food. Drizzle it on a grilled rib eye steak, for example.  

 

"A robust extra virgin olive oil holds its own against the intensity of the meat," olive oil aficionado Fran Gage notes in The New American Olive Oil (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2009). 

 

Arbosana is milled from the Arbosana olive, a green olive originally from Spain.  

 

This small olive makes an oil  that gives the back of your throat a very noticeable tickle when you taste it. Hence the robust flavor.  

 

In addition to a grilled rib eye, we like to drizzle our Arbosana on bruschetta and atop soups. It pairs well with chocolate, too: Think chocolate almond torte or chocolate biscotti

 

Our Arbosana olive oil is a more complex, robust tasting oil than our Arbequina, which is more delicate. And while Arbequina delivers flavors of tropical fruit and fresh artichoke, our Arbosana delivers flavors of fresh tomato and almonds. 

 

In addition, the Arbosana olive is our No. 2 olive, accounting for 19% percent of the 12,000-plus acres of trees we have under cultivation. (Arbequina accounts for 78%.) Arbosana also is California's No. 2 olive crop. 

 

Getting back to food, here are Fran Gage's suggestions for pairing food with robust oils, like Arbosana: 

  • Brushed atop bruschetta
  • In the almond-laden Spanish sauce known as romesco 
  • With soups in general, as an ingredient and/or drizzled on top
  • In the Spanish seafood medley paella 
  • With garlic mashed potatoes
  • Drizzled on top of a grilled and sliced rib eye steak 
  • In biscotti as an ingredient
  • In olive oil ice cream 
  • For all things chocolate - although chocolate is actually a special case, according to Gage. It pairs well with all types of olive oils. (Is there anything not to like about chocolate?)