Remarkable Recipes

Some of the best food to be found in any region is created in the home. Family recipes are handed down through the generations and traditions are preserved. Olive oil expert Judy Ridgway has certainly found this to be the case on her travels through the olive growing countries of the world. 'Some of the most interesting and delicious dishes I have ever eaten have been served at the tables of the olive growers and oil producers', she says.


Over the last twenty years Judy Ridgway has visited and written extensively about the best producers in the Mediterranean and California in the northern hemisphere and Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in the southern hemisphere. In the course of her work she has studied how extra virgin olive oil is used in the local cuisine, collecting recipes from all kinds of kitchens from small farms to grand estates as well as from family-run restaurants. After all, who should know better than the growers and producers about how to cook with this very special product?


REMARKABLE RECIPES is just part of that collection. The 76 recipes are arranged in sections according to the time taken to prepare the dishes with great fast food dishes followed by quick and easy breakfasts, snacks and suppers as well as salads and cold dishes. Savoury dishes that take a little longer come next with a final section on baking with extra virgin olive oil. 


Each recipe uses the extra virgin olive oil made by the producer contributing that recipe. However, an indication is given of the style of oil so that you can buy a similar oil if the original is not easily available to you. To help with finding such substitute oils the introductory pages look at what style of oils to expect from where with a list of regions which generally produce delicate, medium or robust oils.


The introduction also explores the different ways of using extra virgin olive oil in the kitchen and answers the perennial question 'can I cook with extra virgin olive oil'. Finally there is a short section on extra virgin olive oil, nutrition and health.