Got Chives? Make Chive Oil and Blossom Vinegar!

I planted chives in my garden a couple of years ago because I love the color and onion-y bite the chopped greens bring to green and grain salads, hot or cold vegetable dishes, eggs, or pasta. So when the purple pompoms of their blossoms started to appear, it seemed like there should be a better use for them than simply as a garnish, which would really only use a few of them. (I'm not a big garnish person, anyway, since most food I make around here disappears before I can "scatter artistically" as Martha Stewart might suggest.)

Chive blossoms in my garden.

Doing a bit of research, I found suggestions for making infused vinegar and oil using the chive blossoms and stems which can then be used to make a vinaigrette for salads and vegetables. The vinegar picks up a gorgeous rhubarb-red tint from the blossoms, and the oil gains a light chive flavor from a mix of blossoms and chopped stems, which would be fabulous for dipping crusty bread, Italian-style, or drizzling over crostata or grilled fish. Our house vinaigrette recipe would be perfect using the oil and substituting the vinegar for the lemon juice.

Infuse, strain. Done!

Like most infusions, this is dead simple to prepare, requiring simply blending the chives with oil or vinegar and giving it a few days to infuse. Make enough and you can fill small jars to share with friends!

Chive Blossom Vinegar and Chive Oil

Clip blossoming chives near the base of the stem, trimming off brown or dried parts. Pick off blossoms. Chop stems into 1/2" lengths.

For vinegar, pack blossoms into pint jar (or jars, depending on how many blossoms you have and how much vinegar you'll use). Fill jar with vinegar to within 1/2" of top. I used white wine vinegar, but some recipes call for white vinegar, which to my taste would be too strong; others call for white balsamic vinegar. Seal with lid, but not too tightly, to allow vinegar to breathe. Store in cool, dark place for two weeks. Strain into clean jar(s) and seal with lid(s). Keep up to six months in a cupboard away from heat or light.

For oil, place chopped chives, a few blossoms and enough oil to cover in a blender. Blend on high until completely pulverized then add more oil to thin it. Pour into lidded container and place in refrigerator for four days. Bring to room temperature, strain through fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth into medium bowl or pint measuring cup, then pour strained oil into ice cube tray and freeze. Pop frozen cubes out of trays and place in zip-lock bag. Store in freezer and thaw as needed.

Breakfast? Dessert? Company? Try This Versatile Olive Oil Cake!

I've been posting contributor Jim Dixon's recipes for years, and his approach to cooking with whatever's in season with minimal fuss is right up my alley. Right now he's expanding Real Good Food's selection of imported and local goodness—olive oil, spices, vinegars, sauces, etc.—and moving to a new location in order to bring more tastiness to Portland's tables. More on his grand opening in a future post, but for now here's his latest twist on a classic olive oil cake!

Olive Oil Cake with Fennel Pollen

I adapted this recipe from Tenuta di Capezzana, the Tuscan winery and olive oil producer, and it uses more extra virgin olive oil than any other olive oil cake recipe I've seen.

3 eggs
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 c. milk
2 c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. sea salt
2 Tbsp. fennel pollen*

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Cut a circle of parchment paper to fit a 12-inch cake pan (I usually make this in a 12-inch cast iron skillet); drizzle some olive oil into the pan, then place the parchment paper and slide it around so it’s well-oiled.

Blend the eggs and sugar together in a medium-sized bowl, then stir in the olive oil and milk. In another large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt and fennel pollen. Make a well in the dry ingredients, and slowly add the egg mixture, stirring just until blended.

Do not over mix. Pour the batter into the prepared pan on top of the parchment paper.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes. Let the cake cool completely, then loosen the sides with a knife, and invert onto a serving plate (hold the plate against cake pan and flip…hopefully it will come out in one piece). Remove the parchment paper, slice, and eat.

* In response to a question posed on Facebook about the taste of fennel pollen, Jim had this to say: "Fennel pollen, more accurately called fiore di finocchio in Italian since it contains bits of flower and pollen, has the same flavor as fennel seed but a bit more delicate. It's a key ingredient in porchetta, and the stuff we sell at Real Good Food comes from Monte San Savino in Tuscany, where a lot of the roadside porchetta trucks get their stuffed suckling pig roasts. I like it on salmon, too."

Don't Fall for Fake Extra Virgin

If you saw or heard about the segment that the CBS program 60 Minutes aired last Sunday about extra virgin olive oil, you might have come away with the feeling that you can't trust anyone who sells the stuff to be telling the truth. Contributor Jim Dixon of Real Good Food is a guy who travels to Italy and knows the small producers who grow the olives and make the oils he carries. Here he adds more information to what you may have heard about the issue.

Another story about fake extra virgin olive oil aired on 60 Minutes this weekend. It implicated the Mafia so it was even more titillating than earlier reports. It's no secret that most of what's labeled "extra virgin olive oil" doesn't meet the commonly accepted definition of the highest grade of olive oil. When there's money to be made, there are people eager to defraud consumers to make it.

Jim Dixon of Real Good Food.

Tom Mueller, author of Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil, was featured in the piece and covered the issue best on his own website. He writes, "The world of Italian olive oil never ceases to confirm my best, and worst, suspicions. When I taste olive oil made by honest Italian growers and millers, I’m often amazed by its freshness and complexity—and even more amazed that they are still in business. The single-minded devotion of these food artisans, who built Italy’s culinary fame, is almost superhuman when you consider how consistently they’re being undercut by olive oil crooks, and abandoned by their own government. In fact, forces within the Italian government often help the crooks." Read the whole thing and his book to appreciate what the people who make real extra virgin olive oil face trying to make a living.

While the Mafia connection grabs the headlines, the real issue is the fact that it's perfectly legal to sell fake extra virgin here in the US. As much as 75% of the olive oil sold here labeled "extra virgin" is really refined olive oil blended with some virgin olive oil. And while Italy gets blamed most often (as Mueller points out, the Italians do more than other oil-producing countries to catch the cheaters, so they get the press), every country growing olives for oil does the same thing.

Seal of the California Olive Oil Council.

Indifferent producers make oil that doesn't taste good, the result of any number of defects ranging from bad fruit to poorly maintained presses. This oil is "rectified," or fixed, by an industrial refining  process that strips away the bad flavors. It also eliminates the good flavors and healthful attributes. The resulting neutral oil is blended with virgin olive oil and sold here as extra virgin. I wrote about olive oil standards years ago if you're interested in more details (I no longer recommend Bertolli oil as I did back then).

News like this always brings requests from consumers about choosing a real extra virgin oil. The 60 Minutes companion piece doesn't help much. The only way to distinguish real extra virgin in the supermarket is the California Olive Oil Council's seal [issued to California olive oils that pass its rigorous certification standards]. It guarantees the oil is really extra virgin. Your other choice is buying from a trusted vendor (like Real Good Food).

Please support the hard-working Italians who struggle against the odds to make amazing, delicious, true extra virgin olive oil.

Inspiration Strikes From Afar, Baba Ghanoush Results

Someone once asked a lunch table of techies what they thought the internet, then in its infancy—think dial-up connections, tel-net, CU-SeeMe, listserv mailing lists—would become, and everyone present started talking about commerce and capitalism and corporations.

When it was my turn (I was a guest and just there for the food; dim sum, as I recall), I said that, for me, it wasn't the commercial possibilities that intrigued me, but the interpersonal potential that seemed revolutionary. That is, the ability it gave people on opposite sides of the world to connect over issues of common interest and to share information quickly and easily.

That luncheon conversation came rushing back when my friend John, who works for Marqués de Valdueza olive oil with his lovely wife Ana, was inspired by my neighbor Jim Dixon's post on Good Stuff NW about grilling eggplant. He e-mailed from his home in Madrid, "I tweaked your aubergine salad recipe and made baba ghanoush Marqués de Valdueza! I'll serve it tonight with pita and a dust of Pimentón de la Vera. Thank you very much for the inspiration, it turned out delicious!"

See what I mean about that internet thing? Whether it's bonding over food or politics or other concerns of our daily lives, there's always someone out there willing to engage. Gotta love that.

Baba Ghanoush Marqués de Valdueza

Roast one eggplant over a grill, turning a quarter turn every 15 minutes, for a total of 1 hour. Spoon out the roasted eggplant into a blender. Add one small sweet onion, two small very ripe tomatoes, half a salad cucumber (thin skin), fresh parsley, fleur de sel (to taste), a couple of tablespoons of Merula extra virgin olive oil* and a splash of Marqués de Valdueza red wine vinegar*. Blend it all, leaving small chunks for texture. Serve dusted with Gualtaminos picante Pimentón de la Vera*, crackers and pita bread. And a spoon to not leave any behind!

* Regular good quality extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar and pimentón (Spanish smoked paprika) can be substituted.

Great Gifting: Good Eatin'

Self-liquidating gifts are a favorite theme around the holidays. It's so much easier and guilt-free…no need to remember to wear that hideous pendant at family gatherings so Aunt Esther knows how much you appreciate her generosity, or where to place the reindeer-or-is-it-a-deranged-gorilla that little Bobby made in his art class.

No, I believe in the gift that disappears without a trace within a few weeks of the giving, and a nicely chosen food item fits that description to a T. Think of it as a hostess gift for the holidays, whether it's a single jar of picked-at-the-peak-of-ripeness organic berry jam or some exotic spices with the aroma of a magical Mediterranean island. Whether it's given singly or packed in a basket, there's no end of goodness to share.

Here are a few of my favorites. Feel free to vamp on these for the lucky giftees on your list:

Real Good Food: Last year I put together baskets of Jim Dixon's imported olive oil and packets of the most amazingly fragrant oregano, fennel pollen and capers (right) from Pantelleria, a tiny island between the toe of Italy's boot and Tunisia. Jim also has wonderful grains, dried beans and Crystal hot sauce from Louisiana, any combination of which would make a greatly appreciated gift. Find him on at his annual Olive Oil Garage Sale on Fri.-Sat., 12/20-21, from 12-5 and then on Mon., 12/23, from 3-7 pm at his retail location at 833 SE Main, #122, on the corner of SE 9th and Main.

Nostrana: This year Cathy and David are offering specially labeled 375ml bottles of Italian olive oils (top photo). In addition to their house arbequina, they have four kind of olio nuovo, the freshly pressed oil that is loaded with phenolic compounds (i.e. pungency) and that is a greatly anticipated seasonal treat in Italy. Their house oil is $15, and the olio nuovo varies from $30 to $50 per bottle. In addition, they have their famous pizza scissors for $20 a pair should you want to combine them with the oil for a "pizza package" or slide them into a deserving pizzaiolo's stocking.

Ayers Creek: Nothing makes foodie friends happier than giving the best of region's bounty, especially items that are hard to find and that give a real "taste of the place," the terroir of Oregon. I've given baskets brimming with Ayers Creek Farm farmstead polenta and beans packed around a jar of their fabulous jam. You will find Anthony and Carol this Sunday (12/22) at the Hillsdale Farmers' Market, and you can get their jams at Vino on SE 28th and at Pastaworks on Hawthorne.

Read the other posts in this series: Gifts That Give Back, Mad Skills, Kids' Stuff and Bookin' It.

My Kinda Garage Sale!

There are Italian festivals called sagre (plural of sagra) that celebrate the harvest (above) and often center around a type of local food from the region like eggplants or onions or polenta or, yes, even frogs. Almost every village has an olive oil festival at some point in the year, often after the olives are pressed. The oil, stored in 50-liter metal canisters called fustino, is poured into containers, often wine bottles, brought by the villagers and then taken home to be used throughout the season.

For the last several years, Portland has been one of those villages celebrating the Italian olive oil harvest, thanks to Jim Dixon of Real Good Food. He originally began his own sagra in the garage of his home in Irvington (left), selling olive oil to friends and neighbors who would bring their containers to be filled from the fustino he imported from Italy. A pot of soup was on the hot plate, there was wine and often some homemade nocino from the walnuts that fell from the tree in his front yard, and a crackling fire pit in the driveway to warm the villagers'…I mean, customers'…hands.

One year, though, it got so cold that the oil in the fustino (right) in his unheated garage started to solidify, making filling the wine bottles somewhat problematic. It was about the same time that his selection of products expanded from olive oil, salt and dried beans to grains, oregano, capers and more, much too much to fit in the old garage.

So for the last couple of years Jim can be found celebrating the sagra in his (thankfully heated) retail space in inner SE Portland, where he still fills wine bottles with oil from the fustino and ladles out soup and sips of wine to customers, with a warming fire in the parking lot outside. And I can say from personal experience that a basket of, say, a small bottle of olive oil, a bit of fennel pollen and some Pantellerian capers and oregano make a very appreciated gift under the tree for your favorite cook or holiday host.

Details: Olive Oil Garage Sale (and more!). Fri.-Sat., Dec. 20-21; Noon-5 pm. Real Good Food, 833 SE Main St., Suite 122, on the ground floor on the NE corner of the building. 503-380-1067.

Photo at top of Sagra Astigiane by Andrea Marchisio from Wikimedia Commons.

Coming: The Best Garage Sale Ever!

Our weekends used to be spent in pursuit of the elusive perfect garage sale. Dave, who always gets up earlier than I do, would circle likely targets in the classifieds. Then when I'd managed to gulp down enough coffee to keep my eyes open, we'd head out, cruising by first to scout the location and parking if it looked like a good prospect.

He'd head for the basement or the garage looking for tools while I hit the kitchen looking for old Bauer ware, Pyrex dishes or state plates. This went on for a few years, then one day it dawned on us that (duh!) we really didn't need any more stuff. Plus the really good sales, the ones where the vintage treasures were plentiful and cheap, began to disappear.

But there's one garage sale I wouldn't miss for the world, where the items for sale will never need dusting or storing in the basement when you're tired of looking at them, and that is Jim Dixon's annual Olive Oil Garage Sale. It's a recreation of the of the rural food festivals called sagre in Italian, with the olive oil poured out of 50 liter stainless steel barrels called fustino (left) into whatever container you bring.

Usually held in his Northeast Portland garage (right), last year it was so cold that the olive oil wouldn't pour out of the fustini, so this year he's moving it to his warehouse indoors. He always makes up a pot of soup to share (free!), a bit of wine (free!) and, he says, "maybe some other surprises." On hand, as usual, will be:

• Freshly pressed “olio nuovo” from California (limited quantities)
• The last of the 2009 Italian extra virgin olive oil (bulk and already bottled)
• Everyday Extra Virgin from California
• Portuguese flor de sal
• Real balsamic vinegar from Modena
• Katz Orleans method vinegars
• Farro, brown rice, red beans and garbanzos

And, from personal experience, let me tell you that your foodie friends will thank you multiple times over to find a basket of Jim's goodies under their tree rather than the latest groovy wine opener or some geeky book (again, no dusting, no storage). You'll need to bring your own containers for the bulk olive oils (empty clean, dry wine bottles work great for this) and, also as usual, he'll only be accepting cash or checks. Christmas just doesn't get better than this.

Details: Jim Dixon's Olive Oil Garage Sale. Thurs.-Fri., 12/9-10; 11 am to 6 pm; cash or checks only please. At 833 SE Main (corner of SE 9th & Main), space 122 (On the NE corner of the building facing the parking lot. Look for the olive oil sign on the sidewalk out front.) Please park on the street since the other Activspace tenants need the lot during the day.

* * *

If you're a total olive oil 'ho (and I mean that in the best way possible), be sure to ask Jim about his Olive Oil CSA. As he said in his recent Real Good Food newsletter:

"The economics of importing require significant cash up front with a long payback. In the past I borrowed the money, then tried to pay it back as I sold the oil. This worked, sort of, but never quite as well as in theory. I didn’t want to keep adding to the debt, so I created the Olive Oil CSA.

"In community supported agriculture, customers pay the farmer a flat fee for a share, then receive their prepaid produce over the course of the growing season. The olive oil CSA works much the same way, except I use the money to purchase and ship extra virgin olive oil from Italy.

"Here’s how it will work. If you send me $100 now, you’ll get $120 worth of olive oil (or anything else I sell) after the shipment arrives from Italy. I’m contacting my producers in Italy now and setting up the orders, and I’ll need to start sending them cash soon. If you’re interested, send me an e-mail for more details."

My Dream Garage Sale This Weekend!

Contributor Jim Dixon of Real Good Food has an annual, not-to-be-missed pre-Christmas garage sale, and lucky for us it's not old clothes and cracked pots but real, good food.

The annual olive oil garage sale returns this week. The sale runs from 11 am to 5 pm Friday, December 4, and from 10 am till 6 pm Saturday, December 5, in our driveway at 3432 NE 16th (just south of Fremont). Cash or checks only, please; more details at the bottom.

When I started importing real extra virgin olive oil from Italy a decade ago, I worked out of the garage at our home in NE Portland. But after several years of constantly rearranging the bikes, lawnmower, table saw, and our 1966 Tom Cramer VW bug so I could squeeze in the growing shipments of oil, I broke down and moved to Activspace.

The garage sale attempts to capture the feel of an Italian sagra, the Italian equivalent of the Verboort sausage festival. Usually held after the fall harvest, these small town fund raisers typically celebrate some local foodstuff. The residents volunteer to cook and temporary dining rooms sprout in warehouses or school gymnasiums. People come from the nearby cities to eat and drink, and they usually go home with a jug of freshly pressed olive oil.

In the tiny village of Chianni (where we spent three weeks on our first visit to Italy), the Sagra del Cinghiale offers the wild boar that roams the area in several different dishes, from boar ragu over pasta to a hearty stew flavored with fresh olives (I made the mistake of biting into one of the incredibly bitter fruits, but for some reason they don’t don’t make the stew itself bitter). Unlabeled bottles of vino novello, wine made from that year’s grapes using carbonic maceration, are filled from massive wooden casks and cost a few dollars, so everyone’s carrying one. It’s usually cold, often wet, and night comes early so the piazza sparkles under bare light bulbs strung up for the weekend.

My little sagra involves a big pot of soup, a few bottles of wine, and a fire to fight off the chill (if it’s not raining too hard). Our driveway becomes the piazza, and the stainless steel fustini holding the extra virgin move back into the garage. It’s not exactly a rustic village in Tuscany, but you get the idea.

This year I won’t have as many extra virgin olive oils from Italy, but I will have some freshly pressed olio nuovo from California. I spent a few days after Thanksgiving in Napa with Albert and Kim Katz, picking olives and watching them pressed into the bright, almost florescent green new oil, cloudy and intensely aromatic, sharply pungent and peppery from the abundant polyphenols. I also picked up some olio nuovo from the California Olive Ranch, so you’ll be able to taste two different new oils.

Bulk oils this year include Antheo (Sicily), Everyday Extra Virgin (Sacramento Valley, California), and a limited quantity of Katz Chef’s Pick (Suisun Valley, California). Bottled oils include Antheo, COR Olio Nuovo & Everyday Extra Virgin, Katz Chef’s Pick, Rock Hill Ranch, Meyer Lemon (limited quantity), and December’s Olio Nuovo (limit 2 bottles per customer). Haricot Farms red beans & garbanzos, Bluebird farro, and Portuguese sal cinza will be available, as will the Katz vinegars and the aceto balsamico from Profumi Estensi. Sorry, no olives this sale.

Porchetta Possible on Saturday

Cliff Allen cooked at Tastebud, and he’s currently in the kitchen at Nostrana. Saturday he’s bringing his People’s Pig truck to the olive oil garage sale around 11 am, hopefully with porchetta, and will be selling sandwiches full of porky goodness. Come hungry.

Details: Olive Oil Garage Sale. Fri., 12/4, 11 am-5 pm, and Sat., 12/5, 10 am-6 pm, cash or checks only. Bring clean, dry containers (preferably dark glass wine bottles) for bulk sales. I’ll have bottles for sale, too, for $2 each. 3432 NE 16th Ave. 503-380-1067.

A Friend Returns to Share

You may recall that just about a year ago in the early days of GoodStuffNW, I had a foodie moment extraordinaire when I met John Cancilla and his lovely wife, Ana, when they dropped in at Foster & Dobbs on their way to the airport just as I was walking by with Rosey. The sweetest people you could ever hope to meet, they're sales reps for the Marqués de Valdueza olive oil estate in Spain and had been here as part of a sales trip to introduce their new Merula brand of estate-bottled extra virgin olive oil.

Since that afternoon John has been my Spanish pen-pal, an avid reader of the blog and a valuable source of feedback for my attempts at making paella. And now you can meet him in person and talk about his favorite subject (aside from, but related to, food and his family) when he and Ana come into town to do a tasting of their olive oils at Foster & Dobbs. They'll explain and share the elixir of the Arbequina, Picual, Hojiblanca and Morisca olives, and pair them with Jamon Serrano, Spanish cheese and dark chocolate. If you ask, he'll even recite the full name of the Marqués himself, no small feat. At the least, you'll come away with new ideas for using olive oil and, just maybe, a new friend.

Details: Tasting of Marqués de Valdueza olive oils at Foster & Dobbs with John Cancilla. Noon-3 pm; free. Foster & Dobbs Authentic Foods, 2518 NE 15th Ave. Phone 503-284-1157.

News from España

Our friends from the Marqués de Valdueza olive oil estate in Spain let us know that that their estate olive oil has just been named a finalist in the "Mario Solinas" Quality Award competition, organized by the International Olive Oil Council, in which the best olive oil producers from around the world participate. The oil is pressed from four olive types grown on the estate: hojiblanca, arbequina, the rare morisca and the picual. Congratulations, guys, and big ups from GoodStuff!

John Cancilla, who along with his wife, Ana, was the subject of a previous entry, sent along a photo from a lunch they attended (John is in the center) with Penelope Casas, a cookbook author renowned for her books on Spanish cuisine, and her husband (on the right). On the left is Juan, the capataz who runs the Perales estate, and next to him is the Marqués de Valdueza himself, Alonso Álvarez de Toledo y Urquijo. John suggests googling his name if you want to see what lineage is all about.

And John says that if you're planning on attending the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco from Jan. 21-23, look them up at booth 452 and taste their new harvest!

My Foodie Moment

You know how some days you feel like you've wandered onto the set of a TV show and you're the surprise guest? That happened to me the other day when I was taking the lovely Miss Rose for her afternoon stroll and thought I'd stop by and pick up a little cheesy goodness from Luan at Foster and Dobbs. She was talking to a young Spanish couple, so we started chatting and sampling some of the wonderful Oregon cheeses from the case. I suggested the Rogue Creamery Oregonzola, then the Rogue River Reserve which is wrapped in grape leaves and soaked in brandy. Luan then sliced samples of Fra'Mani and Salumi meats and we sat down to chat.

It turns out that they work for Marques de Valdueza, a Spanish estate that produces olive oil, and stopped off on their way to the airport. John, the husband, an American who speaks flawless Spanish, Italian and French, moved to Spain, met his wife, Ana, and started working for the Marquis' estate. So then, you guessed it, they started hauling out their olive oils and inviting us to sample them. The coolest part was when Ana poured a small amount of oil into a little blue cup with the Marques crest on it. Then she covered it with a convex glass and warmed it in her hands for a couple of minutes. She lifted the glass slightly and had us inhale the warm, moist aroma of the oil, a wonderfully green and rich smell. Foster & Dobbs carries their olive oils and John and Ana may be coming back next year to do a class there. Stay tuned!

Details: Foster & Dobbs, 2518 NE 15th Ave.; Phone 503-284-1157; E-mail info@fosteranddobbs.com