The skinny on a healthy fat

Fauquier Weekend :: Wine and Dine
By Karla Jones Seidita
Source: Fauquier Weekend
SATURDAY, JULY 26 2008

Olive Oil Butter

Want more olive oil in your diet, but find bread-dipping oils too trendy for your butter spreading taste? Try this gorgeous bread spread on toast, crusty bread and for sandwiches. Dollop it on streamed veggies. Slather it on corn on the cob. Use it to saute eggs, quick-cooking meats and sea food.

Makes 1/2 cup

1 stick unsalted butter (slightly softened, salted butter and margarine not recommended)

1/4 cup olive oil

Beat together with an electric mix (or whirl in food processor) until well blended and fluffy. Mixture will be very soft. Pour into a storage container and refrigerate until set. Keeps indefinitely in the refrigerator.

Karla's tip: Be sure to use unsalted butter. Olive oil is naturally salty.

Garlic and Olive Oil Broccoli

A fantastic side dish for beef, chicken or pasta. For a magnificent, vegetarian main dish, just add crusty bread and a good bottle of red wine.

Serves 2-4

1 tablespoon bread crumbs (plain or Italian flavored)

2 tablespoons butter

1 pound fresh broccoli

1-3 cloves garlic (finely chopped, 1 to 3 teaspoons or to taste)

1/4 cup olive oil

Melt butter in a small frying pan. Add bread crumbs and cook uncovered, stirring, until fragrant and lightly browned. Be careful not to burn crumbs. Set aside.

Wash broccoli. Remove any leaves. Peel stalk below the florets. Split each stalk lengthwise into quarters. Put one inch water into a large frying pan. Bring to boil. Add stalks and partially cover pan. Cook until tender but not mushy. Drain. Dry out pan.

Heat oil and garlic together in pan until garlic just begins to brown, about two minutes. Add steamed broccoli, tossing to coat. Cook on low until heated through, about 3 minutes. Sprinkle with toasted bread crumbs for serving.

Olive oil is the mainstay of today's healthy and gourmet cooking. Grocery stores are crammed with so many brands, it's impossible to choose.

Then there's the cost. Trendy brands in fancy bottles are priced sky high. Bulk bottled brands are not much better. There's no such thing as cheap olive oil.

I went on an intensive olive oil hunt to find the best tasting, reasonably priced, readily available brand of olive oil that was as yummy on salads as it was in cooking. I wanted a rich-looking, olive-tasting, extra virgin oil that was cold pressed — a tall order any way you look at it.

Let's talk olive oil

Cooking magazines and food shows throw around the term "extra virgin" a lot. Extra virgin means the oil contains one percent or less acid. That's important.

Olive oils vary in amounts of acid. "Extra virgin" has the least. "Virgin" has a little more. Next comes "fino" (Italian for fine) then "pure" (as in "pure olive oil" or just "olive oil") and finally light or lite. Light or lite has the most acid.

While it doesn't make too much difference when you're using olive oil raw (like to dress salads), in cooking, olive oil breaks down. If the oil is more than one percent acid (extra virgin), your cooked dish tastes sour.

Cold-pressed olive oil means the oil has been extracted without the use of heat or chemicals. I like that. The fewer chemicals, the better.

My pick is Pompeian

After tasting and cooking with hundreds of olive oils, my pick for overall olive oil-y-ness is the Pompeian brand.

Pompeian is extra virgin, cold pressed, a rich, green color and has a distinct olive taste that stands out in salads and doesn't break down in cooking.

I like their glass bottles better than their plastic jugs. The plastic jugs are cheaper ounce for ounce, but I think glass is healthier for food packaging. Pompeian is available everywhere and at affordable prices. It's a good, all-around, everyday olive oil.

Visit with local home economist Karla Seidita at www.CheesecakeFarms.com.

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The skinny on a healthy fat