SICILIAN ORANGE SALAD — A simple, yet refreshingly wonderful recipe for any time! Serve as an appetizer or side-dish (Serves about 6) Toss 3 thinly sliced, peeled, pitted, sweet oranges (Washington Navel, e.g.) and 1 freshly shaved fennel heart into a bowl. This slicing style is preferable if serving this dish as an entrée. If served as a side-dish, you should choose to dice all ingredients...

“Naturally the honest people are getting terribly undercut,” he says. “There’s a huge unfair advantage in favor of the bad stuff. At the same time, consumers are being defrauded of the health and culinary benefits of great olive oil.” To download PDF article (exerpt of the book) click here Stampa – Losing ‘Virginity’_ Olive Oil’s ‘Scandalous’...

PANE CUNZATO, our daily snack in Castelvetrano. Source one pound of hearty, rustic, sourdough bread (like Castelvetrano’s unique Pane Nero made with rare Tumminia & Russulidda durum wheat or the French Pain Poilâne, which both have a shelf-life of 4 and more days). Substitute with Ciabatta bread which, of course, always works. Warm the bread in the oven, whole, then remove and slice in half...

On this year’s Olio Verde Novello 2011 necker, the producer suggests the following recipe: Omelette with chard, of the kind that grows wild in the olive grove, orchard and veggie garden at Tenuta Pignatelli. The variety of chard needed is a tender, small-stalked leafy green which can be reddish at times (Swiss chard is close), known in Italian as “bietola da foglia” or “erbetta”; or...

TV show today on our Valle del Belice products, including some truth about OLIVE OIL   …circa minuto 30′ a 38” …(in Italian, translation coming up soon) from about minute 30′ to 38”

When considering the market introduction of our new, food-Oscar winning Olio Verde al Limone, there is little one can say to chefs, home cooks, journalists, retailers, who respond that they do not care much for “flavored” olive oil. They are mostly right to think badly of such items. Plus, why meddle with their conception, since quite often, they are already happy consumers of our “classic”...

  OLIO VERDE NOVELLO 2011 — “Novello”, when used to describe olive oil, refers to its distinctive flavor, and color and textural characteristics, within the first two months of the first day of olive harvest and pressing. As in our previous harvests, this year’s Novello is showing:     Color: bright green (think wheat field in the Spring) Nose: very grassy &...

The anticipation of the first fresh-pressed Olio Verde for 2011 . . . This morning I tasted the eagerly-anticipated extra-virgin olive oil from the first harvested trees … and it was worth every minute of waiting! Sitting down to my small cup, I gazed into its bright lime-green color, swirled it around and was rewarded with a huge burst of aroma – I felt I had just dropped down into a field of...

Nocellara del Belice olives have been growing in western Sicily since it was colonized by the ancient Greeks thousands of years ago, but it wasn’t until 1989 that someone thought to make an olive oil made from 100% Nocellara olives to put onto the market. Why? The answer is quite simple: The olives are too good. There are  over 600 olive varieties growing in Italy, and the Nocellara del Belice olive...

Famous chef Dave Pasternack of Mario Batali’s New York City restaurant Esca mentions Olio Verde in his favorite way to prepare tuna fish. Check it out: esca chef mentions OV in Food&Wine

Don’t underestimate the simpleness of this dish! It is an excellent first course that is easy to prepare and very good for you. It is all cooked in 1 pot (i.e. less to clean up) and the taste is simple, yet satisfying. Not to mention beautiful with all of its green freshness. Perfect for the cold Winter months ahead. If you can boil water, you can make this Sicilian staple! Note: The most common...

It seems to me that Italy is brimming with local specialty foods. Every area off the boot has a different foodstuff that is unique to and characteristic of a certain specific location, and Sicily is no exception. Avola is famous for its almonds and wine, Ribera for its oranges and strawberries, Bronte for its pistachios…and…Castelvetrano for its olives and olive oil (which you already know)...

Chekoch.de FORUM aus Deutschland (2006-2010) Hallo, wer kann mir ein sehr gutes Olivenöl empfehlen? Vom 12.02.2006 17:07 Ich suche ein aromatisches sehr gutes Olivenöl, wer kann mir da helfen? Gency   Vom 27.03.2006 23:29 Olio verde von Becchina (gibt’s in der Frankfurter Markthalle beim Italiener , ca. 25 € pro Flasche) Molini di Valdolce oder so ähnlich, im Handel (Real, Metro etc.),...

Here in Italy, olive oil is used in the kitchen every day, and not just because it is so readily available. It just happens to be a versatile, healthy choice that lends itself to any recipe and any cooking technique. Some of its uses are more obvious, like using it to dress a salad, while others are not so much, at least not to me. When I moved here from the U.S., for example, I immediately noticed...

It’s official, this year’s olive harvest and pressing is a success! We just sent out our first Olio Verde Novello bottles to our U.S. distributor, Manicaretti, last week and we received the following note from them this morning: “This year’s oil is gorgeous, smells of lemon, hints of artichoke, green tea, mint and fresh mown grass, buttery, wonderful. Gianfranco, you have...

For the Dough Ingredients: 1 3/4 cups lukewarm water 1 1/2 Tbl instant yeast 1 1/2 Tbl salt 4 lg eggs, slightly beaten 1/2 cup honey 1/2 cup Olio Verde (not Novello) 7 cups unbleached all-purpose flour For the Filling Nutella spread roasted hazelnuts, coarsely chopped For the Egg Wash 1 egg + 1T water Note: This recipe makes enough for 2 loaves. Since this bread goes so fast and is best the day it...

  Braised Rabbit Ingredients: 1 young rabbit (no more than 2.5 lbs) 4 whole canned tomatoes Olio Verde (not Novello) 4 cloves of garlic 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped 2 carrots cut into rounds 1 bay leaf 1 celery stalk, finely chopped Black peppercorns Dried oregano ¾ ounce salt packed capers, rinsed 1 cup dry white wine Salt to taste Note: The rabbit should be cut into the following pieces: 1.     ...

Now here’s a new use of Olio Verde Novello olive oil for the uninitiated… Shortly before leaving NYC, where I spent the better part of a decade from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s, I met Geoffrey Holder, the most encouraging, supportive, positive man I ever met. Those of you who either watched late 1960s – early 1970s James Bond movies (with Roger Moore), or lived in the US and...

From: w.u. To: Gianfranco Becchina Sent: Saturday, November 06, 2010 8:25 PM Subject: Warensendung angekommen Sehr geehrter Signore Gianfranco, heute war ein bedeutender Tag, ein Tag mit einem großen Ereignis. Wir erhielten das Paket mit dem bestellten Olio Verde. Da die Verpackung perfekt war, ist alles heil angekommen. Vielen Dank! Sofort kam wieder die Sehnsucht nach Sizilien und der Besuch bei...

Just the other day, I was talking on the phone with my friend Toni back home in the U.S., telling her about all that had been going on here this past month with the harvest and pressing. Since she has little knowledge about olive oil, I took her (seemingly) simple question on how to tell if an olive oil is high quality or not, as an invitation to go into my usual spiel on olive oil and Olio Verde...