Olive Oil: How to Make the Most of It

Olive oil is the single most important ingredient in your Spanish kitchen. Most Spanish recipes call for olive oil in varying quantities .You’ll find a bewildering array of oils in Spanish supermarkets, but the choice is simple. Buy extra virgin first cold pressing, and select oil with a nice dark green colour. You don’t need to buy the most expensive oil, but don’t bother with anything other than extra virgin – you’ll be disappointed with the results.

As with everything, there’s an exception to this rule. For bread and cake recipes which call for olive oil, choose lighter, processed oil. The flavour of extra virgin oil is too strong for baking.

Olive oil is used for cooking, marinades and salad dressings. To add a special something to your Spanish food, why not make your own flavoured oils? You can buy them in supermarkets, but it’s cheaper and much more fun to make your own.

Collect some small, clear screw top bottles and sterilise by placing in the oven for 15 minutes at 100 degrees centigrade. When the jars are cool, add your flavourings. You could place a couple of peeled garlic cloves in one, a red and green chilli in another, a bay leaf in another, a few whole black peppercorns in another and sprigs of thyme and rosemary in two others. Fill with olive oil and screw caps on tightly. Leave your oils to infuse for at least a month before using, giving the bottles a gentle shake from time to time.

Why not buy one of those chrome spice racks with long, tube-like bottles and fill them with flavoured oils as a present for a friend? Anyone who loves cooking would be delighted with such a gift.

How to use your oils? Chilli and garlic oils make great bases for salad dressings. Use pepper oil to marinate steaks for about half an hour before barbecuing or grilling. Rosemary oil is a good marinade for lamb, while thyme oil gives pork and chicken a great flavour. Use bay oil to seal vegetables and meats for soups and casseroles. I’m sure as you experiment you’ll come up with lots of ways to use your flavoured oils.

Olive oil is not only good to put into your body, it has its uses on the outside as well! When your hair is dry from too much sun and swimming, don’t bother with expensive hot oil treatments. Just coat your hair generously with olive oil, cover with a plastic shower cap and let it ‘cook’ for 20 – 30 minutes, depending on length, thickness and how dry it is. Then shampoo and condition in the usual way.

Mix olive oil with sugar for an all-in-one cleanser, exfoliator and moisturiser. Apply to face and neck, rub well in and rinse off with warm water. For dry hands and feet, rub with olive oil before going to bed, then put on cotton socks and gloves to avoid staining your bedding and to keep the oil where you need it. Shower off in the morning. If your skin is very dry, you may need to repeat the procedure for a few nights, but usually, you’ll see an immediate improvement.

For a salon-style nail treatment, just soak your nails in a shallow bath of olive oil for 15 minutes once a month. Your nails will look as if you’ve just had an expensive manicure!

I hope I’ve convinced you that olive oil is an indispensible ingredient in your Spanish kitchen (and bathroom!) See how many more uses you can discover for it!