It is pruning time and here in rural Italy, pulses quicken at the thought of the annual Campionato Nazionale di Potatura dell’Olivo. The prize? The famous “forbici d’oro” – the golden secateurs. The final kicks off just after dawn in an olive grove on the north west coast of Sardinia. Regional champions from all over Italy come primed to prune 3 trees in 30 minutes, which are then judged on a series of arcane measures: the equilibration of the primary branches, the number and deposition of the secondary branches and the balance between vegetative growth and production.

This year saw some particularly tough competition but we are very proud to report that this year’s Prince of Pruners was our very own Tiziano Aleandri of the Aleandri grove. Adoptive parents and Aleandri olive trees: hold your perfectly coiffed heads high – the judges have decreed yours the best hairdos in Italy (and that’s saying something).

We’re reaching the end of the pruning season, with just 214 trees left to do in our Rosalio grove. Have a look at the animation below to see how Antonio prunes our trees; the key is to maximise the light getting to all the vegetative branches and lose any excess wood – which wastes the tree’s energy. But it’s not as easy as it sounds.

Do you know what a scarf is?’ my friend Gianluca asked me. I gave him a quizzical look. ‘…A scarf is something I have to wear when my mother gets cold’ he joked. Gianluca is 37.

As we all know, the Italian mamma is queen of the cotton wool, mistress of the mollycoddle – and her kids reaching adulthood is no deterrent. On May 12th we get the chance to say thanks to our mothers (in North America) for all that effort – and how better to say it than with a Nudo gift box?

Tasting oil is really very subjective. The most important thing is whether it gives you a warm glow inside, but of course there’s much more to find if you care to search it out. It’s a bit like going to an art gallery – by just looking, you know which paintings touch you or leave you cold, then you listen to the audio guide and get a whole different perspective. Well if you want to delve the oily depths, follow our suggestions below…

How to taste in five easy steps:

1.  Find a small cup, about the size of an espresso glass. The best thing is actually a disposable plastic espresso cup.

2.  Cup it in your hand, put your other hand over the top and swirl the oil around. You’re warming the oil to release the flavour. The volatile aromatic compounds will evaporate out of the liquid state.

3.  Stick your nose into the cup and inhale deeply, like someone about to make a great speech. What do you smell? Your nose can detect maybe 10,000 different smells, whilst the rather pathetic tongue can only taste 5 things so this stage should give forth some riches.

4.  Now slurp the oil – sip a bit of oil and a bit of air to help spread the taste. What’s there? Grass, artichoke, almond, tomato leaf, hay, straw, spice and melon are all terms officially recognised by the International Olive Oil Council.

5.  Swallow the oil and wait for the tingle – a gentle stinging in your throat; this is a sign of freshness and is caused by the antioxidants/polyphenols which make olive oil so healthy.

You’ll see that on the back of each of your tins, there are tasting notes from the olive farmer who made your oil. Do you agree with them? Or do you taste lemon when they taste almonds?

What to do next?

Now you know the basics, why not invite some friends round for a tasting of your oil? Suggest it really casually, as if everyone has their own olive estate. Do a bling tasting, and compare your oil to a supermarket oil and maybe another good extra virgin olive oil. Observe the colour, the nose and taste the night away. And do let us know what you – and your friends – think.

A few important things to remember:

• Olive oil never improves with age. It’s not like wine.

• The Italians say you should have your ‘wine old and your olive oil young’.

• Colour has no bearing on taste or quality.

• The bitterness at the back is from the antioxidants and a good sign.

• Olives all start green and then turn to black or purple or dark brown.

Pizza night? Remember to add a good drizzle of Sicilian chili olive oil to give your pie a bit more bite.

We are honoured to have been featured recently in Vegetarian Times magazine’s gorgeous ‘pizza night’ shoot, complete with handy hints on the best tools to get the job done.  We’re definitely getting out our red olivey tin tonight – get yours from the Nudo Italia shop.

I admire Corrado, our olive press maestro, in many ways but just for starters let me tell you about his admirable attitude to lunch. Even when he and his team are at their busiest and working late into the evening,  a decent lunch break is not compromised. Work stops at 1pm and won’t restart until 3:30. That’s time, sacrosanct time, for everyone to go home and have a proper home cooked meal. Civilised. One of Corrado’s favourites is a generously-layered, succulent lasagne which takes a good few hours to make but is worth every minute.

Ingredients for one large lasagne

Extra virgin olive oil – 100ml

Onion – 1 (130g/4.5oz)

Carrots – 2 (130g4.5oz)

Celery – 2 sticks (130g/4.5oz)

Rosemary – 2 sprigs

Bay leaf – 1

Minced beef – 400g/14oz

Minced lamb – 400g/14oz

Red wine – 1 cup

Tinned chopped tomatoes – 400g/14oz

Sun dried tomatoes in olive oil – 50g/1.8oz

Milk – 1 litre

Onion – 1

Bay leaf – 1

Nutmeg – 1 pinch

Butter – 100g/3.5oz

Plain flour – 70g/2.5oz

Fresh pasta sheets – 500g/18oz or about 25 sheets.

Parmesan cheese – 40g/1.4oz grated.

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan. Finely chop the vegetables and put them in the hot oil as they are chopped – start with the onions, then the carrots and celery. Add the chopped rosemary, season with salt and pepper and leave gently frying for 20 minutes.

Add the minced meat and fry for another 10 minutes, stirring often. Next add the wine and the tin of tomatoes – rinse out the tin with a bit of water and add that. Finally throw in the chopped up sundried tomatoes and simmer this all for a good hour and a half.

Now make your béchamel – pour the milk into a saucepan, and add the onion chopped into half, a bay leaf, the nutmeg and salt and pepper. Bring to a gentle boil. Meanwhile make the roux by melting the butter in a separate saucepan, add the flour and cook for a 2 minutes. Take the pan off the flame and add in the sieved milk. Use a whisk to make a smooth sauce and season with salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 180^oC/350^oC/GM4. Find a lasagne dish about 20cm/8inch by 30cm/12inch and spread a layer of béchamel on the bottom. Lay some sheets of lasagne on top, with minimal overlapping. Spread these again with béchamel, and then a layer of meat sauce. From here on it goes lasagne, béchamel, ragu. You want about 7 layers of pasta so don’t add too much sauce on any one layer. Top it off with béchamel and the grated cheese. Now cook it in the oven for 30 minutes or until it’s golden brown on top.

It’s a time of great excitement here at Nudo. We’ve been going around all the Nudo groves, collecting this year’s harvest of delicious extra virgin olive oil . Some of the farmers find it quite a wrench to wave goodbye to their oil, but are cheer up by the knowledge that it is going to loving homes. Now it’s over to our bottling team. So now may we, just like in the break-it-down interlude to namecheck the players in the jazz band, introduce you to our team and who is up to what.

Corrado – il capo. At this time of year, having finished cleaning the olive press, which will now remain closed until October, Corrado and his team of two can concentrate on bottling and packing. All the available floor space is taken up by the ordered chaos of boxes, tins and labels. Corrado is the hands-on ringmaster (photo above).

Terenzio – master bottler. It is Terenzio’s job to carefully sort the oil, to make sure the right person gets the right oil, filter it and then fill each tin by hand, one at a time.

Sabrina - the packing maestra. Once the oil is bottled it’s Sabrina’s job to make sure it goes in the correct box, with the correct address. Once all the boxes are packed they go on a pallet to the UK or on a long boat journey to the east coast of America.

If all goes according to plan, you should start receiving your Spring delivery at the beginning of April. Dodgy weather and over-keen custom officials have delayed our shipments in the past, but we have a good feeling about this one.

Here’s the problem: our treasure trove is currently languishing in piles of olive oil-stained, disintegrating notebooks and scraps of urgently-ripped-out paper. So we’ve set ourselves the mission to shape them up into a state where we’d be proud to share them with you – in the form of the world’s most beautiful olive oil recipe book. We would love you to be a part of this mission.

We are raising the money through a website called kickstarter.com which allows people anywhere to invest in our idea, become part of our project and be one of the first to receive the finished book. It’s really just a way of preordering the book, but you will be joining our journey in producing this – ahem – masterpiece. Pledges start at just £2/$3. Choose the reward that suits you.

We are pleased to announce the winners of our Waitrose competition in the UK. The lucky winners of an olive tree adoption with spring package are as follows:

Anna Carr of Enfield
Barry Shaverin of Surrey
Bob Hill of Bristol
Caryn Cox of Chester
Catherine Beard of Hertford
David Perrie of East Kilbride
Elizabeth Jones of Guidlford
Gabriella Middleton of Nottingham
Ginny Cheesemand of High Wycombe
Jenny Lam of London
Joe Reeves of London
Mike Higgins of London
Mike Yeatman of Liverpool
Misty Gale of London
Richard Martin of Milford
Stephen Atkins of Hartley
Stephen Boddey of Hitchin
Steven Wrigley-Howe of York
Valerie Dallimore of Kempsey

Watch out for the fresh extra virgin olive oil direct from your adopted tree which will arrive on your doorstep. Let us know what you think.

And remember that the Nudo’s divine duo is available in Waitrose priced just £9.99.

Okay, so we happen to make this colomba and the chocolate crema spread, so we have a vested interest in this. But honestly there are few things more delectable than a slice of toasted colomba and a silky dollop of crema di cioccolato fondente. I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that this week Cathy came home early from work, looked at me strangely and pointed out that I had chocolate visible in the corners of my mouth. Busted.

Ingredients

Colomba Easter Cake – 1kg/2.2lbs

Dark chocolate and mandarin olive oil crema – 300g/10.6oz

Unwrap the cake. With its beautiful design by Mibo Studio, it’s worth keeping the paper for wrapping something in the future. Cut and slice, toast and slather with chocolate crema. Great for a decadent breakfast too.

Spring makes me think of lamb. Which makes me think of mint. Which makes me think of mint choc chip ice cream. Which makes me think of the gelato shop we lived above in Rome. Which makes me think about my favourite gelato which is pistachio. Which makes me think why not create a dish which combines lamb with mint and pistachio? But not in a gelato. Do you think I should give my brain to medical science?

Ingredients for 4

Mint – 4 sprigs

Garlic – 2 cloves

Capers – 100g/4oz

Pistachio – 50g/2oz

Lamb chops – 2 per person

Lemon – one unwaxed

Extra virgin olive oil with mint – 6 tbsp

Olive oil for frying

Roughly chop the mint leaves, garlic, capers and pistachio nuts and put them into a bowl. Grate in the peel of one lemon and mix well in the olive oil. Put your chops in there to marinate for an hour or two.

Heat the frying pan with a little oil and add the well coated chops. Cook on each side for 2-3 minutes depending on the thickness of the cut. Serve immediately with a crunchy green salad and new potatoes.

I have a big smug smile on my face today because I’m reaping the rewards of my winter preserving frenzy. No vegetables were safe as we grilled/boiled/salted and sugared any organic matter in the kitchen. Today’s strenuous follow-up task was to twist open a jar of grilled asparagus spears preserved in olive oil with garlic, lemon juice and thyme and pop them in my mouth. They were delicious slathered in lemon mayonnaise, made of course with our lemon olive oil. If you didn’t do your winter homework, steamed asparagus is (nearly) as good and those first silky spears should start to appear any week now.

Ingredients for the mayonnaise

Egg Yolks – 2 large free range, separated

Sunflower oil – 150ml/5 fl oz

Nudo lemon olive oil – 150ml/5 fl oz

Lemon – a teaspoon of juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Asparagus – 350g/13oz

To make the mayonnaise put the egg yolks into a big, round bottomed bowl. Sprinkle a pinch of salt over the yolks as you whisk them gently. Now start the serious part by adding a drop of the sunflower oil at a time, whilst constantly whisking. When it seems the yolks have taken on board the oil without curdling, start pouring a slow steady stream of the oil while you whisk.  When the sunflower oil has run out swap over to the lemon olive oil.  Towards the end the mayonnaise should start to thicken up nicely.

If you are using fresh asparagus, wash and trim off the woody ends before steaming.

For centuries, food artisans across the Italian countryside have been quietly producing some of the finest food in the world. For them, it’s a way of life.  Every time we discover another such hidden gem, we rejoice. One such producer of olive oil (and organic lavender) is Lavanda Blu. They’ve just agreed to join our olive tree adoption program and a lucky few of you will have the privilege of becoming an Adoptive parent to some of the best cared-for olive trees in the whole of Italy.

This agriturismo and organic farm is run by Hans, Elizabetta and her daughter Francesca. Their home is a self-sufficient Eden with vegetable and herb gardens, fruit trees, the olive grove and fields of lavender. Hans originally hails from Amsterdam and Elizabetta is American but was raised in Rome.

They found their heavenly spot just to the north of Ascoli Piceno seven years ago, put their heart and soul into making it their own and haven’t looked back. Since those early years, they’ve turned the farm and its well-appointed agriturismo into a sustainable, self-sufficient operation where they grow most of their own food, generate their own heating and recycle water for the gardens.

To celebrate their arrival, you can adopt one of their trees with a $10 discount for the next week (or whilst orphan trees are still available). Just use voucher code “lavanda10″ and adopt your tree today. You can also take a little photo tour of their farm on our Facebook page.

Carnival donuts, or frittelle di carnevale, are consumed in huge quantities in February all around Italy. Each region has its own twist, a different liquor or candied fruit, to make them their own. This is the way our kids like them.

Ingredients for lots!

Milk – 1 cup/250ml/8.4 fl oz

Instant yeast – 4 tsp

Eggs – 3

Sugar – 4 tblsp, plus a load for coating

Salt – a pinch

Butter – 45g, melted/1.6oz

00 Flour – 300g/10.6oz

Raisins – ½ cup

Citrus peel – ¾ cup

Pine nuts – ½ cup

Lemon – 1 grated zest

Extra virgin olive oil – around 400ml/13.5fl.oz depending on pan

Gently warm the milk and put it in a mixing bowl with the yeast. Add in the eggs, sugar, salt, melted butter and mix it all together. Then add the flour and mix it with a wooden spoon until it becomes smooth. Now you can throw in all the other ingredients (except the olive oil which is for frying!). Knead this together for 10 minutes with a spatula, scraping around the bowl and mixing from bottom to top. Now you need to let it rest for half an hour with a damp cloth over the top to stop it from drying out. The doughy mixture should double in size.

Now heat your olive oil over a medium flame. Once the oil is hot, use two spoons to mould a cherry tomato sized ball of dough, and scrape it into the hot oil. Fit a few in at once then take them out with a pair of tongs, drain them on some kitchen towel for a minute, then transfer them to a plate of sugar for a darn good coating.

So I’ve hit that age where I’ve started cutting down on the carbs a bit. (Cath says she’s never going to hit that age). To be honest my take on abstinence involves little more than having a bit less pasta and a bit more sauce, or a bit less bread and a bit more cheese, so it’s not exactly hair shirt territory. But when I come across a low carb, stomach filling, delicious meal I feel the delight of a zealot. This soup is one such dish. Though, as Cathy is keen to point out, it’s even more heavenly with these cheesy carb-a-licious croutons.

Ingredients for 2

Ciabatta bread – 60g/2.1oz
Parmesan cheese – 40g/1.4oz
Extra virgin olive oil with thyme – 2 tblsp
Garlic – one clove
Rosemary – couple of springs
Extra virgin olive oil – 2 tblsp
Chickpeas – one 400g/14oz tin (240g/8.5oz net weight)
Vegetable stock – 400ml/13.5fl.oz

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Cut the bread into cubes and put in a bowl with the thyme oil and the grated parmesan. Season with salt and pepper. Once everything is soaked up spread the bread on a baking tray and bake for about 10 minutes, till they’re crunchy and light brown.

Chop the garlic and gently sauté with the rosemary in the plain olive oil in a saucepan. Wash the chickpeas and add them to the saucepan with the stock. Season with salt and simmer on a low heat for 10 minutes.
Remove the rosemary and a few whole chickpeas and liquidise the rest. Get your serving bowls, pop some of the croutons in the bottom (if they are hidden they don’t count in the carb calculation, apparently) and fill with the soup. Make it look pretty with a few whole chickpeas, more croutons and a drizzle of thyme olive oil.

My friend Gianluca Giorgi is a bit of a guru. He’s the man Jamie Oliver turns to help his under-chefs get under the skin of Italy and Italian cooking. Gianluca regularly takes Olivettini on gastronomic tours of the hotspots of Le Marche, showing them the olive groves, and introducing them to the artisan pasta makers and chefs of the region.
I asked Gianluca for his favourite recipe the other day. As you’d expect the recipe is extremely simple, but depends on the best ingredients – pendolino tomatoes, the red onion of Tropea and an anise-flavoured liqueur from Marche called Varnelli. Obviously, unless you’re reading this from the east coast of Italy, you may need to compromise, but do the best you can.

Ingredients for 2
Onion – 1 from Tropea
Pancetta – 70g/2.5oz diced
Extra virgin olive oil – for frying
Varnelli – 1 espresso cup
Cherry tomatoes – 150g/5.3oz
Spaghetti – 160g/5.6oz
Freshly ground black pepper – to taste

Chop the onion and pancetta into small cubes. Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the onion and pancetta. When the onion is golden, turn the heat up a bit and add the Varnelli, and enjoy the smell. (It’s chef’s privilege to have a soupcon yourself, just not straight from the bottle). Once this has more or less evaporated add the chopped up tomatoes. Cook this all together for a further 15 minutes.

Meanwhile cook the spaghetti in very salty boiling water.

Taste and season the sauce. Drain the pasta once it’s cooked but keep a cupful of pasta water aside. Add the pasta to the sauce. Mix together well and add some of the pasta water if it needs loosening up. Season with some freshly ground pepper and enjoy.

It’s indulgent, it’s an aphrodisiac, it’s proof that you are a god or goddess in the kitchen. So it’s a no brainer for that indulgent or romantic dinner. The 30% cacao in our chocolate crema gives the gelato a rich chocolate taste and then you can choose if you want a lemon, mandarin or even chilli twist.

Ingredients for 4 portions:

Heavy/double cream – ½ cup

Whole/full fat milk – 1 ½ cups

Egg yolks – 4

Granulated sugar – ½ cup

Nudo chocolate fondente with lemon olive oil – ¼ cup

Bring the cream and milk to boil in a medium-sized saucepan, then immediately remove from the heat and set aside. With an electric or stand mixer beat the egg yolks and sugar, on the highest setting, until the mix triples in volume.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally to ensure thorough mixing.

Slowly add all the hot milk mixture to the egg/sugar mixture, and whisk constantly on a low speed until the mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon.  Then add the chocolate fondente and mix thoroughly at a medium speed.

Chill the mixture for about 4 hours or overnight. Then add it to your ice cream maker and follow manufacturer’s instructions for freezing. Stop the churning as soon as the gelato is just frozen.

This time of year, with the final stretch of Winter delivering the last of the snow and pretending to be snuggled up next to a wood-burning fire is the only way to pull through the day, the humble chocolate cookie makes its appearance in the big glass cookie jar at home. Chocolate cookies can be all sorts of things – crisp, light, decadent, gooey, dark, spicy and so comforting dunked in warm milk or coffee. But this chilli olive oil chocolate crema cookie is almost all of that, in one crumbling bite. Inspired by my favourite new cooking duo discovery – Two Tarts – this little recipe should have you skipping to Spring in no time.

Ingredients for 30 cookies:

Chocolate crema with chilli olive oil – 175g/6oz

Plain flour – 1 1/4 cup

Organic cocoa powder – 1/2 cup

Baking Powder – 2 tsp

Salt, two pinches

Extra virgin olive oil – 10 Tbsp (use Nudo’s chilli oil for extra bite)

Raw brown cane sugar – 1 1/3 cup

Eggs – 2

Vanilla extract – 1 tsp

Milk – 1/3 cup

Icing sugar, for rolling

First, cream the sugar and olive oil together, then beat in eggs and vanilla.  In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, organic cocoa and salt).  Add and blend the chocolate crema into the bowl with creamed sugar. Then add dry ingredients and bit of milk as needed. When this is all combined the dough will be quite sticky, like thick cake batter.  Before making the cookies, chill the dough for about two hours or until hard enough to scoop into balls.

Once the batter is sufficiently chilled, heat oven to 180C/Gas Mark 5/350F. In a larger bowl, place some ice cubes and cold water. Float your mixing bowl in the ice water to keep the dough cool whilst preparing the cookies. Line a baking tray with a sheet of baking paper. Using two teaspoons, scoop out a spoonful of dough, shaping it between the two spoons to form ball (it would be more a dollop, really), then roll the ball into a bowl of icing sugar to coat it well. Line the balls up on the baking sheet, leaving sufficient space for the cookies to spread, and bake at or 12-15 minutes. The shorter the cookies are baked, the more gooey they come out. Enjoy with a little espresso or, if you like dunking, a big glass of milk.

It was like the panettonegeddon. This past Holiday season we received all sorts of the famous Italian holiday confection.  There were bite-size ones and fruity ones and chocolate-covered ones and two that looked like golden Mayan temples (inappropriately delivered on December 22nd). And then there was the delicious Nudo olive oil panettone, of course. Unfortunately now that January is at its end and we’ve still not managed to eat out way out of the panettone mountain, we decided to save ourselves and others from this cakey lot. The time has come to use our leftover panettone for some delicious desserts. Cathy shared a quick and easy recipe for panettone bread and butter pudding, and below we have another rather decadent invention to try at home.

Ingredients (makes 12 bites)

Nudo olive oil panettone – 1 quarter

Mandarin (or orange) – 1 small, juiced

Marsala liqueur - 2 tsp to sprinkle (optional)

For the ganache

Nudo olive oil with mandarins – 3 tsp

Organic white chocolate – 100g/3.5 oz bar

Double cream – 2 tbsp

Start by peeling off the soft panettone crust. Using a sharp bread knife, cut the remaining cake in thin slices and then small cubes, placing the pieces into a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl mix the Marsala liqueur with the orange juice (optional).  Drizzle the mandarin juice mixture over the cake pieces, mixing it with a fork or your hands as you pour to spread the moisture. The cake should be moist, but not wet.

In a bain marie or small glass bowl over a pot of hot water, melt the chocolate. Once melted, add the olive oil and stir until mixed through. Now add the cream and mix through. Take off the heat. Make 1.5 inch balls with the moist cake pieces, pressing and rolling it together in your hands. Dip and roll the balls in the chocolate ganache so that all sides are covered. Place on a baking sheet to cool and set. Chill in the fridge before serving.

No panettone in store anymore? Get one of the last Nudo Olive Oil Panettone in the Nudo Italia shop (USA only).

This biscuit is a tasting tour of Italy minus the carbon emissions.  The pistacchio is a superb Sicilian sensation, the mandarin olive oil a creation unique to the Apennines in Le Marche, the almonds evoke the intoxicating amaretti of the north , and the citrus peel is pure Amalfi coast. But these erstwhile warring factions unite and sing in sweet harmony in this delicious biscuit, which should really be eaten dipped in a glass of Vin Santo. And fine health to you too.

Ingredients for about 30 biscotti

Almonds – 60g/2.2oz whole blanched

Pistachios – 80g/2.8oz shelled.

Eggs – 2 large

Flour – 250g/8.8oz

Caster sugar – 150g/5.3oz

Baking powder – 1 tsp

Mixed peel – 4 tsp

Vanilla bean paste – 1 tsp (an alternative is 1 tsp vanilla extract)

Extra virgin olive oil crushed with mandarins – 6 tsp

Icing sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 180^oC/GM4/350^oF. Spread the almonds on a baking tray and roast them for 5 minutes. Make sure that you don’t burn them though, they turn in an instant. I like to then skin the pistachio – it’s time consuming but makes the biscuits so much prettier. Toss them into a bowl of just boiled water, leave for 10 minutes, then start slipping the loose skins off.

Lightly beat the eggs, and then grab a big mixing bowl and chuck in the flour, sugar and baking powder. Give a quick mix and then add the nuts, eggs, peel, vanilla and mandarin olive oil. Mix it all well together with a spoon. Then with your hands scoop out a quarter of the mix and mould it into a thick sausage shape. Roll this in icing sugar and place it on a baking tray lined with bake-o-glide or parchment paper. Press down on the top of the sausage to flatten it a bit. Repeat this process with the rest of the mixture, and make sure you leave a decent space between the 4 sausages. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Once they are ready take them out of the oven and using a decent serrated knife carefully cut the sausages into 1cm thick slices. It’s tricky cutting through the nuts, and if it starts to fall part squash it back together into the right shape. Lay these out on the baking tray and pop them back in the oven for a few minutes. Leave to cool and store in a sealed container or eat once they’ve cooled down. I like to bake extra and give them as gifts in one of our Nudo tins.

Get your Homemade Cantucci Box now for the special price of $11.50 from Nudo-Italia.com

This is a recipe inspired by the brilliantly named Pecorino Ubriaco or ‘drunken pecorino’ cheese traditionally made in the Tuscany region of northern Italy. This hard cheese, aged for six months in grape must (pressed grapes in the advanced stage of the wine production process), adds a complex aroma to baked dishes. And we’ve used it here with some sun-ripened vine tomatoes and Nudo’s basil olive oil to make my favourite ever quiche.

Ingredients for 8 people

300g cherry tomatoes on the vine

4 eggs

250ml pot of double cream

Handful of basil leaves, torn or shredded plus to garnish.

150g ‘Drunken Pecorino’ (Pecorino Ubriaco) cheese

1 t red wine vinegar

Sea salt and black pepper for seasoning

Ingredients for the pastry

280g of plain flours, plus a bit for dusting

70g cold butter, cubed

70g Nudo basil olive oil or plain extra virgin olive oil

Pinch of salt

First, make the pastry.  Put the flour, butter and basil olive oil in a deep bowl, rubbing it together with your fingers until it mixes through and becomes crumbly. Add 8 tablespoons of cold water and mix everything together with your hands until combined in a ball. Dust a flat surface with some flour and using a rolling pin, roll out the pastry into a round a bit bigger than a 25cm baking tin or tart dish. You can also freeze this pastry to use later.

Using the rolling pin, lift and drape the pastry over the tart dish letting the pastry hang over the sides of the dish. Using your fingers, press the dough into the corners of the dish to ensure full coverage of the surface. Cut remaining pastry off the sides of the dish with a sharp knife. Then chill in the fridge for 20 minutes. Heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas mark 5.

Roast the tomatoes on the vine on a low shelf in the oven, pricking each tomato with a needle to avoid bursting. Lightly sprinkle with red wine vinegar and salt before roasting.  Whilst the tomatoes are roasting, prick the chilled tart base with a fork and line the dish with a large circle of greaseproof baking paper or tinfoil and fill with baking beans. Blind bake it in the oven for 20 minutes. If you don’t have baking beans, monitor the tart base closely for excessive rising.

While the tart base is baking, in a big bowl beat the eggs. Gradually beat in the cream, followed by the shredded basil and seasoning to taste. Finely grate the ‘drunken pecorino’ cheese. When the tart base is done, also take out the tomatoes.

Sprinkle half the cheese over the base. Remove the tomatoes from the vine and scatter over the base, then pour over the cream mix, taking care to leave some of the tomato tops exposed. Finish off by sprinkling the rest of the cheese over the top of the mixture. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Leave to cool in the dish before serving with some small, fresh basil leaves as a garnish.

There are few things as lovely as walking around a local whole food market getting inspiration for the feast you’re going to prepare later. This past week brought a great find in the shape of gorgeous red and yellow varieties of ‘rosa’ cherry tomatoes on the vine. They are packed with so much flavour that even just a light roast produces  a star ingredient.

Hungry from the trip to the market, I settled on the quickest way to serve a delicious, fresh dish for lunch.  It being January, my family is focusing on eating lighter, more nutritious meals so I settled on this old favourite: roast tomato and vegetable ‘salad’.

Ingredients for four people

1 punnet of assorted cherry tomatoes, preferable on the vine

6 Courgettes/zucchini, small

6 Pattypan squashes, small

200g/7 oz baby spinach

100g/ 3.5 oz Danish-style feta cheese

1 t Red wine vinegar

Sea salt, black pepper to grind

Ciabatta bread, small.

Nudo lemon olive oil to drizzle

Preheat your over to 180°C/350°F/Gas mark 5. Cover a baking tray with some tin foil and place the tomatoes on the vine in the first half of the tray. Alternatively place the vines on a cooling rack on the baking tray. Now an important trick: to ensure that the tomatoes roast and wrinkle beautifully without bursting and losing most of its juice, prick each little tomato twice with a needle.  Drizzle over the red wine vinegar and lightly grind over some sea salt and black pepper. No olive oil is necessary, especially if you’re using a cooling rack. Roast for 20 minutes.

Roughly chop up the zucchini and pattypans, trimming off the tops. Take out the tray with tomatoes and arrange the vegetables on the other half of the baking tray. Drizzle lightly with some olive oil and sprinkle with a grind of sea salt and black pepper. Roast for another 20 minutes and then take out to cool slightly. Whilst roasting, tear the ciabatta bread into small 1-inch pieces. In a pan, add a little olive oil and pieces of bread and toast over medium heat. Watch this closely as you want the bread to toast on the outside whilst remaining warm and soft on the inside.

In a large platter or bowl, cover the base with baby spinach leaves. Whilst still warm, remove the tomatoes from the vine and arrange tomatoes and vegetables and the pieces of ciabatta on the bed of spinach. Cut the feta into cubes and add to the salad. Drizzle with olive oil and add another grind of salt of pepper to taste. Serve.

(I ate tomatoes fresh from the vine, I saw, I conquered)

In Testaccio in Rome, where we used to live, there is a fabulous produce market open six days a week. It has every fresh thing you could possibly dream of – swordfish to tenderloin, fresh cut minestra ingredients to succulent pineapple. Many stalls have a mix of fruit and veg, others specialise in meat or fish and one sells just one thing: tomatoes. On an average morning, I’d say that Signor Pomodoro lays out a selection of twenty or thirty varieties of tomato on his small, packed stall which glows as red as a toddler’s fire truck. First attempt at purchase can be intimidating. ‘What are you cooking?’ he will forcefully ask, happy to question your choice of tomato for a particular dish. He has, after all, the perfect tomato for every occasion.

The thing about tomatoes is that they do not lend themselves to large scale farming. The ‘hothouse tomatoes’ we end up with in our supermarkets are watery, uniform and usually quite tasteless, a shadow of the vivid tomato we remember from our childhoods. As with so many foods, the slow food movement, along with farmers markets and organic producers have been trying to improve our tomatoey lot.

And the wonderful thing about tomatoes, which arguably have been a more significant Italian cooking influence around the world than pasta or pizza, is that not only do they taste sublime, but they offer infinite variety to your cooking (deep and rich when roasted, sweet and zingy when fresh, complex and velvety in sauces). To top it all, they are bloomin’ brilliant for your health too.

So if you’re in Testaccio, or any good market, head for the tomato stall. Signor Pomodoro is someone who really knows his onions.

Cheese and wine. Never one to say no to a serving of either one of these typically Italian delicacies, it took a brief holiday to Tuscany one blazing hot August years ago to teach me the brilliantly simple pleasure of combining the two in its naked form. As is typical in Mediterranean countries, a glass of wine would usually be served with a little bite to eat. In Spain a great variety of tapas is on offer, in France the spread of fresh breads, cheese and preserves provides a feast on its own; and in Tuscany a single slice of hard cheese would suffice. As it turns out, a slice of local parmigiano reggiano or pecorino is single-handedly the perfect accompaniment to a glass of full-bodied Chianti. What heaven!

Much to my surprise then when I found that the Tuscans had taken this divine relationship a step further with regional speciality Pecorino Ubriaco or ‘drunken pecorino’ cheese. This very special version of the classic pecorino cheese is aged in grape must for six months, giving the rind its distinctive deep purple/burgundy colour and the cheese a delightful tangy flavour.

When you’re next at the local fromagerie, look out for this pecorino with its purple rind and enjoy a slice with some Chianti in front of the fireplace or on the porch come spring.

After a Christmas lunch that could immobilise an elephant, this is the dessert that attempts to put a skip back in your stride. Literally translated as ‘pick me up’, the heady mix of caffeine, sugar and even  a cheeky glug of amaretto will, in contravention of the Newtonian laws of gravity, do just that.

Ingredients for 6

Mascarpone – 200g/7oz

Sugar – 150g/5.3oz

Eggs – 2 (separate yolks from whites

Savoiardi biscuits – 25-30

Cocoa powder – 2 tbsp

Instant coffee – 2 tbsp (even decaffeinated).

Dissolve the coffee in 200ml of lukewarm water. In a separate bowl mix mascarpone and sugar until smooth, then add one yolk at a time while working out with some forceful mixing.

In another bowl whip the egg whites until stiff (make sure that the bowl and whisk are completely clean and dry). Carefully fold the whites into the cream.

Crumble the biscuits into the coffee.

In a fairly deep dish, 20cm in diameter, make a layer of the coffee saturated biscuits, than add a layer of the cream. Sprinkle a dusting of cocoa powder over the top and then pop it in the fridge for at least 3 hours before serving.

Two things matter in Italy’s festive season: food and family. If you’re filling your belly and groaning at grandpa’s questionable jokes, then all is right with the world. At La Morla grove (from where you can adopt an olive tree) the extended Talocchi family gather well in advance to prepare for the feast. Matriarch Simonetta is happy to spend the whole day making hundreds of perfectly crafted tortellini, ‘helped’ by grandson Tommasso. Claudio takes care of gathering in the fresh vegetables from the family orto (garden), as the guests arrive with luxurious pannetone to share.

The story of La Morla

La Morla grove is one of the most popular in our Adopt an olive tree program. Its exceptionally good, award-winning olive oil is made by a family of passionate producers, led by Claudio who set up the family azienda twenty years ago. His original idea was simply to grow food for his young family and he has always believed in organic farming practices. The family planted large wheat fields to make flour for their bread and pasta, an olive grove for their oil and a large orto full of vegetables and fruit trees. A balsamic vinegar acetificio soon followed. Soon they were producing more than even their fast growing family could eat and started to sell to local restaurants and shops. They also built a stylish agriturismo where tree visitors can stay when they go and visit their adopted trees – and better still sample Simonetta’s divine cooking, all drizzled of course with oil from your very own olive tree.

We’ll soon be putting together a special La Morla trip offer – so do keep your eyes peeled.

The tender meats used to make the broth for our festive Natali pasta recipe, tortellini in brodo, are used here in a simple and satisfying recipe which brings the meat to life with a colourful, zingy and deeply flavoursome sauce. It beats lumpy gravy any day.

Ingredients

Parsley – 50g

Anchovies fillets – 3

Garlic – half a clove

Capers – 1 tbsp (remove the salt)

Hard boiled egg yolk – 1

Green olives – 4 pitted

Extra virgin olive oil 100g

Vinegar – 1 tbsp

Breadcrumbs –

Salt – pinch

First soak the breadcrumbs in the vinegar for a few minutes. Add all the other ingredients and put everything in a  food processor to mix. Add the oil as the machine is running and salt to taste.

Cut thin slices of the meat and serve with a generous helping of salsa verde.

This traditional Christmas soup of handmade pasta and a rich capon broth is typically eaten just once a year, so you need to get it right. Its preparation is an exercise in old-world patience, the perfect antidote to too many hours spent on twitter. Simonetta does have one labour saving trick up her sleeve; the meat used to make the broth goes on to star in the second piatto.

Ingredients for the broth (for 4 people)

Capon thigh – 500g

Turkey breast – 300g

Tender beef – 400g

Celery stick – 1

Carrots – 3

Onion – 1

Salt – pinch

Roughly chop the vegetables and then soak them with the meat in cold water. Bring to the boil, add salt and then leave to simmer for about 2 hours, until the meat is tender and the broth has concentrated a bit.

Ingredients for the tortellini filling

Lean veal – 150g

Turkey breast – 100g

Lean pork – 100g

Prosciutto crudo – 50g

Mortadella – 50g

Parmesan cheese – 50g grated

Eggs – 2

Sausage – 1/50g

Salt – a pinch

Nutmeg – a pinch

Mince all the meats together, then add the eggs, the grated cheese, nutmeg and salt. Mix together well until you have a solid paste.

Ingredients for the Tortellini pasta

Eggs – 3

OO flour – 300g

Extra virgin olive oil – 1 tbsp

Salt – pinch

If you take the easy route and use a food processor just add everything in together and mix until the dough is stiff. If you are more hard-core and make the pasta by hand, build yourself a little volcano of flour and break the eggs into the middle. Add the oil and salt and work together with a fork until you get a solid ball. Wrap the pasta ball in cellophane and leave it in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Take it out and halve it. Work the first half through the pasta machine, gradually working down the thickness levels one at a time until you reach the lowest numbers. With the resulting piece, square off the top and bottom and cut into 5cm squares. Repeat with the other half of the pasta.

Place a tablespoon of the filling (like a little ball) on each square, fold to form a triangle and seal by squeezing the edges. Fold a corner under the tortellino and shape the tortellino around your finger to form a ring. Carry on until all the pasta and filling is used up.

Place the tortellini on baking paper on a tray (you can also freeze them at this point if you wish), and cover with cling film or a tablecloth.

Pour the broth through a sieve to make a clear liquid brodo. Cook the tortellini in this for a couple of minutes and serve in a bowl with a drizzle of oil.

The TODAY SHOW ended off their Holiday Gift Guide feature today with Nudo Adopt an olive tree! Natalie Morales talked to Elizabeth Mayhew about her top picks. We especially enjoyed Natalie’s comment: “This is the best! I love this.” Thank you for picking us as part of your guide, Elizabeth.

Take a look, 5min in: WATCH VIDEO

Imagine the job ad: ‘Person needed to wander through idyllic Italian olive groves for days, possibly weeks.’ You’d be inundated, right? Who could argue with a job which offers a lunchtime panino under an olive tree?

But when your job is to photograph every single tree in the Nudo Adopt an olive tree program – yes all ten thousand of them – it’s not quite such a cushy number.

Taking on the challenge is Masiar, our friend, professional photographer and fast-track-to-professional cartographer. All the trees in the program have already been mapped, aged and their olive variety identified; Masiar, using the hand drawn Nudo maps, has to carefully match the mapped tree to the real life version. When he is sure he has a match, he invites them to have their portrait taken. (Some of them are right old divas). In some groves the lines of trees are perfectly straight and aligned, in others – well not so much. He has completed portraits of two complete groves’ worth of trees, but the snowy weather has temporarily halted work. His photo mapping mission will resume in the spring.

Although this seems a mammoth task fit for a lone Don Quixote-type, we’re happy to report that Masiar has enjoyed some support along the way. Farmers in the Nudo collective have been welcoming him with open arms, often peeking over his shoulder to approve each tree’s pose. He’s also had some keen companions in the form of his partner, Maddalena, and yours truly to help capture some of the more wily characters.

Follow Masiar’s progress by becoming a Nudo Italia Member and on our Facebook page.

At some point on Sunday mornings, the yell comes out from Cathy ‘Anyone want pancakes?’ We’ve all been waiting patiently, as if unsuspecting. ’Yes!’ comes the chorus of replies. Pancakes – or crepes if we want to sound posh – have become our family Sunday ritual, a shared treat that eases us towards the end of the weekend. Cathy slices up heaps of fresh fruit – strawberries, bananas, blueberries – and gets flipping. There is a mild fight about who gets the first one. For their last crepe, the children are allowed the full decadence of lining it with rich, creamy Nudo chocolate crema.

Ingredients for 4 people

OO flour – 4 tbsp

Buckwheat flour – 2 tbsp

Eggs – 2

Milk – 2 cups/480ml

Butter – 100g/4oz

Nudo chocolate crema with extra virgin olive oil stone-ground with lemons – 80g

Strawberries – a dozen

Put the flour and eggs into a mixing bowl and whisk as much as is possible (it’ll be too thick and sticky to do it properly). Then start to add the milk and continue whisking. Stop when the batter is the consistency of single cream.

Heat the butter in a non-stick frying pan over a medium flame. Cool a little, then pour the melted butter into the batter and whisk it in. Wipe the pan with some kitchen towel so that there is very little fat left, and when it’s slightly steaming pour in enough batter mixture so that the pan is covered. Cook for a couple of minutes then ease it over (air flip if you’re feeling cocky) and cook the other side.

Take the crepe out, spoon on some chocolate crema, spread it as best you can and add some chopped strawberries.

Head down to your local vegetable market and hunt yourself a crate of very ripe tomatoes that are being sold on the cheap. Then spend a delicious afternoon making Italian passata with a friend, lover or family member, over a bottle of wine.

Ingredients

Ripe tomatoes – 2kg/4.5 lbs

Shallots – 200g/ ½ lb

Garlic – 4 cloves

Rosemary, thyme, basil and oregano – sprigs

Salt – 1 tsp

Sugar – 1 ½ tsp

Olive oil – 75ml / 2 ½ fl oz

Empty jars – 2 x 500ml/17 fl oz

Preheat the oven to 180^oC/GM4/360^oC. Cut up the tomatoes, shallots and garlic, and put them in a roasting pan large enough to take a single layer. Add the herbs, salt and sugar and the olive oil. Roast for an hour until they are nice and soft, then pass them though a passata machine or a nylon sieve into a saucepan. Sterilise two 500ml/17 fl oz jars in the oven for 10 mins, and whilst this is happening bring the passata to the boil and reduce down if need be. Fill the jars to the top, close them and then put them in a pan of simmering water, with a tea towel at the bottom, for half an hour. Use within a year and once open use up in a couple of days (shouldn’t be tricky).

It’s Cyber Monday, and we’re feeling generous.  Here’s some great offers to get your Holiday shopping started:

#1 Adopt an olive tree FOR YOURSELF today and get 40% off your first delivery when you enter code ‘CYBERNUD49‘.

#2 Adopt an olive tree AS A GIFT today and get 20% off your purchase when you enter code ‘CYBERNUD69‘.

There’s many more gift ideas and kitchen cupboard essentials over in the Nudo Italia shop too – take a look now.

Have a great Monday!

Ciao for now,

Nudo Team x

If you have a source of fresh, raw olives, you may know that they are completely inedible straight off the tree. Who first realised that olives could be delicious? The story goes that some olives fell into a rock pool on the shores of the Mediterranean a couple of thousand years ago. The salty rock pool was replenished by the tide twice a day, and a month or so later, when the bitter juices had been leached out by osmosis, an adventurous (and hungry) soul was passing. She scooped out the bobbing olives, and popped them into her mouth. Delicious. And the next thing I need to find out is who was the learned soul who first realised that olives and brine are delicious in a martini.

Ingredients

Raw olives – 500g/ 1lb

Salt

Put the olives in a plastic bag and gently crack them open with a rolling pin. Then put them in a container with some fresh water. Change the water twice a day for four days, then transfer them to some super salty water for a month. The water needs to be salty enough to float an egg. At the end of the month, rinse clear and enjoy the fruits of your labours.

This recipe is super versatile. Use whatever herbs you have to hand, more or less garlic and throw in a chilli pepper or two if you have a likey for the spicey.

Ingredients

Tomatoes – 1kg / 2.2 lbs

Garlic – 6 cloves

Brown sugar – 1 tbsp

Maldon sea salt – couple of pinches

Basil – a handful of whole leaves

Extra virgin olive oil – 6 tbsp

Balsamic vinegar or sapa – 2 tbsp

Preheat the oven to a low heat, 150^oC/GM3/300^oF. Cut the tomatoes into quarters (or half if they’re small), trying to cut out the stalky bit out as you go. Put them in a ceramic or heavy bottom dish, so they’re no more than one layer thick. Add the thinly sliced garlic and sprinkle on the sugar and salt. Throw in the basil, torn up a bit. Glug on the oil and liberally apply the balsamic or sapa. Mix it all up a bit with your hands so that everything is coated with the juices.

Put the dish in the oven for about an hour, while you have a nice glass of wine and give the tomatoes the odd stir. When the hour’s up, turn off the oven and leave the tomatoes to cool down slowly inside before packing them into a sterilised jar. Store in the fridge and once opened make sure that the tomatoes are always stored covered in oil.

Use a mix of green and red peppers if you wish but always at least half red, as they are much sweeter. These not only make a beautiful gift but are a great way of giving a renaissance to that bumper pack of peppers that has been sulking around the bottom of the fridge for the last week.

Ingredients

Red and green peppers – 4.

Rosemary – sprig

Shallots – half

Lemon juice – 50ml

Extra virgin olive oil – 200ml

Empty jars – 500ml/17 fl oz

Roast the peppers in the oven for 45 minutes at 180^oC/GM4/360^oC. Pull them out and whack them in a plastic bag to help steam off the skin. Once they’ve cooled down peel off the skin and slice off the flesh. Sterilise a 300ml jar in the oven for 10 minutes, and meanwhile finely chop the shallot. Put them in the bottom of the jar and pack in the pepper flesh with a sprig of rosemary. Pour in the lemon juice, then full with extra virgin olive oil. Close, try and dislodge any stray bubbles and then store in a cool dark place for 6 weeks. Consume within 4 months, and once open consume in a few days.

These look a million dollars. It will break your heart when you actually have to crack them open. But then they’ll taste a million dollars. It’s win win my friend.

Ingredients

Asparagus – 500g / 1.1 lbs

White wine vinegar – 300ml/10 fl oz

Garlic – 2 cloves

Shallot – 1

Peppercorns – 1 tsp

Rosemary – 2 sprigs

Lemon juice – 100ml / 3.4 fl oz

Extra virgin olive oil – 500ml/ 17 fl oz

Cut the woody bits off the asparagus and throw away. Cut the remaining spears in half lengthways, and find a jar a bit taller than this height. Put the vinegar in a saucepan with 200ml/7 fl oz of water, boil it and then take off the heat. Grill the asparagus on a griddle pan, and then transfer to the vinegar water. Leave for a few minutes and then drain.

Sterilise the jars in the oven for 10 minutes, and meanwhile finely chop the garlic and shallot. Put them in the bottom of the jars with the peppercorns. Then carefully pack the spears into the jars, along with a sprig of rosemary. Fill the jar up to about a 5^th of the height with lemon juice, then fill to the top with olive oil. Close the jars and then store in a cool dark place for 6 weeks. Consume within 4 months, and once open keep the asparagus covered in oil and in the fridge.

You can’t go far in Venice without chancing upon a window display of sweets and cakes so decadent that they would make Marie Antoinette blush. In one such establishment we were served a sweet, rich tart with a hidden layer of chocolate fondant in the middle. I’ve tried to recreate it from memory and am rather pleased. I think Mrs Louis XVI would like it too.

Ingredients for 12 tarts

Short crust pastry sheet – 320g/11.3oz

Mascarpone – 1 cup/250g

Heavy cream/whipping cream – 130g/ 1/3 cup

Sugar – 50g/¼ cup

Strawberries – half a dozen

Raspberries – a dozen

Nudo Chocolate Crema with Mandarin olive oil – 1 jar

Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C. First you need to blind bake the tart shells. Cut the pastry into circles which will fit your 12-hole tart tray. Lightly grease the tray, put in the pastry and then fill the hole with baking beans, separated by a circle of parchment paper.

Bake the shells for 10 minutes, then remove the paper and beans and bake for 10 minutes more, until the crust is golden and crisp.

In a bowl with a whisk or an electric mixer beat together the mascarpone, cream and sugar until the mixture holds stiff peaks. When the shells have cooled down spoon in a thin layer of chocolate crema and then a much thicker layer of the mascarpone cream. Top off with a strawberry half and a raspberry.

Serve with tea and feel rather posh.

In the 1960′s Carlo and Alfreda set up a little patisserie in the town of Ponte a Egola, half way between Pisa and Florence. It was a family affair, with the children growing up in and around the shop, unconsciously learning the trade. When Carlo and Alfreda were ready to hang up their baking gloves, their son Riccardo was more than ready to don them. His passion was always for the chocolate side of the business. Over many years he honed his skills and he is now well known in the region and far beyond as a skilled chocolatier.

Now Nudo is launching a new range of dark chocolate cremas made with a winning combination of Riccado’s artisanal chocolate expertise and our delicious flavoured extra virgin olive oils. The dark and delicious spreads, which all boast 30% dark cocoa, make the most perfect stocking fillers and dessert accompaniments. Get some before it’s gone.

This simple but decadent cake recipe I found whilst visiting my family in South Africa earlier this year.  There’s a big old lemon tree at the top of my father’s lush garden heaving with big, bright lemons ready to add a delightful citrusy edge to this rich dark chocolate cake.

Ingredients
Dark chocolate 250g/1 cup
Butter 250g /1 cup
Caster sugar 270g/9.5oz
Lemons 2, juiced and zested, plus extra zest to garnish
Free-range eggs 4
Cake flour 300g/10.5oz
Baking powder 2 t
Greek-style plain yoghurt 2/3 cup

Nudo Chocolate Crema with Lemon olive oil 1 jar, for icing

Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F. Grease and line 2 x 9 inch/22 cm cake tins. Melt the dark chocolate in a glass bowl over boiling water and cool until lukewarm.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and creamy, then add the lemon zest. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, adding 1 t flour after each egg to prevent the mixture from curdling. Transfer the mixture into a large mixing bowl. Sieve the remaining flour baking powder and fold into the batter.

Mix the yoghurt and lemon juice and fold into the mixture. Lastly, fold in the lukewarm chocolate until well combined. Divide the mixture between the tins and bake for 1 hour. Cool in the tins for 10 minutes before turning out onto rack to cool completely.

To ice the cake, spread the chocolate crema to cover the top of each cake. Carefully place one layer on top of the other, keeping the cake with the most crema for the top layer. If you feel extra indulgent, round off the icing by spreading a layer of crema around the sides of the cake also. Garnish with a sprinkling of chopped pistachios nuts and lemon zest. Also lovely served with a dollop of whipped cream.

On my way to work in Rome, I used to stop at the same café every day for my morning cappuccino. The choice was partly habit, partly location, partly a judgement of the great coffee – but the main thing tugging me back was the delicious little biscuit which the barrista would (sometimes! Brilliantly, only sometimes) nestle onto the saucer, under the curve of the cup. I later learned that these heavenly rich and crumbly little treats are called ‘lady’s kisses’ – and they certainly had me coming back for more. In this recipe I’ve used our amazing chocolate fondant as the kiss that unites the two biscuit ‘lips’.

Ingredients for about 120 biscuits (60 baci)

Skinned hazelnuts – 100g/3.5oz

Ground almonds – 100g/3.5oz

Caster sugar – 65g/2.3oz

Plain flour – 165g/5.8oz

Salted butter – 175g softened/6.2oz

Nudo Chocolate Crema with Lemon olive oil – 1 jar

Preheat the oven to 180^oC/350^oC/GM4. If you can’t find skinned hazelnuts toast some unskinned ones and whilst they are still hot rub off the skins in a kitchen towel.

Grind the skinned hazelnuts in a blender and put them into a mixing bowl with the almonds, sugar and flour. Cut the softened butter into cubes and mix with your hands into the dry ingredients. Once it’s well mixed line a baking tray with parchment paper, take a small piece of dough and roll it into a 2cm diameter ball (a bit wider than a dime).

Press the ball onto the baking tray to make the bottom flat. Make sure you spread the balls well out on the tray as they will expand. Once you have a tray full (you should get about 120 of these little babies) pop them in the oven for about 15 mins or until they start to go golden.

Once they’re cooked, let them cool on a rack. Then you can start cementing two similar sized biscuits together with a decent dollop of chocolate crema. Any passing children will usually be happy to help.

Serve with coffee. These will keep for a couple of days in a sealed container.

Throwing together an unusual mix of flavours can end in disaster (what was I thinking with that lager jam?) or self-satisfied triumph. This is one of those fortunate latter occasions. It was also one of those days when I needed a bit of luck. Our discerning foodie friends Guido and Claudia were coming for tea, and there was no room for error.

Ingredients

Beetroot -200g/7oz

Cocoa powder – 30g/1 oz

Plain flour – 115g/4 oz

Baking powder – 1 ½ tsp

Salt – pinch

Caster sugar – 150g/5.3 oz

Eggs – 3 beaten

Plain dark chocolate -100g/3.5 oz  chopped

Extra virgin olive oil stone ground with mandarins – 210ml/7.1 fl oz

Butter – for greasing the tin

Chocolate fondente with mandarin olive oil – 50g/2 oz

Wash and trim the beetroots, put them whole in a pot of cold water and boil until cooked through.  Run under cold water and grate them. Preheat the oven to 375^oF/190^oC/GM5.

Sieve the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and salt into a large mixing  bowl, then add the sugar and mix. Beat the eggs and add them, then chop up the chocolate and add that. Finally add the grated beetroot, and olive oil and mix it all really well. Grease a 7” cake tin with butter and line with greaseproof paper then pour in the cake mix.

Bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Then turn the cake out onto a cooling rack. Once it’s cooled a little, spread a thin layer of chocolate spread on top and serve with a dollop of crème fraiche.

Cooking with mint makes me think of the beautiful eastern side of the Mediterranean – Greece, Turkey and beyond. In this recipe we’ve paired our new mint olive oil with a Turkish treasure – the lamb kebab. Once you’ve marinated the lamb with coriander, turmeric and paprika, you can then grill, chargrill or barbeque it. The easy-peasy minty feta sauce can then be generously daubed over the meat.

Ingredients for 4

Diced lamb – 400g/1lbs. Either dice yourself into 1.5 inches/4cm cubes, or buy it diced.

Extra virgin olive oil stone ground with fresh mint – 3 tbsp/45ml

Fresh lemon juice – 1 tbsp

Ground cumin – 1tsp

Ground coriander – 1tsp

Cayenne pepper – ½ tsp

Ground smoked paprika – ½ tsp

Black pepper – ½ tsp

Garlic – 2 cloves crushed

Red pepper – 2 cut into 1 inch/2.5cm pieces

Red onion – 2 cut into small wedges

For the feta sauce

Feta cheese – 200g/7oz

Natural/Plain yoghurt – ½ cup/120ml

Olive oil with mint – 2tbsp

Garlic – half a clove crushed

Pepper – freshly ground

Salt – good pinch

In a bowl mix the ingredients for the marinade: mint olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, coriander, cayenne pepper, paprika and black pepper. Cut the lamb into 1 ½ inch/4cm cubes, and pour over 3 quarters of the marinade. Cover and leave in the fridge for at least an hour or even better, overnight.

Make the feta sauce by blending all the ingredients together in a food processor. Check the seasoning as some feta is saltier than others.

Grab your skewers and alternate the vegetables and meat pieces, but not too tightly.  Grill them till they are nicely brown. Six minutes on each side is probably enough. Serve the kebabs hot with a no-holds-barred dollop of the feta sauce.

This is a family favourite – possibly the only meal that makes all of our ‘Top 3’ lists. The lemon and bay give the meat a fragrant lift which is interesting enough to excite the grown-ups, but not so interesting as to scare off the kids. Marinate for as long as your level of organisedness allows.

Warning: there could be a small family feud over who gets the most skin.

Ingredients for 4

Free range chicken – 1.5kg/3.5lbs

Extra virgin olive oil crushed with lemons – 2 tblsp

Lemons – 2

Bay leaves – 15

Black pepper – 2 tblsp freshly ground

Sea salt – 1 tsp

Make sure the that the chicken cavity is empty, rinse it out and pat dry. Put the bird in a fairly tight fitting bowl and drizzle over the olive oil. Rough up the lemons to loosen their juices by rolling them on the kitchen counter and then cut them into quarters. Rub the lemon flesh over the bird, then grind the pepper over the top and add the bay leaves. Give the bird a few turns and make sure it’s evenly coated, then leave it in the fridge to marinate overnight. Recoat it a few times if you can.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°C/GM6.  Take the chicken out of the bowl and keep the marinade. Rub half of the salt inside the body and stuff in the bay leaves and as many bits of lemon as you can. Rub the rest of the salt onto the skin and then put the whole bird into a roasting tin breast side down.

Roast for half an hour before basting and adding the marinade that was left over. After another half hour turn the chicken breast side up and continue cooking and basting till it’s done. You need 40 mins per kilo/2lbs plus another 20 mins. It’s cooked when you stick your knife in the thigh and the juices run clear. Take it out of the oven and let it rest for 10 mins under some aluminium foil. Serve with sautéed spinach and thyme roast potatoes.

We are sometimes asked for advice about how to make great salad dressings using our flavoured oils. We have to admit, we are very lazy on this front. We often go no further than to simply make the salad, scatter over some sea salt and thickly ground black pepper then drizzle it generously with either garlic, mint, basil or lemon oil. This method, whilst completely bone idle, is nonetheless quite consistent in producing ‘mmms’ and ‘ahs’ from those who eat it.

If you want to actually get your hands dirty, put a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, a pinch of seasalt, a grind of black pepper, 3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar and 8 or 9 tablespoons of a good olive oil in a jar and shake it like a crazed carnival-goer. Pour over the salad and mix it well with your hands to ensure good coverage of all those thirsty leaves.

If, on the other hand, you simply want the basic laws of making the perfect salad dressing you can’t do better than this Italian advice:

   A miser should see to the vinegar

   A spendthrift to the oil

   A wise man to the salt

   A judicious man to the pepper

   And a madman to the mixing.

With such simple advice, your next salad dressing could only be delicious.

Rainbows are as close as Mother Nature gets to the Italian catwalk. Head-turning beautiful, shamelessly  attention-demanding and just a teeny, unfixably bit vulgar. We embrace the vulgarity.  We love Judy Garland. Somewhere over the rainbow is a favourite on the Nudo playlist.

Rainbows rock. The rainbow has stood for gay pride in Europe, for peace in Italy, as the symbol of International co-operation after the first world war and for the Wu-Wo tea festival in China. Most significantly and famously of all, it has stood for Nudo’s new range of flavoured olive oils at Olympia in London at the annual Speciality and Fine Food Fair in September 2012.

Each tin was stuck on by hand (thank you team Nudo), with much patience and a lot of those little sticky circles. Many visitors, including a French designer who took away boxes of empty tins for a window display of her own, told us the effect was beautiful; a few told us it was completely dizzying; and one proved it by fainting right there on our stand.

‘I can’t believe my boss is only giving me three weeks off,’ my friend Stefania said last week, ‘In August! What a slave driver!’ Such are the thoroughly laudable holiday habits of Italy. The idea of forcing your workforce in to the office in temperatures which would make even cats fancy a dip is simply not in good taste. August is holiday time and ferragosto its poster child. No-one works on ferragosto. It is not a day to give birth or have a house fire. It is almost certainly a good day to rob a bank or at least park your car in a cravenly illegal spot. It’s a day – ideally surrounded by a whole month – of getting down to the beach and eating your body weight in fresh seafood. Everyone we know has already headed off to the seaside and quite frankly, as soon as we finish this newsletter, we’re off too. If you want to escape along with us, why not emerge yourself in this 360 degree view of the Rosalio grove, taken on a hot afternoon just last week.

Escape to Rosalio grove.

This is a very versatile dish – you can substitute many other fish, such as swordfish or grouper. The most important thing is that it’s fresh and from a sustainable source. The fish steams itself in the wrapped parchment paper and goes wonderfully with salad or greens.

Ingredients for 4

Sea bass – 1 fillet per person

Extra virgin olive oil with lemons – 2 tablespoons

Red onion – 1

Fennel – 8 sprigs

Lemon – 8 slices

Capers in olive oil – 4 tablespoons

Dry white wine – half a cup

Salt and pepper to taste

Find a really fresh fish at your fishmonger and – unless you’re an expert – ask them to fillet it for you. If each fillet is huge, divide it in half. Otherwise place a fillet on a piece of parchment paper big enough to wrap the fish and leave an air pocket. Drizzle over the olive oil, pop on the onion slices, then the fennel and next the lemon slices. Sprinkle the capers over the top and season with salt and pepper. Finally sprinkle over the white wine and carefully wrap the fish. Heat the oven to 400oF/200oC/GM6 and bake for 20minutes. Check the fish is cooked through (opaque in the middle) and if not cook for another 5 or 10 minutes. Serve immediately.

Tom Mueller is an investigative journalist. The only thing he loves more than tasting delicious food is sniffing out a great story. At his home in Liguria, these two passions came together for his book on olive oil. Liguria is home to some large, powerful olive oil producers who are often accused of mislabelling ‘normal olive oil’ as ‘extra virgin olive oil’, or imported olive oil as ‘Italian’. I’ve spoken myself to Ligurian olive growers who openly admit to selling their olives to such companies, to be blended with imported oil, but still sold as ‘Ligurian’. Mueller’s book is full of such stories. And not just from Liguria. He travels the world exposing the widespread fraud in the industry and discovering how it threatens artisan olive oil producers like Nudo. It’s a shocking book. It describes how skilled oil fraudsters are flooding the market with, cheap, fake extra virgin oils, reaping profits and undercutting honest producers – whilst the authorities in Italy, the US and elsewhere turn a blind eye.

We caught up with Tom to ask him some more about his book and whether he can offer practical advice to consumers about how to avoid being fooled.

NUDO: What most shocked you in your investigation of the olive oil industry?

TOM: Not the criminals – they were merely the foot soldiers of a much bigger and uglier picture.  What really shocked me were the multinational companies who knowingly deal with the criminals, and the governments who wink at fraud without acting against it, lest they interfere with free (and corrupt) trade.  The current absurd situation of “extra virgin” olive oil costing €1.70 in the bulk market in Jaén is an open joke, yet no official agency seems willing to intervene.

NUDO: In American supermarkets, it is possible to buy ‘100% Italian, extra virgin olive oil, first cold press’ for under $10 per litre. Can this possibly be a good buy?

TOM: Again, it depends on the source, though it’s expensive to ship olive oil to the US, and the retailer must have a mark-up.  It’s safe to say that most extra virgin olive oils sold at $10 per litre are wrongly labeled, and some are downright frauds.

NUDO: Why is it hard for small scale olive oil producers to make a living?

TOM: It’s not so much a matter of scale as of quality.  It’s very expensive to produce true extra virgin olive oil, cheap to make poor oil.  But many poor oils are sold under the extra virgin label.  So 2 completely different products, one valuable and the other low-quality, are being sold under the identical label.  Honest producers are victims of unfair competition.

NUDO: I’m often asked ‘what is so bad about importing oil from Spain to Italy and calling it “Italian”? Aren’t Spanish olives as good as Italian ones?’ What would you say to this question?

TOM: If the label leads the consumer to believe they are buying Italian oil, yet the oil is made in Spain, this is misleading, and therefore wrong.   It’s purely a matter of truth in labelling.

NUDO: Apart from publishing books on the subject, how best to educate consumers about good and bad olive oil? I often hear unconfident consumers worry that they won’t even recognise a good olive oil when they taste one.

TOM: They need to taste more olive oil.  And taste cheap supermarket oils side by side with fine oils.  To do this, one needs a competent guide – a reputable shopkeeper who knows his or her oils, for example.

NUDO: What is your best advice for consumers faced with a shelf full of olive oils of varying provenance and varying price? How can they know what the label means and who to trust?

TOM: The label must say “extra virgin.”  It ideally should tell you the date of harvest, and the specific spot on the globe (typically the estate) where the oil was produced – as well as by whom.  Dark glass bottles or tins, which shield the oil from light, are also important.

NUDO: You say in the book that €60 billion of counterfeit Italian foods are sold annually. Is there something unique to Italy about this?

TOM: Merely that Italian food is so superb, and deservedly famous – fraud occurs when an item has inherent value.

Tom’s book Extra Virginity: the sublime and scandalous world of olive oil’ is available on Amazon.

The 5 winners are named and hoorayed below. Yay for you all! For those who haven’t won, there’s still a treat in store. We were lucky enough to catch up with Tom and ask him some of our burning questions about his insightful book – you can read the full interview on Friday, July 20th.

Now back to those winners…. They are:

Traci Suzanne Marvel, USA

Bonnie Perlmutter, USA

Teresa Paul, Canada

Steven Zuanella, UK

Robert Scocozzo, USA

Congratulations! Your prizes are making its way to you now.

The Smarter Alecs might say this is simple – ‘Just buy it in Italy’ – and it is true that Italian fresh spinach holds its form and doesn’t cook into a mushy mess like some lesser breeds. But whatever type of spinach you can get your hands on, here are some tricks to get the best out of it.

• If you wash the leaves, dry them in a salad spinner as one thing you don’t need is extra moisture.
• Add a grating of fresh nutmeg, a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of sea salt.
• Cook the spinach till it’s just wilted, not beyond. Watch it! It turns in a matter of seconds.
• If the spinach gives off water as it’s cooked, pour it away.

Ingredients  for 2-4 people

Spinach – 450g/1lb

Extra virgin olive oil (or garlic olive oil) – 1 tblsp

Butter – a dollop

Nutmeg – freshly grated

Salt – a pinch

Lemon Juice – 1 tblsp

Now to make it perfectly…

Wash and drain the spinach well. Use a salad spinner to dry the leaves if you have one at hand. Get a deep non-stick pan and bring it up to a medium heat.

First melt the butter and then mix in the olive oil. Once mixed, add handfuls of spinach to the pan until everything is distributed evenly in the pan.

Add your lemon juice, grated nutmeg and salt. Mix through the leaves to get the flavor to spread around.

Now you have to be carefule: by mixing the leaves (or tossing it around like a professional), only cook the spinach until it’s just wilted. Immediately take off the heat and leave for a minute to stand.

Using tongs to gather the leaves will allow excess fluid to run off in the pan whilst serving. Serve and enjoy straight away.