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Aleandri and the Art of Pruning

Posted in Dolce recipes, Stories from the Olive Grove, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 17, 2013 | 1 Comment »

Tiziano Aleandri in the Nudo Adopt an olive tree Aleandri grove

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.

Participants in the Italian national pruning competition

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).

Tiziano busy pruning trees in the competition

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.

The Nudo Italia guide: How to prune an olive tree

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Mamma knows best

Posted in Stories from the Olive Grove, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on May 3, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

Gianluca's Mamma cooking her famous pasta.

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?

Mamma knows best - find her a special gift at Nudo-Italia.com

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Taste your olive oil like a pro

Posted in Stories from the Olive Grove, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 2, 2013 | 2 Comments »

Pouring olive oil in little tasting cups

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?

Olive oil tasting expert Barbara Alfei smelling some Marchigiani olive oil

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.

Olives, still green, in Nudo Adopt an olive tree's Rosalio grove

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.

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A kick of Sicilian chilis

Posted in Primo piatto recipes, Stories from the Olive Grove, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 1, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

 

Nudo chili olive oil in Vegetarian Times magazine

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.

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A traditional Marchigiani lasagne

Posted in Pasta recipes, Secondo piatto recipes, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 5, 2013 | 1 Comment »

A traditinal beef and lamb Marchigiani lasagne.

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 180oC/350oC/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.

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How we prepare the Spring delivery

Posted in Stories from the Olive Grove, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 5, 2013 | 5 Comments »

Corrado Corradini in the oleificio in Macina, Italy.

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.

Olives are pressed in groups, and each batch is clearly marked so that the right Adoptive parents get their own tree's olive oil.

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).

Tirenzio makes sure the olive oil pressing process runs smoothly and that all olive oil gets to the right Adoptive parents.

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 meistra.

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.

Spring delivery packages packed to the ceiling.

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.

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Frittelle di Carnevale

Posted in Dolce recipes, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on March 1, 2013 | 2 Comments »

Fritelle di Carnivale

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

Dusting the fresh fritelle in fine sugar.

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.

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Ice cream made with lemon olive oil chocolate crema

Posted in Dolce recipes, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 11, 2013 | 1 Comment »

Nudo's lemon olive oil crema ice cream.

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.

Making olive oil chocolate crema ice cream.

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.

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Cantucci with pistachio and mandarin olive oil

Posted in Dolce recipes, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 23, 2013 | 3 Comments »

Nudo Mandarin Olive Oil home made cantucci recipe

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 180oC/GM4/350oF. 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.

Nudo Mandarin Olive Oil home made cantucci recipe

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

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ROUX’s Drunken Pecorino quiche

Posted in Antipasti recipes, Primo piatto recipes, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 17, 2013 | 2 Comments »

ROUX's Drunken Pecorino (Pecorino Ubriaco) quiche with roast tomatoes and Nudo's basil olive oil.

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.

Tomatoes ready for roasting.

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.

Pouring the quiche mixture around and over the roast tomatoes in the Drunken Pecorino pastry base.

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.

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