Category Archives: Food and Recipes

Spanish Salad with Oranges, Anchovies & Tuna

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From Albert Bevia:
Visit any top-tier restaurant in the Spanish Mediterranean coast and you will find this Spanish Salad with Oranges, Anchovies & Tuna. It´s loaded with amazing flavors, beyond easy to make and done within a couple of minutes. This is the kind of salad that truly speaks the Spanish Mediterranean culture.  My favorite part about this salad, besides the simplicty of it, is the explosion of flavors it has. It´s sweet & savory, plus the combination of textures between the oranges, anchovies and tuna is absolutely brilliant.

Spanish Salad with Oranges, Anchovies & Tuna

Watch Albert preparing this recipe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkBZKZjdY_c

Ingredients

  • handful mixed greens bagged lettuce
  • 1/2 onion
  • 1 orange
  • 10 black pitted Spanish olives
  • 1 tin Spanish anchovies
  • 1 tin Spanish tuna
  • pinch sea salt
  • pinch black pepper
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

  1. Add a handful of mixed greens bagged lettuce into a plate, my mix had spinach, red leaf lettuce & arugula
  2. Thinly slice 1/2 of a brown onion and add on top of the salad
  3. Peel 1 orange and cut into thin slices, add about 5 slices on top the salad
  4. Slice 10 black pitted Spanish olives in half and add over the salad
  5. Season everything with fine sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
  6. Drain 1 tin of Spanish anchovies and decorate over the salad, I like to add mine in a circular design
  7. Drain 1 tin of Spanish tuna and add on top of the salad, I like to add mine in the middle
  8. Drizzle the entire salad with about 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil and serve at once, enjoy!

Manchego Cheese Empanadas with Strawberries & Rosemary

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From Albert Bevia:


Spain is famously known for their empanadas and these Manchego Cheese Empanadas with Strawberries & Rosemary have to be one of the best ones ever. These empanadas are sweet & savory and they have an incredible combination of flavors. This recipe is super easy to make, uses minimal ingredients and the empanadas are done in about 30 minutes from start to finish. Perfect for a tapas party or serve next to a salad for a complete meal. For this recipe I used premade store bought pizza dough, just to make things easier.

Watch Albert preparing this recipe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvlgBRhtfbE&t=12s

Ingredients

  • 1 premade pizza dough
  • 1 block manchego cheese
  • 6 fresh strawberries
  • 1 sprig fresh rosemary
  • pinch sea salt
  • pinch black pepper
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

  1. Wash and pat dry 6 fresh strawberries, cut the end off each strawberry, then cut each one in half, cut each half in half and roughly chop it, add the cut strawberries into a large bowl
  2. Wash and pat dry 1 large sprig of rosemary, remove the needles from the stem and roughly chop the rosemary needles, add them into the bowl with the strawberries
  3. Season everything with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper, mix together until well combined and set aside
  4. Thinly slice about a 1/4 block of queso Manchego, remove the rind and cut each slice into 4 pieces
  5. Roll out one premade pizza dough, using a circular cutter (mine was 3 1/2 inches in diameter) cut out some small circles of dough from the pizza dough, you should end up with about 6
  6. Sprinkle some all-purpose flour into a flat surface, dust each circle of dough on the flour, add a couple pieces of the Manchego cheese to each dough and then some of the strawberry mixture (about 2 tbsp), fold each dough together and using a fork pierce the outer edges on both sides to ensure all the ingredients stay inside (don´t over-stuff your empanadas otherwise they will explode while baking)
  7. Add the empanadas to a baking tray lined with parchment paper and brush each one with some extra virgin olive oil, add into a preheated oven, bake + broil option 210 C -410 F, after 15 to 16 minutes remove from the oven and let them rest for 5 minutes, enjoy!

Spring Salad with Goat Cheese and Strawberries

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Recipe Corner

From Albert Bevia:
Spring has sprung! To celebrate the season we´re making a Spring Salad with Goat Cheese and Strawberries. This is the kind of salad you order at a restaurant, pay big bucks and it leaves you in 7th heaven. Here is the thing, you can make this salad at home for much cheaper and it´s effortless to put together. This salad is loaded with different flavors and textures, it´s sweet, it´s savory, it´s absolutely delicious. Simple ingredients, easy to make and ready within minutes. Remember to use a high-quality extra virgin olive oil, this is what really brings all the flavors together.

Spring Salad with Goat Cheese and Strawberries

Watch Albert preparing this recipe: https://youtu.be/2KihzWjB7Qg

Ingredients

  • handful fresh bagged spinach
  • 1/2 red onion
  • 5 fresh strawberries
  • 2 oz goat cheese
  • 8 walnuts
  • 2 tbsp unsalted sunflower seeds
  • balsamic vinegar glaze
  • Sierra extra virgin olive oil
  • pinch sea salt
  • pinch black pepper

Instructions

  1. Add a handful of fresh spinach into a shallow bowl, finely dice 1/2 of a red onion and add on top of the spinach, rinse 5 large fresh strawberries under cold water and roughly chop them, add the cut strawberries with the onions and spinach, season everything generously with fine sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
  2. Grab 2 ounces of goat cheese and crumble all over the salad, grab 8 walnuts and crumble all over the salad as well, evenly divide 2 tbsp of sunflower seeds and add a good drizzle of balsamic glaze, top it all off with some Sierra extra virgin olive oil, enjoy!

The Authentic Spanish Tortilla de Patatas Potato Omelette

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Watch Albert preparing this recipe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9V2A4U55A4

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup Apollo Mistral organic extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 large yukon gold potatoes
  • 6 large organic eggs
  • fine sea salt
  • black pepper

Instructions

  1. Peel 2 large yukon gold potatoes, rinse them under cold running water and pat them completely dry with a dish cloth, cut each potato into 4 evenly sized quarters, then cut each quarter into 3 evenly sized pieces and thinly slice the potatoes, crack 6 large organic eggs into a large bowl, season them with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper and mix together until well combined
  2. Heat a good quality nonstick fry pan with a medium heat and add 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, after 2 minutes add the slices of potato and mix them around with the olive oil, mix the potatoes occasionally to ensure that they all cook evenly, after 15 minutes season the potatoes with a generous portion of sea salt and a little freshly cracked black pepper, mix together to to ensure all the seasonings are evenly divided, after cooking the potatoes for 25 to 26 minutes they should be perfectly cooked, turn off the heat and transfer the potatoes into the bowl with the beaten eggs and mix together until well combined
  3. Using the same pan heat it with a LOW heat (very important) and add the egg and potato mixture into the pan, using a spatula run it through the outer edges of the pan to make sure the tortilla does not stick, you can also give the pan a quick shake here and there to ensure it is not sticking, after 4 minutes place a plate that is bigger than the pan over the pan, put one hand over the plate and with the other flip the pan, slide the uncooked part of the tortilla into the pan and cook for another 4 minutes, using a spatula you want to compact the tortilla from the outer edges to give it that classic rounded edge, after a total cooking time of 8 minutes (4 minutes per side) remove the pan from the heat and transfer the tortilla de patatas into a serving dish, enjoy!

Master Chef Talks Olive Oil

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Olive Oil Times spoke with Italian master chef, Massimiliano Alajmo, often called ‘the Mozart of the stove’ due to his simple yet unique style of cooking where, of course, extra virgin olive figures very predominantly. Alajmo feels olive oil has a lot of innovative potential because it holds aromas better than butter especially when it is combined with water. Consequently he uses olive oil for a lot of his sauces replacing butter and other dairy products like cream. He is able to achieve a creamy consistency without using dairy which makes his sauces and pastries easier to digest. His three choices if he were on a deserted island: olive oil, bread, and wine. “It’s a combination of freshness, the sacred and strength,” he says.

We have found that it is much easier to make a roux with extra virgin olive oil than with butter. The flour dissolves much more easily without clumping. Also olive oil has a much higher smoking point than butter so it does not burn or bubble when making the roux.

A Summer Treat

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Olive oil ice cream, you must be joking!    No, we’re not – It’s actually quite common in Italy and, boy, is it yummy.

Use a delicate fruity olive oil like the Mistral. The olive oil gives the ice cream a special creaminess. A pinch of salt brings out the flavor (all good dessert makers know you need a little salt), and the pinch of pepper (which looks just like specks of vanilla bean) adds a surprisingly pleasant perk. Top it all off with a little drizzle of Apollo Balsamic Condiment and you’ll have a delicious dessert your friends have probably never tasted before.

This recipe makes one quart.
2 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup of Apollo Mistral
1 3/4 cups milk
2 cups cream
2 tsp. vanilla
pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper

With an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sugar together until thick and cream-colored. Lower the mixer speed and slowly drizzle the olive oil into this mixture until no oil droplets remain. When it is fully incorporated, lightly beat in the milk, cream, vanilla, salt, and pepper. Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and follow its directions. Enjoy immediately for a soft serve experience, or pop it into the freezer for a firmer texture. In either case, don’t forget to dress it up with a little drizzle of Apollo Balsamic Condiment.

If there’s any left over, just put it in a lidded container and store in the freezer.

Hint: Before closing the lid on your ice cream, lay a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto the ice cream to keep out the air and prevent ice crystals from forming on the surface. You can also use this plastic wrap trick to keep air away from other foods – like guacamole stored in the fridge – greatly reducing oxidation and surface browning.

Italian Culinary Tours

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Would you like to travel in Italy and deepen your appreciation of its culinary delights?  Tour With Us creates itineraries focused on authentic Italian food made from fresh ingredients, and highlighting the diversity of local cuisines and the Slow Food Movement. Their tours offer hands-on cooking classes, cheese and chocolate making workshops, and include time for sightseeing, shopping, wine and olive oil tastings, and relaxation.

Stefano Landini, owner of Tour With Us and a friend of Apollo Olive Oil, grew up in Italy and has personal connections with the restaurant owners, cheesemakers, wine masters, and family farmers that you will meet along the way. He and his wife, Perla, will host you for your journey, taking care of the details so that you’re free to enjoy la dolce vita!

Travel light! Tour With Us offers a maximum tour size of 6 people, to allow flexibility and foster camaraderie.  Sign up for an existing tour or put together your own group of friends.  Bypassing crowded tourists’ destinations, you’ll discover Italy’s hidden gems, like in the picture below! Visit www.tour-withus.com for more detailed information.


Simple Cooking Tips with Apollo Olive Oil

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Cooking Tips From a Customer
A customer recently wrote us to say they added a cup of our Balsamic Condiment to the batter of a 150 year old cider cake recipe resulting in the cake having a new unique flavor. She said it was absolutely delicious.

Recent Customer Reviews
My favorite olive oil
We used to make our own olive oil in Tuscany. This oil may be French (Mistral) but it reminds me most closely of our oil there. It’s incredible for salads and on toast with fresh rosemary and goat cheese. It’s hard to find anything that even comes close. The biggest plus is knowing all the polyphenols are keeping me healthy and vibrant.
Christine Z.

Excellent ~ Always!
As a returning customer for a couple of years now, I know I can rely on Apollo to deliver the finest, freshest tasting olive oil. I have never been disappointed in the quality, and I especially appreciate their excellent packaging!
Mid S.