Olive Oil usage...?!
Olive Oil usage...?
What can I and can't I use olive oil for. I know it's good for cooking chicken, but what else?? Vegetables? And what is the difference between Extra Virgin Olive Oil, regular Olive Oil, etc.
Answers: Extra Virgin Olive oil comes from the first pressing of the olives. It has the highest quality and best flavour. Virgin Olive oil is the next pressing, regular olive oil comes from later pressings.
Olive oil is good in any Italian food - add it to Spaghetti sauce, add a bit to the water when you're cooking pasta, put it on pizza dough before you add sauce and cheese, etc. It goes well with anything with tomatoes, basically.
It's also good on some vegetables when roasting in an oven or heating in a skillet (asparagus, potatoes, wedged tomatoes, zucchini, and summer squash come to mind as a few I've used it with.). A small drizzle is enough to do in most cases.
Sometimes I brush it on bread before toasting it in the oven - french bread in particular, but there are many that it's good with, any dense breads or crusty breads. It's also good to just add black pepper to a small dish of olive oil and dip crusty breads in it when eating breads as appetizers or with a meal.
Ah, it's also good to cook shrimp in, or mushrooms. I can't think of any other foods I've used it with, but it's pretty versatile and I'm sure you can find it in many recipes. EVOO, extra virgin is the first pressing of the olives. It has the most pronounced taste of all, and should be used for dressing salads and veggies. Regular olive oil is best for cooking, frying, etc., as you would any other vegetable oil. Olive oil works well for just about anything because of it's ability to stand up to extremely hot temperatures. When using olive oil, extra virgin is the way to go. Did you know that you are slightly flavoring your food by the oil that you cook it in? Try refined coconut oil, sunflower oil or a bit of sesame oil sometime for something different. It's fun to venture out. You can use it for tons of stuff! Olive oil is the only oil I use for cooking other than deep frying (which I seldom do). Toss some cubed potatoes with it and some herbs and roast in the oven; saute fresh veggies with it; cook any meat or seafood with it. Brush it on fruits and grill them on the bbq. You can even flavour it with herbs and use it as a dip for nice breads.
Olive oil is also good for your skin in a facial mask and if you have a dry, itchy scalp...it's a good treatment if you live in drier, wintery climates like me (Canada).
Do a search on it and you'll get lots of hits and info. It's uses go way beyond chicken! LOL U can use olive oil for cooking anything. You can even make eggs and baked goods with olive oil. It can be used for sauteing vegetables, making vinaigrettes/dressings, cooking meat, used as part of a marinade etc... Basically anything that does not require high heat....it is not designed to be used for high heat such as deep frying. You can use olive oil for anything. It is the only oil I have in my house and I use it for everything!