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A taste of liquid gold

Olive oil comes in so many varieties - but whether you cook with it or finish a plate with it, the result is the same: a seriously elevated flavour profile. Try these recipes out for yourself

Confit Duck Breast with Green Peas & Purple Potato Mash
Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 3 hrs
Serves: 1
Ingredients
For the duck:
180 gm duck breast
250 ml Arboreum extra virgin olive oil
8 gm onion
4 gm rosemary
4 gm thyme
3 gm garlic
4 gm salt and pepper
For the green peas:
60 gm green peas
5 ml extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
3 gm salt and pepper
2 gm rosemary
3 gm mint, chopped
For the red capsicum gel:
300 gm red capsicum
50 gm onion
10 ml EVOO
6 gm salt and pepper
100 gm tomato
For the purple potato mash:
60 gm purple potato
6 gm salt and pepper
10 gm butter
10 gm cream
Method
Roast duck breast skin down then cook confit in extra virgin olive oil with onion, aromatic herbs, garlic, salt and pepper for 2.5 hours at 62°C.
Boil the peas for 5 minutes, then put in ice water to retain the green colour; remove skin and sauté with salt, pepper and rosemary in olive oil. When cold, season with mint.
Sauté the capsicum and onion in oil with salt and pepper. When almost cooked, add tomato and cook slowly, covered for an hour. Blend and pass through a fine strainer; season to taste and place in a piping bag.
Steam the potato and remove skin while still hot. Mash and mix with remaining ingredients till you achieve a creamy consistency.
Slice duck breast as desired or as pictured.
Arrange on a plate, along with green peas, dollops of creamy mashed potato and capsicum gel.
Finish with duck stock and green peas powder.
Chef Andrea says: "Thanks to its pleasantly fruity profile, Arboreum olive oil gives this dish an aroma that will entice the most discerning palate."

Beetroot-Marinated Salmon, Pumpkin & Sour Cream
Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 40 mins
Serves: 1
Ingredients
For the salmon:
90 gm salmon
5 gm salt and sugar marination
8 gm beetroot
3 ml Lorenzo n.3 oil
For the pumpkin:
40 gm pumpkin
3 gm ginger
2 gm rosemary
3 ml EVOO
2 gm salt and pepper
3 gm thyme
For the sour cream:
25 gm cream cheese
5 ml lemon juice
5 gm cream
3 gm salt and pepper
For ginger gel:
50 gm ginger
70 gm vinegar
2 gm salt and pepper
25 gm sugar
70 ml water
1.2 gm agar (for every 100 gm)
Method
Cut a fillet of salmon and marinate overnight with salt and sugar. The next day, dip in beetroot juice and roll with cling film. Keep for a day in a vacuum bag.
Cut the pumpkin in half, remove the seeds and wrap in aluminium foil. Cook in the oven for 35 mins at 175°C then season with the remaining ingredients. Blend part of the pumpkin, pass through a fine strainer and store in a piping bag. Cut the other half in small cubes to be used for final plating.
Bring the cream cheese to room temperature, then mix with lemon juice, cream, salt and pepper.
For the gel, cook the ginger with the remaining ingredients (except agar) for 15 minutes; then, remove and blend. (If the flavour is too strong, you can balance it with some water and sugar.) Add 1.2 gm of agar for every 100 gm of liquid. Heat, and cool. Blend again and pass through a fine strainer before storing in a piping bag.
Cut the salmon into 10 portions. Arrange on serving plates with ginger gel, dollops of pumpkin cream, a few pumpkin cubes and parsley powder. Make a quenelle with sour cream and finish with some pumpkin powder. Drizzle Lorenzo n.3 olive oil on top of the salmon. Serve.
Chef Andrea says: "Lorenzo n.3 olive oil is known for its mild, fruity flavour and will offer a well-rounded taste with a light peppery finish."

Spaghetti Pasta with Tomato & Basil
Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 3 hrs 15 mins
Serves: 2
Ingredients
200 gm spaghetti pasta
Cherry tomato, as desired
Parallelo 46° oil, as required
Basil leaves, fried, to serve
For the tomato sauce:
150 gm onion, sliced fine
10 ml extra virgin oil
8 gm salt and pepper
500 gm San Marzano
tomato, halved
300 gm Datterino tomato
For the tomato confit:
500 gm Datterino tomato
20 ml EVOO
5 gm rosemary
3 gm garlic
3 gm salt and pepper
3 gm thyme
5 gm lemon and orange zest
For yellow tomato gel:
200 gm yellow tomato
5 ml EVOO
5 gm salt and pepper
1.3 gm agar (for every 100 ml liquid)
Method
For sauce, slow-cook the onion in EVOO with salt and pepper. At the same time, grill the San Marzano tomato. When the onion are very soft and tender, add both the tomatoes and cook for 5 mins; add some water and cook slowly till the tomato loses its acidity. Blend, pass through a fine strainer, and season to taste.
For the confit, blanch the tomato and remove the skin. Add the tomato and the remaining ingredients to a tray and cook in the oven at 70°C for an hour with less fan.
For the gel, season the tomato and cook in a pot for 30 minutes with oil; blend and pass through a fine strainer; season to taste. Add the agar and heat the mixture; when cool, blend again and store in a piping bag.
Cook the spaghetti pasta in water and salt for 7 mins. At the same time, add EVOO to a pan with quartered cherry tomatoes. Once softened, add the first tomato sauce and some water.
When the spaghetti is half-cooked, remove from the water and cook in the tomato sauce. When ready, add Parallelo 46° oil to add taste and shine to the pasta.
Decorate the serving plate with some sauce; add the spaghetti together with five pieces of tomato confit. Pipe little points of yellow tomato gel and garnish with fried basil leaves.
Chef Andrea says: "46° Parallelo is an extra virgin olive oil from northern Italy that features a well-balanced blend of Casaliva oil and has a concentrated flavour of green tomatoes, asparagus and lettuce."

Yoghurt Ice Cream Granola & Berries
Prep time: 3 hrs
Serves: 4
Ingredients
Lorenzo n.5, as required
Mint leaf, to garnish
Raspberry, fresh, to garnish
For the yoghurt ice cream:
288 ml milk
63 gm cream
50 gm milk powder
226 gm dextrose
110 gm sugar
12 gm stabiliser
750 gm yoghurt
For the raspberry coulis:
300 gm raspberry
40 gm sugar
1 gm xantana
For the blueberry gel:
300 gm blueberry
30 gm sugar
1.2 gm agar (for every 100 gm of liquid)
For the blueberry yoghurt:
300 gm blueberry coulis
110 gm yoghurt
30 gm sugar
For the granola biscuit:
150 gm sugar
180 gm butter
1 gm vanilla
2 eggs
16 gm yeast
125 gm flour 00
125 gm granola flour
Method
Combine all the ingredients for the ice cream together in an ice cream machine.
Blend the raspberry with sugar and pass through a fine strainer; add xantana and blend until you get a liquid sauce.
Blend blueberry and sugar, and pass through a fine strainer; add agar and heat up; blend when cool and store in a piping bag.
Mix all the ingredients for blueberry yoghurt together and keep in the chiller.
For the biscuit, blend sugar and butter; then, add vanilla, eggs (one by one), yeast and flours.
When the dough is ready, add some granola and make a small ball; roll it in some granola again to give it a crunchy exterior, and cook in the oven for 12 minutes at 150°C.
Drizzle raspberry coulis on the plate, make some points around the plate with blueberry gel and add cream of blueberry yoghurt. Finally, make 3 quenelles of yoghurt ice cream, drizzle with Lorenzo n.5 oil, and serve with powdered granola biscuit, garnished with mint leaf and fresh raspberry.
Chef Andrea says: "The creaminess of Lorenzo n.5 together with its delicately spiced aroma is the final touch you need to take this dessert to the next level."