I first became enamored with olive oil in 1993 during a trip to Greece and Turkey. In Greece, a salad ordered in a restaurant comes with a tiny bit of lettuce, chopped tomatoes, chunks or one large chunk of feta cheese, and olives. The dinner guest dresses the salad with the oil and vinegar containers available on each table. Prior to that trip, no one could have paid me to use oil and vinegar dressing. Fifteen days of eating salad twice a day topped with that concoction made me a believer. Greeks and Turks use olive oil for cooking most everything. And frankly, those special Kalamata olives were to die for!
Once home again, I began to search out the finest olive oils available in Brentwood, Tennessee, which meant there weren’t many options. Nevertheless, I began practicing recipes using olive oil as the base for cooking. I learned that olive oil is healthier than the usual fats we Americans use for cooking. In fact olive oil, along with coconut oil, is the healthiest vegetable oil available. Olive oil contains 3 major antioxidants to benefit skin health. The monounsaturated fatty acids in the oil may lower your risk of heart disease, may lower your cholesterol and normalize blood clotting (http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/food-and-nutrition/faq-20058439). Some research shows monounsaturated fatty acids may also benefit blood sugar control for diabetics. Recent research published by the University of Athens found that higher rates of olive oil consumption correlate to lower odds of developing cancer.
I use olive oil in cooking many dishes in place of Canola or other vegetable oils. It works especially well in Italian dishes and is used in the Beef Scallopini Marsala recipe that follows. This recipe came from my friend of 50 years, Carlene Hartman Conley, whose life was cut short a year ago.
Beef Scallopini Marsala
2 lbs. round steak, cut 1/4 in. thick
1 egg
3 Tbsp. milk
1 1/4 cup dried bread crumbs or panko crumbs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Salt and pepper
3/4 cup butter
1 garlic clove, sliced
3/4 cup water
2 tsp. flour
1/2 cup Marasala wine
1 beef bouillon cube
minced parsley
olive oil
On a cutting board, pound each piece of round steak to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut steaks into 2 x 4 inch pieces. In a pie plate, beat egg with milk. On waxed paper, combine bread crumbs, Parmesan, salt and pepper. Dip the meat into the egg mixture. Coat in bread crumb mixture.
In a skillet (preferably iron) over medium-high heat, melt 2 Tbsp. butter and 2 Tbsp. Extra Virgin olive oil. Cook garlic and 1/3 of the meat until meat is medium- browned. Remove to a platter and keep warm. Repeat with remaining meat, using 1/2 cup butter in all. You can cut the butter with olive oil, if you like. In a cup, mix water with flour. Discard the garlic, melt the remaining butter in the skillet. Add water -flour mixture, Marsala, parsley, and bouillon. Cook, stirring until thickened and pour over the meat to serve. Makes 6 servings.
