Italians are well known for their addiction to olive oil – we just can’t live without the stuff! Most people living in our neighbourhood (including us) make their own olive oil, and it is the only oil we use. I can actually see the horror in my mother’s eyes when she realises that we’ve finished an entire bottle of olive oil, as the thought of buying olive oil from a reseller is almost as shocking as the idea of pasta that is not cooked al dente! Almost everywhere in Italy, Italians love olio nuovo or new olive oil season – the first and freshest batch of extra virgin olive oil. In fact, there are entire sagra or food festivals to celebrate it! This year, I decided to host a small ‘festival’ at our house and gathered as many friends as I could to help pick our olives. Naturally, I persuaded them by talking about the great food I was planning to prepare for them and the freezing cold beers I would reward them with! We enjoyed a beautiful morning together, and lunch was the proverbial ‘cherry on the cake.’ Hmmm… I really hope this becomes somewhat of an annual tradition!

RADICCHIO AND GONGORZOLA TART

Makes approx. 6 to 8 portions

Ingredients:

3 tbps of soft gorgonzola
A few cubes of hard gorgonzola
1 radicchio
1 pack puff pastry (approx 230/250 grams)
4 tbps of robiola, or any other delicate fresh cheese
1 egg
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Ground nutmeg

Roll the puff pastry until it is approx. 2 mm thick, and prick it all over with a fork. In a bowl, whisk together the egg, fresh robiola, gorgonzola, salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and gently pour the mixture on top of the puff pastry, spreading it well using the back of a spoon.

Prepare the radicchio by slicing it in half and removing the outer leaves – use the smallest, most tender leaves, and trim off the hard stems (be sure to leave just about 2 cm of the stem and to cut it with a knife so it cooks properly). Place the radicchio leaves on top of the creamed puff pastry and evenly distribute the cubes of gorgonzola all around.

Season again with some pepper and salt (especially the radicchio) and extra virgin olive oil.

Cook in a preheated oven at 220 °C for about 10-15 minutes.

RASPBERRY CROSTATA

Ingredients:

200 g extra-fine sugar
500 g flour
300 g cold butter (cubed)
5 egg yolks
Salt
Zest from one lemon
1 jar of thick raspberry jam
Extra lemon zest for the filling

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Then, create a ‘well’ in the middle of the mixture, add the egg yolks, and whisk with a fork. Add the cold butter and quickly mix the dough until it starts forming a ball. Shape the dough ball into a disk, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes or until firm. Then, proceed to whisk the raspberry jam with the lemon zest.

Once the dough has rested, butter a flat-bottomed round pan and preheat your oven to 180 °C. Roll out the dough quickly on a lightly floured surface until it is about 1/2 cm in thickness. Set the dough over your pan and gently press down with your fingers, then cut off the extra pieces around the edge and spread the jam onto the dough. Re-roll the extra pieces of dough, cut them into strips, and lay them over the jam in a crosshatch pattern.

Bake the crostata for about 30-40 minutes, or until golden.

The olive harvest