Watch CBS News

Narsai David: Virgin Territory—An Olive Oil Cookbook

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— Nancy Harmon Jenkins is a small producer of olive oil in Tuscany with a new book out about her passion. Virgin Territory: Exploring the World of Olive Oil, is loaded with information about the different types of olive oil on the market including how to deal, select and buy them.

I traveled with Nancy through the Oldways Preservation and Trust and it's exciting to know what a good cook she is as well as a good writer. Her book includes 100 recipes including one for a three-onion focaccia, or pizza Italio. A couple pages later you'll find a pizza from another region of the world. If you were to talk to an Armenian, they'd tell you that the world's first pizza came from the Middle-East and is called lahmajoun. After all it is a piece of flat-bread with meat, herbs and spice on it. In this case her recipe adds a little semolina to the dough that gives it a nice chewiness. Semolina is a high-protein flour.

If pizza's not your thing, how about a nice braised chicken with vegetables from the winter farmer's market? It's nothing more than a whole simple roasted chicken with all these winter veggies and it looks absolutely marvelous.

This expert guide is complete with 9 pro-tips on how to buy and use good olive oil. I'll give you one spoiler—light is the enemy and so is heat. So store your olive oil away.

For the rest you'll just have to check out this brand new book.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.