Olio: "A dish of many ingredients" Dictionary.com
"a miscellaneous mixture" Merriam Webster Dictionary
I confess I thought 'olio' was the Italian for oil, and indeed it is, but it seems it's also as in the above definitions.
It also seems that the word comes from the Spanish 'olla' which means pot, which has given it's name to a Spanish dish called Olla podrida which is fundamentally a pork and bean stew but with other things within - shown below.
As demonstrated by the book cover shown here, in the sense that I am using it today - the odds and ends kind of thing - it is a word that is used in a somewhat esoteric manner for people assembling disparate things together, with maybe a common theme, maybe not. It's a rather clever design though, which is why I chose it to begin.
Below is a picture of the olla podrida - the pot and, the finished stew and some of the ingredients - a dish with an obvious peasant heritage - not at all esoteric, and beside it is the Olio collection designed for Royal Doulton by Berber Osgerby - a collection of various kinds of vaguely foodie things in various different materials which is somewhat pompously described on the Twenty Twenty One website: as a 'meaningful miscellany':
"Olio allows people to build up their own personal collection of tableware – from a single piece to a tabletop-full. These are pieces that will stand alone or sit happily alongside prior possessions, thanks to their timeless design, unique character and exceptional quality."
I bet it costs a bomb.
Interesting though - you feed a word into Google and all sorts of weird and wonderful things pop up. The rest of this post is just more mundane oddments from here and there.
Although this particular oddment is based around a recipe, I am really including it to illustrate the connections, or maybe just coincidences that exist in our lives.
I wrote the other day about cooking with just three ingredients - Omne Trium Perfectum - a challenge I called it. And I keep meaning to take up the challenge of cooking with just three ingredients but I haven't yet.
The idea of the perfect three came from Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's book Easy and this is one of the recipes from the book - which coincidentally I saw him make on the television last night. David had gone out to his wine group and so I watched this old series which was called Hugh's Three Good Things - the name under which my book had originally been published. In the program the concept was jazzed up a bit, into a competition between himself and two others, who had to devise a dish with just three ingredients, one of which had to be citrus. This was his contribution in which:
"the potato is laced with lemon juice and peppery olive oil, making it almost a lemony sauce."
It didn't win by the way - a dish of parsnips with orange and halloumi by Sophie Wright did that. Which nearly led me to writing a post on parsnips today.
The coincidence of the three ingredients wasn't the only connection however. I had been out to lunch with some of my book group friends and succumbed to fish and chips which made me think I should do a post on why fish and chips hit the spot for so many people. Indeed I started 'researching' that, and was going to somehow compare chips with mash, because of Hugh, but I soon found an article called Heart of the batter: my lifelong love affair with fish and chips by Daniel Gray on The Guardian website which said so much of what I wanted to say, but so much better than I could, that I gave up. It was an excerpt from a whole book.
So - fish and chips for lunch led to guilt, and wondering why I couldn't resist the crunch, which led to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's three ingredients and more fish but with mash that was almost a sauce. How can you not wonder about that?
A last few words from Hugh on lemons:
"while lemon juice contributes lightness and freshness to a dish, it's the zest that brings pure, vibrant lemon flavour. Lemon juice is sour and certainly fragrant, but the zest is much more deeply scented and layered."
Both are in that recipe.
Freezing cheese
Way back in time somewhere - maybe in another oddments post I featured Jacques Pépin's recipe for Fromage fort - the cheese spread you make from all those dying bits of cheese in your fridge, some white wine and garlic. Well I did make some and it was amazingly delicious I have to say.
Today I mention it again because the Woolworths Fresh Ideas Magazine recommended that you freeze those bits of cheese before they really die, collecting them until you have enough to make fromage fort. Never thought of that.
The snackle box
My Smitten Kitchen newsletter often has links to interesting articles from places like the New York Times, and Eater - this one is from Eater. and is all about the latest big thing over there in the US of A. I don't think this particular craze has hit here as yet. Think large size - maybe even giant size because it's America - compartamentalised school lunchboxes - or as the article says - fishing tackle boxes - filled with snacky food. They reckon they have taken hold as an economy measure. Well the reasoning is that families, or groups of friends out on a drive fill these up with stuff from their fridge to snack on on their day out, rather than stopping at service stations and buying expensive snacks in packets from there:
"snackle boxes aren’t just for kids and dance moms. TikTok is filled with bachelorette parties and girls’ trips loading up their snackle boxes with vodka-soaked gummy bears and Prosecco-doused frozen grapes, and as we glide into summer, social media would have us believe that the multi-level snackle box might just become the new picnic basket. (At least if the 9.4 million views garnered by a TikTok of someone filling up a four-tier snackle box for a beach day are any indication.)
Do have a quick look at that TikTok video though because to my mind it looked as if it was being filled with all sorts of unhealthy stuff out of packets. Now sure, you could indeed fill it with really healthy veggies, salads, breads, dips, charcuterie, etc. but certainly the TikTok version didn't look that healthy. Nevertheless I guess it is a sort of modern-day picnic basket. So clinical though somehow. The romance of the picnic is missing.
Some recipes to try
Alas we can't get Jersey royals here - those gorgeous new potatoes that you get in England, but you could give it a try with some other really good potatoes. Kipflers perhaps. Potatoes, cheese, wine, pancetta - what's not to love.
Tartiflette is a dish from the French Alps, like Gratin dauphinois but with lots of cheese. Not good for you.
Cucumber, dates and pistachio salad by Shuki Rosenboim and Louisa Allan. Now you may have realised by now that I am not a huge salad fan, but this one looks like it could be a hit at a barbecue. Different, simple and cucumber. Cucumber in our house tends to lie around until it rots. If it can be made into something as interesting looking as this, then it might not. The dressing is very simple - really just lemon juice and oil.
And yet another salad. Maybe I'm hoping for warmer weather:
This one is from Nigel Slater and is not as original as the above I guess. But it sure looks tempting. I guess it's a variation of melon and prosciutto on a plate with the ham wrapped around the melon - that sort of thing you see quite often. Sometimes on cocktail sticks. In this, however, the ham - pancetta - or bacon I suppose - is cooked and
"The fat left in the pan was sharpened up with vinegar and we used it to dress the salad. Simple and stunning." Nigel Slater
This is from a cook I have not heard of before - Bec Vrana Dickinson but it looked really yummy, akin to Ixta Belfrage's Giant cheese on toast, which was gobbled up by my family when I served it as a starter to a barbecue style feast. This looks like it would do the same. And kimchi. I have never cooked with kimchi, and I think tasted it for the first time, in one of the delicious dishes we ate at Ho Chi Mama in the city. Worth a try anyway, although I won't be making my own kimchi.
POSTSCRIPT
September 12th - back from wherever or whatever in 2019 I think
2023 - But not here in 2023
2022 - Cheers
2021 - Crossing the bridge noodles
2020 - Home-made with grandchildren
2019 - Take milk for example
2018 - Nothing doing today
2017 - Eggs Benedict
2016 - What is a slider?
I am not sure nI am turned on by any of these recipes, but I have been entertauned along the way!