Olive Oil
15 recipes found
Cucumber-Tomato Salad With Sesame Whipped Tofu
Silken tofu can be an incredible creamy base for sauces, dips and even soups. It’s packed with protein and is a great way to enhance a simple light salad. The neutral flavor of silken tofu makes it a flexible blank canvas to highlight strong flavors like toasted sesame oil. Here, whipped tofu is a pedestal for simple peak summer tomatoes and cucumbers that are roughly chopped and salted. The simplicity of this salad means that everything needs to be well seasoned. Serve the salad with some crusty sourdough bread, creating a DIY tomato toast situation.
Crispy Fish Salad With Parsley and Ciabatta Croutons
Inspired by the legendary Zuni Café chicken salad, this version swaps poultry for crisp-skinned white fish, pairing it with a lively mix of textures and bold, sweet-sour flavors. Torn ciabatta croutons soak up a sherry vinegar dressing, punctuated by capers, pine nuts and raisins for sharpness, crunch and sweetness. Softened shallots and garlic add depth, while parsley keeps everything fresh. It’s a dish that feels both effortless and layered, a bright, satisfying lunch or a starter that’s sure to impress.
Lemon Berry Quick Cake
Occasionally, you might find yourself with a surplus of summer berries. This easy cake is perfect for those occasions. The olive oil and lemon are inspired by traditional Italian cakes that offer richness while also feeling light and tender. The berries and the glaze — should you choose to use it — are reminiscent of traditional American pound cakes. This versatile cake-of-all-trades is baked in a cast-iron skillet yet remains soft and delicate in the crumb. It is so versatile that it can be served for breakfast, afternoon tea or as a simple, rustic dessert for a beautiful summer feast.
Olive Oil-Poached Tuna With Garlic Aioli
This is one of those recipes that feels luxurious without trying too hard. You slowly poach tuna, swordfish or halibut in a big bath of olive oil that’s been infused with lemon peels, garlic, thyme and chiles — basically, everything you want to be eating. Use a good everyday extra-virgin olive oil here, nothing too precious because you’ll be using a lot of it. (The leftover seasoned oil is gold; you can save it for roasting potatoes or sautéing greens.) As it poaches in the oil, the fish turns silky and rich, while the onion and chile soften and take on the deeply savory flavor of the oil. The best part? You use that same oil to make an aioli, which pulls everything together.
Creamy Lemon Zucchini Pasta
To transform an abundance of zucchini into a silky, irresistible mash, slice it thinly, pile it into a pot with a pool of butter and olive oil, and cook it slowly, concentrating its sweet and mild flavor. Tossed with chewy, nutty fregola and brightened with lemon, this spoon-friendly recipe becomes an elegant yet accessible dinner for toddlers and grownups alike, or a versatile side dish alongside any number of proteins. This dish makes great leftovers and reheats beautifully.
Whole Wheat Maple Zucchini Bread
This zucchini bread is not flashy, but its simple goodness will have you making it again and again. Moisture is an essential for a good zucchini bread, and while grated zucchini typically provides it, this recipe gets some additional help from olive oil and buttermilk. The incorporation of cardamom and orange zest will make your home smell like the most fragrant of bakeries. Maple syrup also adds a subtle sweetness and balances the earthiness of the whole-wheat flour. This zucchini bread is lovely as written, but you can also incorporate mashed bananas, fresh berries, chopped chocolate or your favorite nut.
Whipped Ricotta
Homemade whipped ricotta can serve as both a dip and a spread. It’s also a cinch to make, transforming the grainy, dense cheese into something light and airy. Delicious on sandwiches or with crackers or raw vegetables, it’s especially welcome as part of a charcuterie board.
Jammy Zucchini
You might associate zucchini with meh flavor, or with “zoodles” (which are decidedly not the same as pasta, though some folks may try to convince you otherwise). But when you cook it in a hot pan with olive oil and garlic, as in this method from my book “Big Vegan Flavor” (Avery Books, 2024), zucchini can be exquisite — meltingly tender, jammy and unctuous. Serve over Whipped Tofu Ricotta, garnish with mint and serve with toasted bread for dipping; or fold into a pasta or potato salad. (Watch Nisha make this recipe on YouTube.)
Pesto Pasta With Corn and Green Beans
Fresh summer green beans are the best, and, if you can get them in your own vegetable garden, all the better. They’re most tender when picked on the small side, so aim for that in the garden and at the farm stand. Here, they combine with sweet corn kernels and a basil pesto for a luscious summer pasta that also happens to be nut-free, just parsley, basil, garlic, Parmesan, pecorino and olive oil.
Zucchini Salad With Sizzled Pistachios
In this clever salad, fresh raw zucchini is bathed in a nutty oil accented with big bursts of jewel-like lemon; each bite is equal parts rich and bright. Warming the oil with the pistachios until they sizzle infuses it with their flavor. Whole lemons, peeled down to the flesh and then sliced, are then stirred into the pistachio oil. A little black pepper, spicy red pepper flakes and feta cheese (which is optional) turn this into a salad equally ready to grace a summer spread or pack ahead for lunch. It can also be a great side for hot-mustard grilled chicken, roasted salmon, sheet-pan feta or even just a bowl of hummus and some thick-cut toast.
Sheet-Pan Socca (Savory Chickpea Pancake)
Crispy on the outside and creamy at their core, socca are thin, olive-oil-rich chickpea pancakes. In Provence they’re often made on wide, flat copper skillets, but a screamingly hot sheet pan works extremely well, too — and makes an extra-large chickpea cake that can serve as a light dinner or an easy appetizer. Socca are usually not topped with anything more than black pepper; they are delicate and can’t support more than minimalist additions. However, a light scattering of toppings — like anchovies, pecorino and scallions here — makes socca qualify as a simple and delicious meal. A handful of chopped olives added before baking would also work, as would a garnish of torn slivers of prosciutto, draped on top just before serving.
No-Cook Chili Bean Salad
All the usual suspects found in a vegetarian bean chili appear in this salad — canned beans, tomato, bell pepper, red onion and spices — but there’s no cooking-with-heat required. The tomatoes are salted to tenderize and coax out their sweet, umami juices. Cumin, coriander, smoked paprika and dried oregano inject smoky earthiness and complexity. While black and pinto beans are used here, it is absolutely viable to use whatever beans you have on hand for this pantry-friendly recipe. Best of all, the salad can be dressed up with the usual chili toppings such as avocado, sour cream and cheese. Eat as is, or with tortillas or corn chips on the side.
Heirloom & Nectarine Gazpacho with Cheesy Flatbreads
Stone fruit complements the tomatoes' sweetness in this gorgeous gazpacho, and a cheesy flatbread makes it complete. Think grilled cheese and tomato soup, but for warm days.
Cabbage Chopped Salad
This can take a while — or not. I work progressively: shred the cabbage, then salt it. Cut the carrots, then salt them, letting them sit while you’re slicing the onion. Add the onion to the carrots, and so on. The salting intensifies flavor, slightly pickling the vegetables.
