Olive Oil & Bacon Grease... Both Good For You

Time for a real conversation about real food. Let's get the bad part out of the way...

Until June 19, 2011 I was blissfully unaware that Canola oil and other so called "veggie" oils are nothing but highly processed, mostly artificial, food stuffs.  (I don't know what a food stuff is either... humor me).  Turns out, you are literally better off using butter or bacon grease instead. 

That look you are giving the computer screen right now... that's the same "Oh really?" look I gave my friend Clay (read how he started The Organic Coffee Cartel) at an early morning breakfast meeting on that fateful mid/late-ish/Summer Solstice-y June day.  His passion for eating optimally is contagious.  And my gut said -- not only at the time, but especially after researching the topic -- that it sounded right... and now... well I'm the jerk telling you to eat bacon fat instead of vegetable oil too. Actually, I'm gonna advocate olive oil over refined oils instead of bacon fat, but the concept remains the same.  And just to clarify, my friend is not a jerk.

Without delving deep into too many details (pesky things), let's just assume for the sake of argument that you know I'm right. Now, onto the fun part! Turns out, there are lots of great, whole, real foods that you can make today to take the place of all these refined, yuck-ptooey ones. 

Let's start with salad dressing since it's Summer in New England (it's Summer everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere, but I have to tie this to my tagline of "thoughts on eating local and the Portsmouth food scene," however loosely).  Which brings me to how I really got the inspiration for this post today. My husband made the worst dinner I have ever laid eyes on last night... and in protest I ceremoniously threw it in the trash (unfortunately my 4 year old thought it was cool and did the same thing, and then cried that her grilled cheese was good and she was sad now that she threw it out, then I made her another one, but I digress...). 

Since I was still hungry, I threw together a salad of fresh Arugula and two, yes two, orange cherry tomatoes from our garden (remember my post on our tomato plants? Well, I am happy to report they have yielded two so far... in about a week we will have 1,000). Then I got lazy and put ranch dressing all over it. Which ruined dinner for the second time that night. I ate it, of course, because ranch dressing, no matter how awful it's ingredients (really, really bad... I can't even talk about it) can hit the spot sometimes.  But... (yes! I'm finally getting the part that inspired this post)... I really should have made "The Best Vinaigrette Ever" and thus would have saved the entire sad affair and put my friend's theories on real foods into practice.  Olive Oil is the best real food ever invented (neck and neck with bacon grease).

Couple of other real oil ideas before I conclude... Olive Oil with a pinch of salt is great on toast in the morning as an alternative to butter (try a teaspoon of local raw honey on it too!). Also good on toast -- avocado mashed with lime and salt (think I got that from Nigella Lawson many years ago??). Lastly, try cooking your eggs in coconut oil... and you can also put a dab on your dry skin!

So yesterday's drama is over, and tonight we have a fresh start. It's never too late to start eating real foods. Any food that is real, bacon and butter included, is better than some of the highly refined foods that parade around as "healthy." Time to enjoy the bounty of mid Summer harvest that the seacoast area lays at our feet, and make a killah salad dressing that would impress my friend and maybe even Michael Pollan. 

Do you have a great olive oil (or bacon for that matter) inspired recipe to share? What are your thoughts on "real" vs "refined" foods... what does it all mean? We'd love to hear from you.

Best Vinaigrette Ever

Serves 4

1 T coursely chopped shallot
pinch of course table salt (or sea salt)
2 T quality champagne vinegar (or substitute red wine, white wine or apple cider vinegar)
1 t strong french mustard
1/4 c extra virgin olive oil

Take coursely chopped shallot and salt and finely chop together, almost making a paste like texture with the two ingredients.

Mix with vinegar in a small bowl. Let stand 10 minutes or so until flavors mix.

Then slowly drizzle in olive oil while vigorously whisking (emulsifying).  Whisk in mustard. 

Serve at room temperature over washed (LOCAL!) greens.  If you are fancy...you can take a clove of garlic that is cut in half and rub it around your salad serving bowl like my mom used to do...it's a nice touch that does impart a subtle garlic flavor as well.