Lure of lemon olive oil
An underrated fish meets its match, writes Melissa Clark
IT took me several weeks to open a bottle of lemon olive oil someone gave me as a gift. Every so often, I would move the bottle out of the way to wipe crumbs off the counter but I didn’t dare twist open the top. I knew once I did, I’d end up pouring it compulsively on everything. Vying for attention next to the regular olive oils — the good one for sauteing, the better one for salads and garnishes — it lured me with the promise of containing two of my favourite ingredients, olives and lemons, pressed together into a golden oil.
And at upward of US$35 (RM142) for a rather small bottle, it would become yet another expensive staple in my already pricey pantry. (I’m looking at you, aged balsamic.)
It was a bowl of escarole, green and succulent that made me relent. A slick of lemon olive oil, along with some grated garlic and a pinch of chilli flakes, was exactly what it was begging for. The combination of the greens’ snappy bite and the oil’s fragrant tang was bright and deep.
What makes lemon olive oil taste so intense is that, unlike my workaday salad dressing of lemon juice and olive oil, it doesn’t display the sharpness of citrus juice.
Instead, it’s all about the heady oil from the lemon zest along with olive oil. And while it does contain some acidity, it’s a lot more subtle.
As predicted, once I opened it, I couldn’t get enough of the stuff. Luckily, lemon olive oil turns out to be very easy and economical to make at home. While it may not be quite as nuanced as the coldpressed stuff in the bottle, it’s still richly citrusy and perfumed.
A jar of it will last a month. It’s fantastic on salads, pastas, fish and my current obsession, avocado-anchovy toast.
Here, I pair the oil with mackerel, one of the most underrated fish I know. Pale-fleshed and much more delicate than people think, it has more character than, say, your average ultra-mild white fish, like flounder. But it’s a lot gentler and less fatty than everyone’s beloved salmon — and it’s more sustainable.
The tender fish, roasted along with olives, basil and cherry tomatoes, makes a zippy dish perfect for any given weeknight — whether you’re cracking open a bottle of store-bought lemon olive oil, or making your own.
Lemon olive oil is drizzled on mackerel fillets; Olives, a salty counterpoint to lean fish, for a recipe of mackerel with lemon olive oil and tomatoes.