Olive oil is linked to healthy ageing – these 4 easy Mediterranean recipes put it centre stage

The Mediterranean diet is one of the world's most researched (and healthiest) eating patterns. Study after study has linked it with healthier ageing, better heart health and a lower risk of chronic disease. And while, of course, there's no single ‘magic’ ingredient, there's one staple that appears on the table every day: extra virgin olive oil.

Olive oil – and, in particular, extra virgin olive oil – is rich in monounsaturated fats and antioxidant polyphenols. Studies have shown it's excellent for balancing cholesterol levels, lowering blood pressure and keeping the heart healthy. In other words, there's a lot more to it than just something to drizzle over a salad or serve as a dip with bread.

That's a philosophy olive oil sommelier Sarah Fulton Vachon wholeheartedly agrees with. In the recently published Citizens of Soil cookbook, Drizzle, she argues that extra virgin olive oil deserves to be treated as the hero ingredient, not an afterthought.

‘I like to think of it like this: poured over vanilla ice cream, dropped in a dirty martini, coating a good piece of fish and forming part of my skincare regime. I dream in liquid gold. That’s because I’m an olive oil sommelier – a professional trained to distinguish great products from the merely good or, it must be said, the fake,’ writes Fulton Vachon.

To show just how versatile extra virgin olive oil can be, we've picked four of our favourite recipes from Drizzle – from a cooling green gazpacho to classic Greek stuffed peppers – that put this Mediterranean staple centre stage.

Serves 6

Just what you need to cool down after a long day in the sun, and to get in a healthy quota of greens. Packed full of herbs, this soup has loads of fresh flavours going on and can be prepped in under 10 minutes. It feels both rich and refreshing. If you can find them, use baby cucumbers, as their flavour is often more intense than standard cucumbers.

We served this soup created by our team member Frides O’Neill in shot glasses at our summer pop-up in Notting Hill, so it’s also great for events or garden parties.

Ingredients

• 1 large avocado, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 friggitelli peppers or 1 sweet green pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped
• 1 mild–medium hot green chilli, deseeded and roughly chopped
• 4 baby cucumbers, roughly chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 130g young leaf spinach
• ½ small bunch of flat leaf parsley, leaves picked
• ½ small bunch of basil
• ½ small bunch of coriander
• 70g cashews, toasted
• 20ml (4 teaspoons) white wine vinegar
• 50ml extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve
• 200–300ml very cold water
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Tip the prepared vegetables into a blender or food processor. Add the garlic, spinach, herbs and toasted cashews. Pour in the vinegar and EVOO, and season with salt and pepper.
2. Blend on high speed until everything is roughly chopped, then slowly add the water (you might not need it all) while blending continuously, until the gazpacho is smooth and reaches the desired consistency.
3. Taste and adjust the seasoning, then cover and chill for 1 hour, until cold.
4. Taste again after chilling and adjust as necessary. Serve in little glasses with a drizzle of EVOO.

Top tips: Don’t feel you must follow the recipe exactly. Throw in all the herbs you like – dill is a good addition – and almonds can be used in place of the cashews. If kept cold, this soup holds its colour and flavour really well for up to 2 days.

Serves 2

Gremolata is essentially an Italian condiment, and one made from the season’s best herbs is the perfect accompaniment to delicious burrata over asparagus. Although this takes only minutes to make, it is an indulgent starter or an easy lunch – a nice dish to have in your back pocket, so to speak.

Ingredients

• 1–2 tablespoons chopped mint or flat leaf parsley
• finely grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 10–12 asparagus spears, ends trimmed
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, plus extra to serve
• 1 ball of burrata, about 150g
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. To make the gremolata, combine the mint, lemon zest and garlic in a small bowl.
2. Place a ridged griddle pan over a high heat until very hot. Meanwhile, drizzle the asparagus with the EVOO and vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Place the spears in the hot pan in a single layer and cook for 2–4 minutes, until tender and starting to char.
3. Arrange the asparagus on a platter, place the burrata on top and spoon over the gremolata. Drizzle with EVOO and balsamic vinegar and serve immediately.

Top tips: Grill the asparagus on a barbecue or under the grill, or even roast it in a hot oven. Pep up the gremolata with some sliced fresh red chilli. Pistachios or pine nuts could be added for crunch. Try different herb combos (basil and parsley, for example) or go full chimichurri and add some oregano. The leftover pool of oil on the plate is essentially a loaded EVOO, so overload on the herbs, oil and lemon and mop up it all up with bread at the end.

Serves 4

So sweet, so jammy, so simple… roasted grapes are an easy way to jazz up a salad or cheese board. This sweet and savoury combination, which highlights the shared spaces of vines and groves, is an easy, elegant thing to put on many dishes.

Ingredients

• 1 bunch of sweet black grapes, about 500g
• 1 sprig of rosemary or thyme
• 2–3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve
• dash of balsamic vinegar
• 1 baguette or ciabatta loaf
• 1 garlic clove
• Gorgonzola, Fontina or a good goats’ cheese
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 210°C (190°C fan/410oF/Gas mark 6.).
2. Separate the grapes into small bunches and place them and the herbs on a baking tray. Drizzle with the EVOO and balsamic vinegar, then season with salt and pepper. Roast the grapes for 20–25 minutes, until they are soft and juicy.
3. Meanwhile, preheat the grill or a ridged griddle pan. Thinly slice the bread and toast each side using your preferred method.
4. Rub the garlic over the top of each slice of toast and sprinkle with the cheese. Top with a spoonful of the roasted grapes, pulled from the stem, then drizzle with the roasting juices and extra EVOO. Serve immediately.

Top tips: Place a thin slice of prosciutto or coppa on the bread before adding the cheese. You can also serve the roasted grapes with Greek yoghurt or ice cream for a fully sweet treat. You can roast the grapes ahead of time and store them in an airtight container for a couple of days, ready to spoon out when it’s time to host.

Serves 5–6

A classic dish that you’ll find in homes and tavernas across Cyprus and Greece, with roots in the Middle East and across North Africa, Turkey and the Balkans. This version comes to us from Christina Soteriou, a Cypriot chef and vegan cookbook author who specialises in plant-forward vibracy from the Levant.

Ingredients

• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 courgette, coarsely grated
• 2 tablespoons tomato purée
• 4–6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 150g short-grain rice
• 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 600ml vegetable stock
• 30g pine nuts, toasted
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon mint leaves, torn
• 3 large tomatoes
• 3 red or orange peppers
• 500g (1lb 2oz) baking potatoes
• 2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Place the onion, garlic and courgette in a saute pan, add 1 tablespoon of the tomato puree and season well with salt and pepper. Add 2–3 tablespoons of the EVOO, then stir and cook for 8–10 minutes over a medium–high heat, until the onion is soft and the courgette is starting to caramelise.
2. Add the rice to the pan, stir well to coat in the oil, and cook for about 2 minutes. This will help to seal the rice so that it doesn’t soften too much in the oven. Add the canned tomatoes and half the vegetable stock, and simmer over a low–medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add the pine nuts and the herbs, then remove from the heat.
4. Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan/350°F/Gas mark 4).
5. Cut a thin slice off the top of each fresh tomato and set aside for later. Using a teaspoon, carefully scoop out the seeds and membrane, finely chop them and add to the rice. Set the hollow tomatoes aside.
6. Slice the top off each pepper and trim the stems if they are very long. Scoop out and discard the seeds and membranes. Set aside the hollow peppers and ‘lids’ for later. Peel and chop the potatoes into large wedges.
7. Add the potatoes, tomatoes and peppers to a baking dish in which they will fit very snugly. Packing them fairly tightly will stop the peppers and tomatoes from collapsing in the oven. Stir the parsley into the rice, check the seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed. Spoon the rice into the peppers and tomatoes so that it almost spills out of the top. Cover with the reserved lids.
8. Stir the remaining tablespoon of tomato puree into the remaining vegetable stock, and carefully pour this over the peppers, tomatoes and potatoes. Drizzle with EVOO, then tightly cover the dish with foil. Bake for 1 hour, then remove the foil and cook for another 20 minutes, until the peppers and tomatoes are nicely charred and the stock has reduced into a sauce. Let the dish cool for 10 minutes before serving. (It tastes even better the next day.)

Top tips: Although this is a vegan recipe, Marianna, our producer in the Peloponnese, says that it is also often made with minced meat and topped with feta cheese. ‘The stuffed tomatoes without mince are called “orphans”!’ She also adds raisins to her recipe when she combines the tomatoes and rice. This recipe calls for a tomato knife, or one with a serrated edge.

Extracted from Drizzle by Sarah Fulton Vachon (Mitchell Beazley, £26). Photos by Ola Smit.