Fresh, good quality extra virgin olive oil is a relatively new idea for many people when it comes to the thanksgiving table. With Thanksgiving on its way, the culinary uses and applications for olive oil during this traditional holiday is limitless. There isn’t a better time to get inspired by new ways to utilize olive oil in your kitchen than this year’s feast and put the old staple butter aside!
Family traditions reign over the Thanksgiving table. Age old family recipes take center stage for the holiday spread. Most cooks would prefer not to risk changing age old traditions and recipes but certainly there’s room for some subtle twists and improvements. Extra virgin olive oils can actually elevate the tastes of traditional thanksgiving dishes from their typical thick buttery taste.
A good EVOO can take traditional thanksgiving dishes and enhance the ingredients with a range of flavours and aromas. Butter can be heavy and can often disguise or over power the natural subtleties of the ingredients you are using, while olive oil can actually work with your ingredients and complement/accentuate the flavours in a pleasant way.
No thanksgiving afternoon is complete without pre dinner appetizers! They provide the perfect opportunity to prime those palates before the big event. My family loves to get together earlier in the day; we serve chopped vegetables to dip in olive oil and balsamic and we make a good hummus. Check out any of our Olive~Me & Co Hummus recipes
Every holiday needs a good warmed wheel of brie drizzled in one of our fruit flavoured balsamic vinegars with roasted pecans. Followed by a good crostini topped with one of our Sutterbuttes gourmet olive tapenades to stave off those hunger pains; while smelling the aromas of the cooking turkey!
Mashed potatoes is the perfect Thanksgiving dish that can be enhanced by getting rid of the butter and using olive oil. Some of our favorite olive oils for mashed potatoes are Olive~Me & Co Italian Herb, Roasted Garlic, Rosemary, Butter flavoured or just a nice plain buttery EVOO such as our Arbequina. I particularly like a nice plain olive oil on sweet potatoes and butternut squash. Split your butternut squash in half, seed and place on a cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil and bake until tender. Take them out of the oven, peel the skins, drizzle with olive oil and add spices, salt, pepper, cinnamon and brown sugar. Alternatively try our Roasted Butternut Squash with Olive~Me & Co Pumpkin Pie Balsamic Vinegar recipe.
Olive oil is a perfect partner when paired with seasonal vegetables for thanksgiving. There is nothing like an olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette for your Thanksgiving salad. You can also experiment with a variety of olive oil based vinaigrettes mixed with our Rosato wine vinegar as well as our gourmet Sutter Buttes mustards and herbs.
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Olive~Me & Co Dressing
- 1 rounded tablespoon of mustard
- 1 ½ tablespoons Olive~Me & Co Rosé Balsamic Vinegar or Lambrusco Wine Vinegar
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- Salt
- freshly ground pepper
- ½ cup Olive~Me & Co extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small garlic clove
In a small bowl, combine the mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Whisk in the oil. Peel the clove of garlic and crush, keeping the garlic clove intact. Place in the dressing and allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes. Remove from the dressing before serving.
Alternatively, if you prefer a coleslaw instead of a green salad with your Thanksgiving meal, check out Olive~Me & Co’s Southwestern Slaw recipe.
If opting to sauté your vegetables, choose our butter flavoured olive oil to complement your veggies. The higher smoke point of olive oil and the flavour of butter give you the best of both worlds, especially if you’re a bit apprehensive of forgoing the butter flavour in your meal. I also suggest tossing roasted vegetables with any of our plain or herbed olive oils and adding salt and pepper for a simple yet flavourful dish. If you want to add a twist and increase your presentation use one of our dipping oils like Parmesan or Tuscan Herb to toss your veggies with.
Green beans or Brussels sprouts anyone? These are a staple at my thanksgiving table; the more vegetables the better! I simply boil the Brussels sprouts to soften them a bit, slice them into sections and then sauté in a peppery strong EVOO like our Olive~Me & Co House Blend and sprinkle with sea salt or seasoning salt. My green beans, I steam for a minimal amount of time so they still have a bit of crunch and toss in a mild extra virgin like mission or Arbequina. A nice fruity EVOO will increase their taste and flavour! Or you could do a family favorite like green bean casserole.
Dessert doesn’t even get bypassed by our wonderful olive oils and balsamic vinegars either! From pies to ice cream to fresh fruit with our aged balsamic drizzled over top. Thanksgiving flavours and aromas of pumpkin and apple pies tempt even those guests with the fullest tummies. What better way to bake than with a great olive oil instead of butter. Most of our customers don’t think about using olive oil in their baked goods. The flavor of olives in a mild or light olive oil will not be detected in your baking and the fruitiness of the oil will complement the other flavours in your desserts. When making your sweets or pie crust substitute a mild olive oil for butter and use about 1/4 less than the amount of butter you would normally use, so for every cup of butter use ¾ cup of olive oil (cooking conversions are on our site). Any of our beautiful aged balsamics are wonderful drizzled over an excellent plain vanilla ice cream or drizzled over apple or pumpkin pie.
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The Main Event!
During the holidays, turkeys are often a challenge for the amateur home chef in addition to delivering a perfect turkey to their guests! But olive oil offers numerous ways to help turn this dry bird into a moist delectable treat for the Thanksgiving dinner table.
A thanksgiving favorite, deep fried turkey – Can I use olive oil to deep fry my turkey?
The simple answer is that there might be a noticeable, subtle difference, but probably not worth the expense in my opinion. That is a lot of olive oil! Save your extra virgin olive oil when its flavour will matter more to the final product. If you really want to experiment though, deep frying is typically done in oil heated to 350 degrees, so you will still be safely below the smoke point of olive oil.
For most at home chefs, roasting your turkey is the best way to prepare your Thanksgiving dinner. Olive~Me & Co Extra virgin olive oils and flavoured olive oils can be used in a variety of ways to infuse the turkey with lots of flavour.
Put your hand under the skin and next to the breast meat, separating the skin from the meat. Generously add olive oil to the area between the meat and the skin, some of our favorite oils to use for this is our plain Arbequina, Butter flavoured, Italian Herb, Roasted Garlic, White Truffle, Rosemary, Basil or our new Shallot olive oil. You can even arrange sage leaves in a pattern that will show through as the skin cooks and becomes transparent; or your choice of any herb mixture to add extra flavour to the bird. Rub the turkey with olive oil. For extra flavour, combine the olive oil with dried herbs (sage, thyme or poultry seasoning blend) , salt, black pepper, and crushed garlic before rubbing on the turkey.
Second, slather the outside of the skin with olive oil and sprinkle with salt before placing in the oven to roast. Continue to baste throughout the roasting process. This method will ensure a crackling, crisp skin and happy guests.
Once you have taken your turkey out of the oven, drizzle the fresh EVOO over the platter to increase aromas and presentation.
Also, try our Herbed Roasted Turkey recipe.
When it comes to the stuffing, nothing makes a stuffing more moist then using olive oil instead of butter in your recipe. Try and of our herbed olive oils, white truffle or our Arbequina to knock your stuffing out of the park.
Try my grandma’s stuffing recipe with an Olive~Me & Co twist!
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Some Staff Tips:
Save your giblets and neck to make a fresh gravy, it’s fun to add sliced mushrooms to your gravy
Poke very small holes in the turkey skin to place olive oil and herbs underneath if you don’t like the separation method
An every-day olive oil will work perfectly to coat the turkey such as Olive~Me & Co.’s Arbequina
Flavoured olive oil can also be used.
We even have your thanksgiving turkey sandwiches covered. Try our Turkey and Brie Sandwich Recipe drizzled with a little of our dark cranberry balsamic, white cranberry pear balsamic, dark green apple balsamic, or our white apple balsamic.
The possibilities are endless this time of year, Happy Cooking! Pour on the olive oil and let your creative culinary juices flow!
