Cooking with Olive Oil

The olive tree was first used in 8th millennium BC. The native people picked wild olives and turned them into oil by using an 'olive presser'. This particular oil can be used for either cooking or marinating.

Tip one: For cooking

• Olive oil is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, medicine, soaps and fuel. Most people use olive oil to cook poultry and sea food, but you can expand its use for anything you please.

Olive oil must always be used in small amounts for two reasons; as if it is used in vast amounts it would not be considered a healthier option in comparison to other oils; another reason is that this particular oil expands in particle size when heated so you can get double the amount you put in.

Adding fresh parsley to your oil while lightly heating is a great way to start off a dish before preparing it, or you could drizzle it on top of your meal while it is cooking in the oven or grill to keep it moist.

Tip two: For marinating

• Marinating means adding a sauce like mixer (containing a liquid, herbs and a range of spices) to meat or vegetables before it is prepared, this process allows you to add more flavour into the meal than would be possible if you just added the spices whilst cooking or even after.

This is where the use of oil becomes useful.

 For example if you mix some powdered ginger to some olive oil with a splash of red wine and maybe some garlic you could spread this into a chicken breast and on top of it and leave it for a while, you would discover that it tastes a lot fuller than it would if you had simply added these ingredients to the meal whilst cooking it. A good trick for marinating is to add liquid to the meat or vegetables then leave it for at least twenty-four hours before cooking.

This will help you add more zest to your cooking with the use of olive oil.