I attended the Real Food Festival this month (as I have done since it begun). And as always happens there is more there I want to buy than my bags will allow. This year I also took my camera. I want to highlight a few of the products I did successfully capture. The first is Avlaki olive oil. The oils are single estate, organic, unfiltered and from the 2010/11 harvest. The estates are located on the Greek island of Lesvos and owned by Natalie Wheen and Deborah MacMillan. There were two oils that caught my attention: the first from the Agatherí groves, at 600m above sea level (‘mountain oil’) and the second from the Avlaki groves, just above sea level. I opted for a bottle of the Agatherí estate oil (but would have bought both if I had had a donkey to assist with the carrying). It’s a lovely, peppery but very light olive oil. By way of example, I drizzled some over a tomato, mozzarella and herb salad.
The salad is very simply to prepare. I found a good selection of tomato varieties at one of the two fruit and vegetable stalls in Oxford’ Covered Market; sliced them; sprinkled with sea salt; added slices of Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP purchased from the Oxford Cheese Shop (just opposite the vegetable stall); sprinkled with roughly chopped or torn fresh herbs from the garden (parsley, oregano, chives), and drizzled with the Avlaki olive oil.