An Olio Nuovo Feast with evanhealy

The crew from evanhealy came out a couple of weeks ago to visit the farm and learn how we make our oil. They walked the orchard, watched the mill run, and saw paste turn to bright green oil. Lunch followed the same logic. Straightforward food, warm bowls, and nothing competing with the new oil. A harvest meal works when everything is simple and built to carry fresh oil.

Start with hummus. Cook garbanzos until they collapse. Blend them with lemon, garlic, tahini, and salt until the texture is absolutely smooth. Taste. Adjust. Move it to a shallow bowl and wait to finish it with oil.

For baba ganouj, put whole eggplants under the broiler until the skins turn black and the insides slump. Peel while warm. Spin the flesh in a salad spinner to get rid of extra moisture. Blend lemon, garlic, and salt together then fold the mix into the eggplant with tahini using a fork. Keep the texture loose and soft, not uniform. Plate in a shallow bowl, then a generous pour of Olio Nuovo.

Set up the white beans in the morning. Cover Marcela beans with water and a tablespoon of salt. Add a whole yellow onion, finely diced. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and add thyme and tarragon. Leave the pot on a quiet simmer while you move through the farm.

Polenta was an easy add on. An instant pot makes quick work of it.

Tomatoes go in a foil lined pan with thyme, garlic, and a good amount of oil. Air fry at 325 until the skins wrinkle and the juice concentrates. They should slump when you press them with a spoon.

Last was a simple plate with feta. Crumble it. Cover with chopped parsley. Pour oil over the top until it pools slightly around the edges.

Serve everything family style. Keep the Olio Nuovo at the table so each bite gets its own hit of neon green. The meal should feel like the mill: active, immediate, nothing wasted.