Tree To Table: Cooking With Australian Olive Oil

For Patrice Newell, olive oil is a gift from the earth. Its origins are ancient, its uses manifold and its flavours sublime. It can turn an ordinary meal into a feast and bring out the connoisseur in all of us.

This passion is shared by the twenty cooks and chefs who have contributed their favourite recipes to this glorious book on the culinary pleasures of Australian olive oil. Stephanie Alexander bakes crisp, golden bread and Maggie Beer perfects an oil-moistened apple cake. Tony Bilson anoints a rich fish stock and Damien Pignolet dresses delicious French salads. Kylie Kwong shows how the heady tastes of traditional Chinese food can benefit from a generous drizzle of the good oil. Patrice takes us on a journey through the olive groves of Australia, arguing for local oil over imported oil. She teaches us how to identify good oil and recognise the evils of rancidity. She invites us into the kitchen of her Hunter valley homestead, in the midst of a 6000-tree olive grove, and introduces us to the basics: marinades, dressings, mayonnaise, winter soups, summer salads, infusions and sweet treats. She pauses to tell us of the benefits of good fat, the dangers of unsustainable farming and the indignities of many manufactured foods.

Beautifully photographed by Simon Griffiths, Tree to Table will inspire you to make a bottle of Australian olive oil the focus of your cooking and the centrepiece of your table.