Category Archives: olive oil

Dec31

End of a decade.

Posted on December 31, 2019 by larosilla

How did that happen, whoosh and the teens be gone, hello roaring Twenties .

Two Drakies have flown the nest, graduated, Passed out, now striving and ambitiously setting out at the start of their careers. Baby Drakie (aka Bright Shining One.) now studying hard and down off the mountain in the city of Malaga. Subjects above my head, Latin, Ancient Greek amongst others, philosophy that battles my brain, but I’m fascinated to hear about and give my point of view.

Hard to imagine when we packed up our bags 16 years ago, with 3 young blondies in tow, for a rural life in a different country, back of beyond second on the right, that they could have such a protected, idylisitc childhood, building dens, climbing trees, dancing flamenco, playing golf yet still are go getters, hard workers and wanting to rock the world. Did I say opinionated ? Yes very, all very different, that makes life even more colourful, and our rare reunions, boisterous, hectic and crazy but I wouldn’t have any other way.

Life on the mountain continues to evolve, challenges of rural living still test us. The season and weather patterns are becoming more muddled, first almond blossom spotted this week, so, so early, we pray for no extreme overnight low tempertaures to protect the blooms and promise a healthy harvest in the Autumn. Olives too were picked by most earlier than norm, we were not prepared, or should I say too busy, earning a crust & cooking paella to harvest ours. Our olives are still hanging precariously to the trees and we hope for a little while longer until we can plan the time and the mill to harvest.

Beuracracy has been bewildering with the much debated, argued and distressing Brexit that looms over us, I won’t get political, but will just say we were grateful that we and our children could make the choice to live and work with open European borders. We hope we have done all that is necessary to safeguard ourselves against the impending future and long may we live at La Rosilla.

I”m absolutely overwhelmed and delighted at the amount of intrepid travellers that have visited us at La Rosilla, to cook with us, dine with and make happy memories. Never have I ever cooked so many Arroces (Paella to you and me, but have to be PC), poured so much sherry, chatted over tapas, nor shared so many anecdotal tales of our life on a mountain.

I achieved my goal to trek down at sunrise from the temple in the foothills of the Himalayas through the jungle in India, down to Rishikesh, which was the end of my Indian adventure with friends. An expedition that will be etched in my mind forever. I achieved my 1000 mile challenge for the 3rd year and I’m ready and eager for my 4th year at the challenge, I recommend to anyone, get your boots on, get walking, feel the difference, one step at a time.

So as I embark on a new decade I will continue to chase sunrises, sunsets, walk and walk some more and encourage others to build bigger tables not fences.

Much love, happy cooking, & remember stop, stand and stare, and from my family to yours, hope your Twenties are fantastic.

Jul3

Time to chill !

Posted on July 3, 2018 by larosilla

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One way to cool down, in the high summer temperatures is to enjoy a glass or bowl full of chilled Gazpacho. I keep a glass jug in the fridge to let flavours develop, and enjoy as and when. Healthy, revitalising and rehydrating, perfect for an alfresco lunch.

There are many varieties and personal touches and changes people make to their recipes, using the abundance of fresh local and homegrown produce ensures a perfect result every time. Adding our own organic Extra, virgin, olive oil always makes me smile, a slug or two of aged sherry vinegar adds piquancy, together with fresh picked herbs, basil and mint are my go to’s.

In my recipe I made today I add watermelon, these a being sold pile high by the roadsides in Andalucia at the moment,

Stay cool too and try it out here: WATERMELON GAZPACHO FROM LA ROSILLA

Dec5

Elixir de La Rosilla

Posted on December 5, 2017 by larosilla

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I’m proud to present our first Cold Pressed, Single Estate, Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

14 years back when we moved to La Rosilla, we were unquestionably wet behind the ears, and surely wearing, rose-shaded specs 😉 purchasing a little ‘Finca’ in the mountains, with 600 sq meters of Olive and almond groves planted or should I say clutching to the steep slants, trees that had not be cared for, pruned or looked after for a very long time.

Over the following years we’ve learned the hard way, trial and error and trusting perhaps a little too much on not quite so generous locals (who I’m pleased to say are far and few between) who definitely took advantage of our naivety. Most years our olives have been picked by a young couple of burly boys, we share the crop, they take to the Cooperative, and then deliver us some oil, all’s good :).

A couple of years ago, our trees were bare, no crop, no oil – they needed TLC, then came along our saviour ‘Angel‘ – he has guided us in their care, helped us prune, rake and look after the land, all hard hands-on work, but very necessary to maintain the trees and ensure their production for years to come and for future generations of our family.

In the 14 years on the land, we have never used any chemicals our animals have helped greatly over the years, fertilising naturally. Last winter we gave the trees an extreme prune, and they repaid us greatly with ladened branches of beautiful olives. They only downfall this year or lack it was no rain, no rain at all. This meant our normal harvest time was brought forward a few months, as we couldn’t risk the olives dropping with lack of water. The benefit of cropping early does give a better quality of oil, even if the yield is less.

This year we had planned our own pressing, to ensure we had our own single estate oil, so the Mill was booked and we had 3 days to harvest. Up at dawn and worked till dusk, back and arm breaking work, laying nets and bashing trees with long poles. Each tree took approximately 1 hour to harvest, and we soon got into a rhythm and method that suited us. As the olives laid in their nets, we then, by hand sieved out the leaf and twig debris, before bagging in large sacks.