Why ladera need extra virgin olive oil
Ladera consists of vegetables, plain or stuffed, cooked in a sauce with tomato, onion, garlic and olive oil and usually does not contain meat.
New food trends around the world show a shift towards vegetables, the Mediterranean diet and a reduction in meat consumption. Long before these trends were born abroad, in Greece there were olive oil dishes. Typical dishes of our country’s cuisine – and of the Mediterranean diet in general – based on vegetables, extra virgin olive oil and – very often – tomatoes. Of course, olive oil dishes are also wonderfully combined with meat and fish, which are enhanced by the aromas of vegetables, herbs and olive oil.
What happens when extra virgin olive oil meets seasonal vegetables? Dishes full of flavour but also rich in nutrients, ideal for a proper diet. Although many consider them summer dishes, we prepare oil dishes all year round, depending on the ingredients we find at the grocery store. Eggplant, green beans and zucchini in summer, spinach and cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower in winter. To these we often add potatoes, carrots and herbs, while tomatoes are almost an integral part of all these dishes, “marrying” the vegetables with extra virgin olive oil. Imam bailey, briam, braised beans, okra, stuffed beans, kale rice and spanakorizo are some examples of dishes that are typical of our local cuisine. And of course our most famous dish, moussaka, is one of the most famous dishes of the region.
The secret to successful oil dishes is the amount of olive oil both during cooking and at the end, just before serving.
Apart from the delicious result, olive oil dishes are healthy solutions for our daily table. The polyphenols from extra virgin olive oil, antioxidants and fibre from the vegetables are combined with the lycopene from the tomatoes, giving us very important nutrients in a single dish. What we should note, of course, is that although the oils are healthy, that doesn’t mean we can eat them without sparingly. In order for them to be rich in flavour, a large quantity of extra virgin olive oil is required. And this is what gives them all their flavour, but adds a lot of calories.
Source: olivemagazine.gr
