A lovely appetizer to make for the New Year or any time!
I learned this long ago from my friend Janet Campbell in Chapel Hill, who told me she and her Moroccan-born boyfriend ate it regularly for breakfast. As soon as she told me about it, I knew it was going to be good. In fact, I remember wondering why I hadn’t tried it myself long before that. I mean what could be bad? Great olive oil and great honey? I think it’s one of those things you could eat at almost any time of the day. Great for breakfast, excellent after dinner, superb as a snack. Putting it together is about as easy as it gets.
First, you get a white plate. It has to be white to get the full visual effect. And not too cold, either, so you don’t chill out the flavors of the oil and the honey.
Then you open a bottle of good varietal honey. Take your pick; really, any good, room-temperature, honey will work. Try the Trea Wildflower from Greece. Put a nice dollop of the honey in the middle of the plate.
Then take one of your favorite olive oils and pour a bit on the plate around the honey. I’m high on the Moulins de Mahjoub oil from Tunisia (the wonderful oil Tammie and I use at home every day) the Peranzana oil from Marina Colonna in the Molise region of Italy, or the Seka Hills olive oil from northern California. The idea is that the oil will edge its way up to the honey but not go over it. For garnish, if you’ve got ’em, take a few untoasted pine nuts and drop them onto the honey.
Now take some good crusty white bread, like the Bakehouse’s Paesano. If you’re not in a huge hurry, warm it in the oven for 10 minutes or so. Then tear off a chunk of the bread and push it through the oil and honey so you get some of each. Now eat. The combination of sweet honey and savory oil is excellent! A lovely coming together of sweet and savory, a subtle pepperiness with a kind of gentle creaminess that comes from the honey!
