OLIVE HARVEST COOKBOOK GEB: Olive Oil Lore and Recipes from McEvoy Ranch - Tapa dura

In 1992 Nan McEvoy planted the first olive tree seedlings on her ranch in Northern California. Today McEvoy Ranch is renowned for their high quality extra-virgin olive oil and is one of the few California olive oil producers to hold organic certification. Also producing lavender and honey, and maintaining an extensive kitchen garden, the ranch has developed into a culinary paradise, replete with heirloom vegetables and fruits, grazing sheep, and olive groves as far as the eye can see. With this abundance of ingredlents, ranch chef Gerald Gass has more raw materials than any good cook would need to create more than 70 recipes combining extra virgin olive oil with the best the garden has to offer. Comforting soups of winter squash with honey and sage; hearty pasta dishes with olives and tomatoes; savoury pork tenderloin flavoured with red cherries and spices; crunchy lemon biscotti; these recipes are simple to prepare and take center stage at any meal. Introductory material tells the fascinating story of how McEvoy Ranch came to be and how olives and olive oil came to California. Splendid photographs of the olive groves, gardens, and recipes bring the Nan's dream to life and offers a visual tour through one of the most beautiful working ranches in the West.

Gerald Gass is a graduate of the California Culinary Academy. He worked at Square One in San Francisco and Catahoula in Calistoga, California before becoming chef at McEvoy Ranch. He lives with his family in nearby Sonoma County. Jacqueline Mallorca is the author, co-author, or editor of many cookbooks. She lives in the Bay Area. Maren Caruso is a San Francisco-based photographer whose work also appears in The New Complete Coffee Book (0-8118-2867-0). Joyce Goldstein, chef, author, and teacher, is an acknowledged expert on both Jewish and Mediterranean cooking, as revealed in such books as Enoteca (0-8118-2825-5) and her unprecedented exploration of Jewish cuisine from the diaspora begun in Cucina Ebra