Whenever I find a dish is missing something, what it's missing, more often than not, is olive oil. Not in the dish, necessarily, but on it.
Finishing a dish with a good olive oil (the key word here is good) isn't a new concept. But many home cooks finish a soup with a drizzle of the stuff and stop there. Me? I've been adding olive oil's fruity, peppery flavor to everything.
Take simple scrambled eggs. I scramble the eggs in olive oil instead of butter, and once they're piled on a plate, on goes a drizzle of olive oil, a little freshly ground pepper, and grated Parmesan. Suddenly my eggs are restaurant-worthy (after all, I learned the trick from my favorite New York City spot, Buvette).
And after breakfast? I keep going. I drizzle olive oil on grilled steak and roast chicken, poached fish, pasta, and risotto. I pile nuts, seeds, and veggies over yogurt and finish with a glug of oil. And I drizzle it over sweet things too. Trust me here—you'll forget all about hot fudge after trying olive oil over vanilla ice cream.
Olive oil also loves chocolate. Try a little over mousse, a dense tart, or even just a few good-quality pieces of dark chocolate sprinkled with a bit of flaky sea salt.
In short, I drizzle olive oil—a dose of richness, body, flavor, and overall luxuriousness—over almost everything. And that's why I advocate for having at least two olive oils on hand at all times—a big jug for sautéing and roasting, and the best oil you can afford for finishing. Yes, finishing oils can give a shopper sticker shock sometimes—but it's a small price to pay for never feeling like your dish is missing something again.
