This is a beautiful example from Francesco Gomez, their Picual is vibrant, green, and packed with notes of green tomato, tomato leaf and fresh herbs. Picual is the most cultivated olive in Spain with over one million hectares planted. Often the terrible grocery store olive oils that we find are picual, overripe, fusty and rancid. This Picual could not be further from those oils, as it is picked early and pressed soon after harvest. Their large 3,500-hectare farm has over 350 hectares of olives, and they incorporate their rich deep history, along with modern-day practices to ensure every bottle is the highest quality for consumers to enjoy.
Because of the intense aromas and tomato flavour found in this Francesco Gomez Picual, it is my go-to for pasta sauces. Whether tomato, cream-based or just olive oil tossed with noodles, this oil is the perfect pairing with pasta. It’s also a favourite with scrambled eggs. Whisking two or three eggs with a few tablespoons of olive oil – be generous! and cook them up and serve with toast drizzled with this Francesco Gomez Picual too. The most delicious breakfast and only three ingredients. For even more ideas to use this delicious picual, there are 50 recipes in my Spanish olive oil cookbook.
