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The Drizzle: Volume 5

September 20262 min readBy Demosthenes Hickling
The Drizzle: Volume 5

It's hot, and in these summer months you do what you can to avoid the midday sun and not stray too far from the beach. But there is still work to be done. My uncle Christos is still tending the fields, checking on the trees, monitoring olive growth, and cutting down the undergrowth around them. The olives have now matured, growing from tiny green dots on the branches into young olives. The weather has been favourable, staying hot and dry, keeping disease from growing on the trees.

My grandmother's roast pepper salad was a staple in our house every summer. After a slow morning and a swim in the sea, my sisters and I would be called inside for lunch. We were met with a mouth-watering meal usually consisting of some sort of meat, rice, a Greek salad, and, if we were lucky, these red peppers on the side. When I asked my grandmother what the secret behind them was, I was shocked to find that it consisted of only three ingredients. Sweet red pepper, vinegar, and, of course, good olive oil.
The steps are just as simple. First, place the whole red peppers on the bottom of the oven - you can do this while cooking the main dish - and leave them until charred. Take them out and leave them to cool. Once cool enough to touch, peel the peppers and deseed them. Finally, put them in a bowl or Tupperware, then generously drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and refrigerate until needed. You can also make a big batch all at once so you can have it as a side for every meal. Olive oil acts as a natural preservative, so the peppers can stay delicious all week.
This past month, we spotted none other than James Martin using our oil! James Martin is one of the nation's favourite chefs and a huge advocate for quality ingredients and produce. As presenter of some of the most popular cooking shows on TV, including James Martin's Saturday Morning, it means a lot that he used our olive oil during a demo at the Jempsons Food and Drink Festival. It feels like a massive pat on the back for us, something we always hoped for when we launched DIMOS just over a year ago. It just proves we are onto something.
D

Demosthenes Hickling

From Kalamata with Love

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