Grocery List: Primo DOP Extra Virgin Olive Oil

I am a firm believer in the idea that the ingredients you use in your kitchen contribute a great deal to cooking and living well. After all, everybody knows that a strawberry is not a strawberry is not a strawberry. There's a huge difference between the huge, largely tasteless orbs you see prepackaged in grocery stores in the dead of winter and the small, misshapen, ruby red, spectacularly tasty strawberries that are cropping up at the farmers' markets right around now. Same goes for almost any sort of food, from asparagus spears to good salt. Quality counts. And when it comes to things you put into your body, you should always, always go for the best possible things you can afford. Hence, the launch of this new category of posts, in which I'll show you some of my personal favorite ingredients that have won a permanent place in my heart and in my pantry. You like? Let me know in the comments below.

First up is this remarkable olive oil. I discovered it during a pasta-making class I took at Eataly, when I noticed that the chef was using loads of the stuff on every delicious thing coming off his stove. When I asked what kind of oil it was, he told me that it's the olive oil that is used in all prepared foods in Eataly and at all of their exemplary restaurants. He then launched into an impassioned diatribe on it's remarkable qualities. Primo DOP Extra Virgin Olive Oil is made from organic Tonda Iblea olives in Chiaramonte Gulfi, north of Ragusa in southern Sicily. It's won distinguished food awards up and down the country, and it's easy to see why. This oil is really good. Sweet and bitter and spicy and just all around delicious--I find myself buying bread whenever I have the chance just so I can go home and dip little pieces in pools of it sprinkled with some sea salt.

The best part? As far as olive oils go, the price falls neatly in the middle at about $37 for a bottle that will last you a good, long while. You can buy it HERE. Let me know what you think! Picture by Mark Iantosca. xo