What a christening party Laura Dalrymple and Grant Hilliard and their amazing Feather and Bone team gave our first-ever release of Novello extra virgin olive oil.
They launched the oil with a seven course feast for 120 last night at their Sydney warehouse in Rozelle featuring a pig on a spit, goat roasted in the wood-fired oven and, of course, the novello oil. The warehouse was transformed for the night with the aid of a lot of white drapes and coloured lights from a big, grungy warehouse, where everyone sat at long tables and the gorgeous food and wine set the tone.
Novello, or Nuovo, is just-crushed, unfiltered oil in it's raw state before it matures and settles in tanks over the winter months to become the olive oil with which we're all familiar. It's an untamed, frisky young thing with a distinctive pungency, vitality and fruity quality that should be used lavishly and within three months of pressing. It's hard to find, but if you can it's a real treat, something they understand in Italy where the annual tasting of the oil taken immediately off the first press is a great ritual for food lovers.
We hand-picked our still-green frantoio and leccino varieties for a limited run of 150 litres which we shipped in 50lt tanks straight from the Diana Olives olive press in Willunga, SA, to Feather and Bone. Five chefs cooked with it for the dinner and everyone had a 50ml bottle to take home. What a line-up of chefs! ALASDAIR MCKENNA most recently head chef at Tabou...ALEX KEARNS exec chef at Glebe Point Diner and Neutral Bay Bar and Dining…MARTA GARRIGA SANROMA head chef and owner of pica pica catering…MICHAEL McEnearney ex-exec chef at Rockpool and now Mike’s Table.
Feather and Bone are selling the novello decanted on demand into beautiful bottles which are corked and sealed by the amazing Laura. It’s a true privilege to be working with Feather and Bone. They’ve built a family of sustainable farmers whose produce they sell directly to their customers. Grant and his team butcher the meat at their Rozelle warehouse and they offer both a home delivery or collection service. To find out more or subscribe to their newsletter: www.featherandbone.com.au
