Pancakes Drizzled with Maple Syrup & Walnut Oil
Olive oil is a wonderful oil to have on hand for dressing salads, drizzling on breads, tossing with pasta, finishing fish, etc. So is walnut oil and hazelnut oil and sesame oil and peanut oil and lots of other oils that we tend to overlook. (Pistachio oil, macadamia nut oil, pumpkinseed oil…okay, I’ll stop now.) Point is, if you’re shopping somewhere that offers lots of different oils, you may want to try out new flavors on various dishes. In this case, I topped off my pancakes with walnut oil instead of butter — the rich, nutty oil blends beautifully with the maple. Walnut oil also tastes great on deeply-flavored salads (think baby spinach leaves with dried cherries and goat cheese) and on medium-fleshed fish garnished with fruit (try rainbow trout with orange slices).
If you’re going to add butter or olive oil to a dish, it’s fun to take a literal step back, look at your ingredients, consider the dish’s origins — pinenut or avocado oil would be a great addition to a Mexican salad, for example — and then choose your oil accordingly. Just remember two things: cold-pressed, unrefined oils have maximum flavor and canNOT handle high heat, so use the oil to finish the dish rather than cook it (i.e., swirl a few drops of sesame oil into your Asian soup after you’ve ladled it into individual bowls); and once you’ve gotten your new oil home, be sure to store it properly. This is all the more crucial if you enjoy using a variety of oils — it’ll take you several months to use them all and you want them to be as fresh as possible.
The best way to determine how to store your oils is to look at the fat breakdown on the back of the label. If the predominant type of fat is polyunsaturated, store that oil in the refrigerator (take a look at flaxseed, sesame, and/or walnut to see what I mean). If the predominant type of fat is monounsaturated (like olive oil), store it in the refrigerator if you don’t think you’ll use it within 6 months. Refrigeration can only help, not hurt, but be aware that monounsaturated oils will be semi-hard in the refrigerator. (I keep my olive oil in a dark, cool cupboard for ease of use and because I know that I’ll blow through a bottle in a month or two.) If the oil is predominantly saturated (coconut oil, ghee, palm), you can leave it out or refrigerate it — saturated fats are very stable and will last a long time either way. Refrigeration will turn saturated fats rock-hard, so again, it’s up to you and how you like to use your oils. See “Properties of Oils” for more information on the health impact of oils and fats.
Happy cooking!
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Tags: hazelnut oil, macadamia nut oil, olive oil, pancakes, peanut oil, pistachio oil, pumpkinseed oil, salad dressing, sesame oil, walnut oil
