Chive Oil
A Vibrant Green Oil With Equally Vibrant Flavor
- Servings: Makes 1/2 cup.
Chive oil is a common flavoring found in some of our best restaurants. Simple to make, it's a smart way to use fresh chives, especially ones found in the summer Greenmarkets. But since fresh chives are available year-round, chive oil is a quick way to turn a simple pan cooked fish or oven-baked piece of chicken into something special. Chive oil also adds color and taste to scrambled eggs, a piece of poached salmon, pan seared shrimp, or a mound of grains like farro or barley -- anything that could benefit from a drizzle of chives' onion-like fragrant flavor.
If you buy a plastic squirt bottle (they're inexpensive and easy to find in most housewares and cookware stores), you can get fancy and decorative by squeezing a squiggle of the bright green oil over or around your fish. Chive oil keeps refrigerated for up to 2 weeks. Bring it to room temperature before using.
Ingredients
- 1 bunch fresh chives
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions
- Fill a small saucepan with water and bring to a boil.
- Have ready a bowl filled with ice and cold water.
- Add the chives to the boiling water and blanch for 10 seconds. Remove immediately and plunge into the iced water to stop the cooking and retain the chives' bright green color.
- Remove from the iced water and pat completely dry using paper towels. Squeeze the chives gently so as to make sure that you've completely removed all the water.
- With a knife, cut up the chives into about 1-inch pieces and place in a blender or food processor. Add the salt.
- With the machine running, add the olive oil through the feed tube and process until completely smooth.
- Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.
- Strain through a fine meshed sieve, pressing against any solids with the back of a spoon to extract as much oil as possible.
- Transfer to a squirt bottle or other container.
