Today I welcome back the olive oil hunter, TJ Robinson. And we have a fun episode for you today! You probably remember TJ from previous episodes, though we are shifting gears a bit. TJ will teach us how to select the best olive oil for your recipes, and will walk Merily and me through a recipe demo, featuring the best, hand selected olive oil in the world. And we will check in with TJ about how this olive oil hunter has pivoted while his travel has been grounded this year.
More about TJ Robinson:
T.J. Robinson is one of the world’s most respected authorities on all matters olive oil.
Known for his “platinum palate,” he is one of the few Americans invited to serve as a judge in prestigious Italian olive oil tasting competitions.
He is dedicated to importing rare fresh-pressed olive oil, the most flavorful and most healthful extra virgin olive oil on the planet, until now virtually impossible to obtain year-round in the US. All his oils are independently lab tested and certified for 100% purity.
- Episode #295 with TJ Robinson
- Episode #308 with TJ Robinson
- Get Pompa Olive Oil here: PompaOliveOil.com
- CytoDetox: total detoxification support where it matters most – at the cellular level.
- Dr. Pompa's Beyond Fasting – now released!
- CytoDefend
- Fastonic
TJ's Famous Vinaigrette Recipe:
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1 small clove garlic, peeled and finely minced
6 tablespoons fresh-pressed extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Our favorite flavor additions (optional; choose one or more):Chopped fresh herbs; honey; Dijon mustard; red or white wine vinegar; balsamic vinegar; finely grated aged cheese; minced shallots; crushed red pepper; anchovy paste.
Combine the ingredients in bowl and whisk until the vinaigrette is emulsified. Taste for acid balance. If needed, add oil or honey or vinegar as desired.
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Transcript:
Dr. Pompa:
All right, the olive oil master, the Olive Oil Hunter himself, TJ is back, but this one’s different. This one’s different. Of course, we educate you about the benefits of olive oil, but I’m in the kitchen with my wife Merily. We are making a recipe, well, with TJ’s help. There’s still some amazing education in there and some really funny moments. I think you’re going to enjoy the recipe, but I think you’re going to enjoy the whole show. This one’s very special. You have to view it. Stay tuned to CellTV.
Ashley:
Hello, everyone. Welcome to Cellular Healing TV. I’m Ashley Smith. Today we welcome back the Olive Oil Hunter, TJ Robinson, and we have a really fun episode for you today. We’re shifting gears a bit, and TJ will teach us how to select the best olive oil for your recipes. He, Dr. Pompa, and Merily are going to demo a recipe featuring the best hand-selected olive oil in the world, and we’d love to hear about how this Olive Oil Hunter has pivoted while his travel has been grounded in this past year. I can’t wait to get started and watch this recipe in action, so let’s welcome TJ Robinson, Dr. Pompa, Merily, and enjoy. Welcome, guys!
TJ Robinson:
Thank you. Thank you, Ashley, for the always great intro. Nice to see you guys. Happy New Year!
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, it is a new year and a new scene. We’re in my kitchen, right? I can tell you, TJ, we’ve never done an episode from my kitchen, and we have the queen herself. We call her the matriarch in our family.
Merily:
No, I’m the queen of the one-pot meal.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, she has a reputation, TJ, the queen of the one-pot meal. I’m not kidding. That’s her reputation.
Merily:
This qualifies.
Dr. Pompa:
This qualifies, yeah, right. That’s good.
TJ Robinson:
No, I love it. I mean, we’re going to teach people a couple quick things today, but really, they are vital to—moving into the new year, there are small changes you can make in your life that just have incredible impact. Obviously, upgrading your oil and changing your oil but also teaching people how to incorporate that in their lives is my mission as the Olive Oil Hunter. Italy has just celebrated the best harvest of olives in the last ten years, so we are just coming up with some very amazing recipes using fresh-pressed olive oil direct from the harvest. Anyway, I know you’ve been on set, so I know you guys…
Dr. Pompa:
I have to say, I mean, I—that was actually said in the intro, but it was one my questions I had for you is, with COVID, I mean, what are you doing? I mean, you are the Olive Oil Hunter and travel the world. I still get your posts, and it looks like you’re traveling. We travel a lot. I’m not going to—look, we haven’t been slowed down because we have a purpose and a mission. What have you been doing? How has it affected the olive oil world?
TJ Robinson:
Yeah, no, it’s a fantastic question. I have spent so many years on the road visiting with my producers, every season being there at the time of harvest. Olives are fruit, and every season is different. Olive trees produce way more fruit one year and the next year a low crop yield and then the next year a lot more fruit. They were really lucky this year, for example, in Italy to have a really great harvest, and it really hurt my heart that I couldn’t be there with them. Unfortunately, I was unable to travel into the European Union.
Because of these very deep relationships I have and also boots on the ground, my sources that I use to help me find out who has the best crop of the year—and I’ve been doing this for about over a decade where my contacts on the ground say you know what? This year, Central Italy, forget about it. You need to go to Sicily. In Sicily, they’re having amazing fruit. The climate there has been beautiful for olive production. [Ducho Maroto], my Italian olive oil milling friend and consultant, he has been tasting with me side by side for almost a decade. He is an Italian, so he knows my palate, knows it well. DHL, UPS, they’ve really done a great job of overnighting me samples from the groves. It’s been a really interesting time, FaceTime, a lot of FaceTime.
Dr. Pompa:
You know what? I was just doing a video not that long ago, and I said, people, to get your oil, pompaoliveoil.com. We make it simple for everybody, and it hasn’t changed. You always do a special offer for my people, and I appreciate that. You have sent us these three oils. I guess you’re going to use one of them in this, but I’ll let you at least speak to these three into the regions. Look, I grew up in an Italian family, and Merily actually…
Merily:
Did not.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, but you did have an Italian in her family that made the dressing that—she always talks about Aunt Patty’s dressing to this day.
Merily:
Yeah, my Cousin Warren’s mom makes an amazing salad dressing.
Dr. Pompa:
It was based on a lot of these same ingredients, at least that I can see.
Merily:
I need to grab the oregano, actually. That’s the one thing she uses a lot of in it.
Dr. Pompa:
Anyway, so this is a staple. You can make this. You can make a lot of things because it applies to so many things, obviously salad, but even beyond that, chicken, whatever. That’s your message with this—what we’re going to show today.
TJ Robinson:
Absolutely, I mean, bottled dressings—and you can speak to this. You’re the health expert, not me. I’m the taste guy. The ingredient list on the bottle of store-bought dressing is just arm length long, and you can’t understand. What are all these gums in there, stabilizers, horrible health depleting fats? It’s a serious situation because they’ve had to make them over time shelf stable. Really, a vinaigrette is—at its very least, if you keep it very simple, is just vinegar and oil like what you grew up with, Merily. Now, of course, there are additions so depending on what you’re making.
Yes, you can absolutely use vinaigrette as a marinade, so think about that when you’re—if you have this vinaigrette, this all-purpose vinaigrette that we’re going to make together. You have it in the fridge, and you thaw out some chicken breasts, for example. You can take a couple tablespoons of that and place on the chicken breasts and marinate that for a couple hours before you actually grill it or whatever, roast it, and it’ll really just pop the flavor. You’ve got great acid in there, which helps break down the fibers of the protein. You’ve got fat in there that gives a great flavor. Then depending on the additions we add into it, those just are flavor enhancers.
Yeah, I definitely want to go through it, but there are a million uses for vinaigrette. I know you’re the queen of the one-pot meal. For example, if you roast some vegetables and you take them out of the oven, of course you can put salt on there, but one nice thing is to take a couple tablespoons of this all-purpose vinaigrette and drizzle over your vegetables and toss them around prior to serving them. I like to call them little flavor hacks. They’re like these little packets that are—have multiple things inside. They’re like little health hacks and flavor hacks that you can start to incorporate in your one-pot meals or more.
Merily:
You know what? I’m going to start calling it the one-pot punch meal.
TJ Robinson:
Absolutely, that fits your personality. I like it.
Merily:
It does, right?
TJ Robinson:
Yes, I mean, as far as the season goes and as far as the oils go, Dr. Pompa, I always have a mild, a medium, and a bold in every trio. That means the—typically, the polyphenol count increases as you go mild, medium, and bold. How do you pair olive oil with either food or in vinaigrettes? Do you use the mild for vinaigrettes, or do you use the bold for vinaigrettes? I’d like to explain that. Essentially, milder olive oils, such as the one here from Sicily, which is still pretty bold compared to most people’s standards…
Dr. Pompa:
Wait. Which one is that?
TJ Robinson:
This is the Salvatore Cutrera, and I don’t know if you’ve got to taste this one or not.
Dr. Pompa:
Okay, that’s this one.
TJ Robinson:
We don’t actually have to do a formal tasting. I can’t have it in front of me without having a smell. I’ve got a little tasting cup. I know I’ve taught your people before how to taste olive oil.
Merily:
Do you want to see…
Dr. Pompa:
I have my little white cup.
Merily:
Here’s his formal tasting.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, I go like this.
TJ Robinson:
I love it.
Dr. Pompa:
That’s how I do it.
TJ Robinson:
Don’t get that on your shirt. You always get me in trouble with your wife for you ruining your shirts.
Dr. Pompa:
I do that all that time.
Merily:
Yeah, he does. Wow! It smells amazing.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, no, it is mild. Now, I opened this one the other day because I did a—I have a closed group. My daughter did a recipe, and I opened this one. I did what I just did on camera, and it was a three choker. Again, gauging the polyphenols on how many times you cough, I coughed three times. I know the polyphenols on this one are smoking high.
TJ Robinson:
In this one, right? I can’t see the screen, the green label, right?
Dr. Pompa:
This one is the…
Merily:
That’s the strong one.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, the 220 Extra—yeah, that one.
TJ Robinson:
Yeah, this one.
Merily:
This one went down smoothly and had—it’s a little grassy, and it had a punch at the end. Not like that one.
Dr. Pompa:
Not like I give her…
TJ Robinson:
Yeah, the polyphenol count in this one is over 500.
Dr. Pompa:
I said that. I said that in my video.
TJ Robinson:
Which is really interesting. I don’t want to confuse people, but normally, higher polyphenol I call the bold oil. This time I slotted it in the medium slot. It’s really interesting. You taste it, the polyphenol. I just thought that this one being from Tuscany was really nice with bolder foods. You’re absolutely right about the polyphenol levels in this one, the Mercurius.
This is a tiny family farm, a brother and sister. They make this. The son’s just getting involved. He just finished university. They’ve been making olive oil for about ten years. They just got it—they just were ranked the number one producer in Italy for quality olive oil so very happy to have a long, deep relationship and history.
Now, I know I’ve explained to your people before how to taste olive oil, but I think we should give a one-minute recap for the new folks. Essentially, olive oil tasters, they taste typically out of a blue cup. The color isn’t necessarily an indicator of quality, so we taste in blue cups. Today, just because I’m at home, I’m just going to use a little white cup, and I do admire the color. These are from really early harvest green fruit. The steps for tasting olive oil, we have about a tablespoon in the bottom of our cup. I put my hand on the bottom of the cup. As you can see, I’m warming the oil. I’m trapping all the aroma of the oil inside the glass.
The first step before we taste it is to actually smell it. When you smell an olive oil, it tells you all the negative things that happen in production. If it’s a perfect olive oil like these are, you won’t find any defect because they’re perfect. Most oils are not perfect. This one is certified, independently third-party certified to be defect free and beautiful, 100% certified extra virgin. We’re going to smell. It should be green, grassy. You should smell arugula and basil.
There are 550 olive varieties in Italy alone, and all of them have their own character. We can’t say, oh, and all—some tastes like green banana or smell like green banana. Some taste like or smell like grass. Anyway, what are you guys smelling in this one?
Dr. Pompa:
Okay, I’m smelling the—how do you say?
TJ Robinson:
Mercurius.
Dr. Pompa:
Mercurius, okay, that’s what I’m smelling. She smelling the Tuscany that I think we might be using in the recipe.
Merily:
Which one am I drinking, this one?
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, this one.
Merily:
This one is actually more green.
Dr. Pompa:
It is, but he’s saying ignore the color.
Merily:
Right, that’s probably why, right?
Dr. Pompa:
Mine smells more grassy. I smelled hers.
Merily:
I would say this smells like wheatgrass.
TJ Robinson:
Wheatgrass, yes, that’s a great descriptor. I always use wheatgrass.
Merily:
From the girl that can’t smell.
TJ Robinson:
If you smelled store bought olive oil, most likely you’re going to not smell much. You’re going to smell something that’s rancid, or musty, or moldy, or rotten. When you have it up against a—it’s like the difference between dried herbs and fresh herbs. Fresh-pressed olive oil is just like fresh herbs. It’s got a lot of aroma and antioxidants just the way fresh herbs do. Smell test is number one, and then number two, we’re going to take about a teaspoon of the tablespoon we have in our cup. We’re going to take about a teaspoon and put on our palate, and we’re going to chew a little bit.
Merily:
Like wine.
TJ Robinson:
We’re going to chew it a little bit. You got to be careful not to suck some—too much air. It can get you in the back of the throat, especially if you’re doing this. You want to taste it. The two things you’re looking for, here they are, bitterness and spiciness. Bitterness tells you it’s from very green fruit. The bitterness is from early harvest.
Whoa! Excuse me. Early harvest, it’s so good. I appreciate that. That’s the oleocanthal that’s burning my throat in a pleasant way. It’s really warming. That’s the same content as in ibuprofen. It has the same anti-inflammatory properties that ibuprofen does without the horrible side effects on the liver, which is spectacular, so bitterness and spiciness. Like you said, Dr. Pompa, some oils can be a one cough oil, a two cough oil, or a three cough oil, depending on their polyphenol content and how they land on your palate.
Dr. Pompa:
This one, it had a spicy—it went in, and I didn’t hit the spice. It was delayed.
TJ Robinson:
Delayed, yes, that’s pretty normal. It really depends on how the polyphenols are in there. Unfortunately, I’m not a scientist, but I do recognize different olive varieties. Some are very much like Sichuan peppercorns. I don’t know if you’ve had those where they leave your mouth a little tingly. Others really hit your tongue, and then some really hit the back of your throat. There was a scientist who studied ibuprofen who was traveling in Sicily, and I had my fresh olive oil experience and epiphany in Sicily too. He tasted fresh oil in Sicily, and he took some fresh oil back to his lab in Pennsylvania, actually. He discovered this compound and named this compound for the same properties as ibuprofen so really cool.
Yeah, here’s the one you were talking about. Oh, yeah, and that’s much more almondy. It definitely has green almonds and kiwi, the one you were talking about, very grassy.
Merily:
Which one’s mine, that one?
TJ Robinson:
Really, you can’t make a wrong decision here. Any olive oil you use that’s fresh-pressed, super high-quality, high antioxidant oil is just going to be incredible. I mean, I think you were the person…
Dr. Pompa:
We’re deciding which one to use in the recipe. I didn’t even realize that until now. Now, Merily’s, this one, the Tuscany, that’s the one she’s tasting.
TJ Robinson:
Yeah, the Tuscan oil.
Dr. Pompa:
Way more buttery to me, way more buttery and then a spicy finish.
Merily:
I didn’t taste the spice as much as a warmth, the warmth later, and it was very oily, buttery, which is actually my favorite. I’m absolutely drawn to oils that have a smooth, heavy butter.
TJ Robinson:
That’s from olives that have been left to ripen on the tree, and that’s really what we’re accustomed to, right? As Americans, we’ve never really tasted fresh oil before. We know what fresh-pressed apple cider tastes like. We know if we go to a cider press in the fall—at least in the northeast where I live, if you go to a cidery and you get fresh-pressed apple cider versus canned orange juice or a canned apple juice, you see a world of difference, right? When you press olives that are riper, they have more olive oil inside, but they have less spiciness and less bitterness. I will say that a lot of this goes away when it’s in food, right? We’re talking about this in a context of tasting it straight, which not everyone does that. It’s crazy people like us, Dr. Pompa.
A lot of that goes away when you put it in food, so please don’t be intimidated that these are overly spicy or something like that. It’s something you’ll get used to rather quickly. Yes, I’ve had some salads, and midway through the bowl, I’m like, woo, that’s a little spicy salad. It’s coming from the olive oil. I know that the God-given delivery system of healthy fats and how—so Dr. Pompa, you explained to me how, if we eat healthy greens or other vitamins and nutrients along with healthy fats, it actually helps better delivery to the cell membrane. Can you explain that one more time?
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, no, exactly, it helps deliver the nutrient. Look, these fats love the membranes. They help literally carry the nutrients in and to the membrane cell. You can use fats as a delivery system even in the gut as well as into the cell. Think of your gut in the cell as these membranes that require literally fats in so many important ways.
Something I remember that you taught me last time is Merily—I was getting her to taste mine, and she said, oh, I need water. I was thinking, oh, green apple in between oils, right? Am I right on that?
Merily:
It did help.
TJ Robinson:
It does help. If you’re tasting a lot of olive oil, it definitely can help. I know we’ve gone down the rabbit hole of a lot of oil tasting. I’m happy to continue down that, but I really want to show people this vinaigrette because I think that…
Dr. Pompa:
Let’s do that. Just to recap, the first one, the Salvatore whatever, the mild one, definitely more fruity. I don’t know which one. Which one do we use?
TJ Robinson:
Okay, so we were talking about that, right? Basically, when you use heavier greens, let’s say romaine type of greens, I would probably go with a little spicier, heavier oil. It’s like pasta, right? When you pair pasta with sauce, you never put a little delicate tiny pasta with this big robust puttanesca sauce. You got to pair your pasta the same way with—you got to think about the sauce before you boil the pasta because they have to match and the same with olive oil. If I’m going to make a nice salad—let’s say I’m eating some citrus this time of year, and I want to use some citrus and fennel. I’m not going to use this Sicilian olive oil.
The reason why is because it is quite fruity. It does have a lot of aroma, but it’s also a little more delicate. If I’m using delicate items, delicate greens, like as a spring mix, something like that, I might use a more delicate oil. It really just depends on what you’re pairing it with, and I really don’t think you can make a mistake, honestly, so no pressure.
Merily:
It’s probably one for the salad tonight.
Dr. Pompa:
That’s up to you.
Merily:
I think we should use the [00:21:04]. I’m sorry?
TJ Robinson:
What are you going to have with the salad?
Merily:
Steak.
TJ Robinson:
Steak, oh, really, you could go either one. You could go Tuscan, or you could go with a [Claudio]. I would go with one of those just because—I mean, this is—the Tuscan one has Pruneti on the label, the P, and the classic steak is bistecca fiorentina. It’s a big porterhouse cooked over charcoal, in charcoal wood fire in Tuscany. When it comes off, they drizzle it with this oil.
Merily:
We’ll use this one because he enjoys dumping this one in his mouth, so we use this one.
TJ Robinson:
Yes, I’m all with you. To build a vinaigrette, you need a couple things. One, you got to have a good, healthy fat. I mean, obviously, fresh-pressed olive oil doesn’t get—it already starts having tons of flavor with one ingredient. I always like fresh-pressed olive oil. Two, you need to think about the acid, so let’s discuss acids, something very simple, just some lemon juice. If you guys want to start cutting a lemon in half and squeezing, I don’t know, half in the bowl. I don’t know how big the salad we’re making here.
The vinegars, to go down the vinegar—so we talked about oil. Let’s talk a little bit about vinegar. I’m not in the vinegar business, but I am particular about vinegars. I like real vinegars, and when I say real vinegars, I want to make sure I see a Mother in the bottom of the bottle. You guys may use Bragg or this is like maybe the whole foods, but you want to look for raw vinegars. They have health promoting properties in the vinegar. That’s very important. There’s barrel-aged vinegars, definitely want to look for something like that. Acid, you could go lemon if that’s handy, or you could go vinegar.
Now, myself, I like to do—for my all purpose, the only vinaigrette you’ll ever need, I like plain old lemon juice, nice, simple fresh. Didn’t you tell me, Dr. Pompa, that lemon is really good for detoxing?
Dr. Pompa:
It is. Yeah, no, it absolutely helps the detox pathway. We’re going with lemon as well. It definitely has good qualities too.
TJ Robinson:
The basic ratio for any vinaigrette is you want approximately one-third vinegar and two-thirds olive oil, depending on how acidic things are. I start in the bottom of the bowl with some—just some lemon juice, just very simply some lemon juice, nice, fresh, clean. I know you had a zester there in the background too. I’m going to be using a little bit of zest, so maybe keep some of that for zesting. In the bottom of the bowl, I have some lemon juice. I don’t see you guys too well, but I can see your hands there. You’re getting organized, cool.
Merily:
We’re squeezing lemons.
Dr. Pompa:
We’re squeezing lemons, and my daughter taught me how to get the juice out of it better so doing what she taught me.
TJ Robinson:
Oh, you did the roll technique where you roll it a little.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, I took a fork, and with a fork, I roll it like this in the fork. Anyways, it works.
Merily:
I like the pulp, so I use a knife.
TJ Robinson:
Yeah, me too. What we do, Dr. Pompa—Meghan, my wife, who’s an amazing cook, she actually keeps a lemon in—a whole lemon just like this in a Ziploc bag in the freezer. What she does sometimes, depending on what we’re eating, she’ll take the whole lemon out of the freezer and take the Microplane and zest it over the chicken, or the salad, or fish. The bitterness in the rind—there’s a million health properties in the rind. You can literally take the whole thing frozen and just throw it back in the fridge. Microplane grader, if you don’t own one of those, that’s a kitchen arsenal weapon that you need to own. I think you guys have one, right? You have a Microplane zester?
Merily:
Is it? Micro what?
TJ Robinson:
Did I see a zester there, a Microplane little grader?
Merily:
Oh, yes, just the…
TJ Robinson:
There you go, perfect. That’s what we use.
Dr. Pompa:
We were going stuff like—is that’s what that’s called?
Merily:
Is that what that’s called?
TJ Robinson:
We got our lemon juice. We’re going to put in some lemon zest. I see you’re already zesting.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, she’s zesting.
TJ Robinson:
We’re going to put that in our lemon juice. It doesn’t matter. You’re not aiming for perfection here. You can wean this and make it your own. The next addition is a little bit of garlic. You can use a garlic press. You can use fresh chopped garlic. Did you know that if—ideally, if you’re going to use fresh garlic, guys, that you need to chop it and let it sit in a bowl for 15 minutes prior to using it?
Merily:
I didn’t know that.
TJ Robinson:
It makes it more bio available and more healthy for you. I’ll send you the link to garlic. It’s really interesting.
Dr. Pompa:
I always get the tips, man. You’re the tip guy.
TJ Robinson:
That’s why we’re here. That’s why we’re here. You’re always educating me, and I’m always trying to give you some nuggets too so, yeah, about 15 minutes if possible. There’s a compound in there that breaks it down that is naturally and makes it more bio available and healthful for you, health promoting. Are we looking for the garlic press?
Merily:
I was looking for the press, but I’m going to let is sit anyway. I will add it.
TJ Robinson:
Yeah, that’s fine. You can also use your Microplane too, but that could be dangerous. There’s no need to get there.
Merily:
I don’t want a boo-boo.
Dr. Pompa:
We [00:27:06] this.
TJ Robinson:
In my bowl with the lemon juice and the lemon zest, I’m going to add the garlic. That’s very simple, garlic in. I’m going to add some high-quality salt. You can add whatever kind of salt you like but high-quality salt.
Dr. Pompa:
We got that.
TJ Robinson:
None of that low-quality stuff. Then fresh ground black pepper. I actually like quite a bit of black pepper.
Merily:
Me too.
TJ Robinson:
Black pepper’s another one of those really good enhancers. It definitely makes things more bio available, black pepper. I think some of the supplements that I’ve got from you, Dr. Pompa, actually maybe have black pepper in them?
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, that’s right, exactly. We use that for absorption of nutrients.
TJ Robinson:
Yeah, so it’s really cool. You could think of this as a prescription in a bowl. Basically, you have a little health prescription here in a bowl. I’ve got that little slurry going now, and then once that’s in there, we can make some decisions. You can get more—you can go different directions, and I’ve not added the oil just yet. Merily, one thing that we do is you could actually make a vinaigrette base like this and place it in a jar in the fridge. Then take out a little bit of this and just add some fresh oil to it for a light meal for one or something like that. You can make a base ahead of time and place it in a Ball jar.
Merily:
Yep, it’s like whenever I occasionally buy a dressing. There’s so much stuff in it that, when the oil’s gone, I will dump my own olive oil into it and mix it up again, same thing.
TJ Robinson:
Smart. There’s a couple additions that I like to add. They’re not in the basic recipe, which we’ll share the basic recipe, but the basic recipe is there. It’s pretty much we’ve made minus the olive oil, but there’s a couple things I like to add. One is a little Dijon mustard. Dijon mustard acts as an emulsifier in the vinaigrette and also a lot of flavor, and mustard, of course, is very good. You can use a whole grain mustard. You can use Grey Poupon style, or you can use a Dijon.
You could use any mustard. I mean, I’m a huge fan of French’s on a hotdog or hamburger but not really in my vinaigrette. Usually, for my vinaigrette, I stick more to a European-style mustard. What you got, Merily?
Merily:
I’m Polish, spicy brown.
TJ Robinson:
Now, not too much because it can be a little overpowering but just a little bit, maybe half a teaspoon, just a little to give it a little binder and a little flavor. I like that. Mustard and lemon together are just a really beautiful combo. I’m going to do the same on my side so I can taste what you guys are doing. Now, if I were making this for breakfast and I were going to put a fried egg on top—because I love a breakfast salad, midmorning breakfast salad, mixed greens. Use this vinaigrette. If I were eating sugar at the time, I could add a little maple syrup and then dress my greens. Put it in my vinaigrette, and then put my fried egg on top and maybe some bacon, makes it for a really nice brunch dish.
You could also add—if you were eating sugar, you could also add a little bit of honey. Honey at the end works with the mustard to act as an emulsifier, all natural emulsifier, and of course, honey has healing properties as well. It’s also a highly adulterated food, one of the most highly adulterated foods. Be really careful on where you get your honey. You can get it from your greenmarket.
Dr. Pompa:
My son just had some shipped in here.
Merily:
Today, in the mail came this. We were like who ordered this?
TJ Robinson:
I want to see it.
Merily:
There’s only one guess in our house.
Dr. Pompa:
I was like how did you choose this? This is a honeycomb my son orders.
TJ Robinson:
Oh, I love that.
Dr. Pompa:
It’s like the quality. It was all about the quality. I mean, look at that. Talk about fresh.
Merily:
Fifty dollars.
TJ Robinson:
No, that’s beautiful. Yes, I like a little honey. Again, you don’t have to. You can totally make this your own. The next step is, after you have all the mixings you want, whether it’s mustard—you could add some fresh herbs. I’ve got a little fresh dill here I could plop in there. I’ve got a little—what else? I got a little parsley here and thyme. I could do really anything I want, but I just have a nice little vinaigrette base here that’s just layered with flavor.
Then the last step is I’ve got my fresh-pressed olive oil. I look down in my bowl and say, okay, I see approximately, what, a third of the acid it looks like. I’m going to add while whisking slowly, not too slowly. I’m not trying to make a ranch dressing here. I’m trying to make a light, lacy, really fresh, healthful vinaigrette.
Merily:
It’s the ratio. What’s the ratio?
Dr. Pompa:
That’s what I’m saying. I’m trying to figure out how much oil to put in. She’s like he said don’t measure it. Embarrassingly, I set it down. I’m like I still [00:32:44].
TJ Robinson:
Don’t measure. Don’t measure, no.
Dr. Pompa:
I have to. That’s what I wanted help with.
TJ Robinson:
You can tell who’s the scientist here and who’s the artist, right? In culinary school, there’s two [00:32:58]. There’s the chefs, and they’re the artists. Then there’s the pastry chefs that are really the scientists. They want to measure everything. You can tell which type of culinary school I went to. Yes, I’ve got about two-thirds worth of vinegar, and then we’re just going to whisk it around. I’ve got the one-third vinegar, two-thirds olive oil. I’m going to whisk it around.
Then the next step is to take the spoon. I just have a little spatula here and take a taste. You’re like, no, that’s a little tart. All you got to do…
Merily:
[00:33:36].
TJ Robinson:
You guys want to taste it and see what we need to add? Do you think it needs honey? Do you think it needs more oil? If it’s too acidic, you can add more oil.
Merily:
It needs more salt, more salt and…
Dr. Pompa:
I heard her say that.
Merily:
More oil and I think a little more pepper.
TJ Robinson:
More pepper, yeah?
Merily:
I like salt.
TJ Robinson:
Lighter oil for lighter salads. Really, this all-purpose vinaigrette, as I was telling you, you could use this. You keep in a Ball jar in your fridge. Make it every couple days. You can use this as a marinade on meat. Whether it’s shrimp, or chicken, or fish, you can—when proteins are finished cooking, you could put just a little spoonful of this over top before you served it. It gives you great acid, saltiness, bitterness. It makes everything so flavorful.
Merily:
It’s clean. It’s very clean, and also, I think, when it’s on the salad, it going to enhance the flavor of the salad. I don’t think any of us are just going to taste the dressing and say, oh, that’s good. We want to taste [00:34:54] and bring out the flavor of the food is exactly what you were explaining with the olive oil.
TJ Robinson:
Exactly, and really, you want to use a big bowl, Merily, and you want to dress it not too heavily at first. You want to put a little dressing and toss it around in the bowl with some tongs or however you like to cook, and then give it one or two minutes to see what happens. Sometimes water comes off the greens, and it could get soggy. You don’t want that, right? Taste it. Don’t be afraid. I find home cooks, for whatever reason, they don’t like to taste when they’re cooking. They wait to the end. They sit down at the table, and they taste something like, woo, that really needs more salt. That should’ve been discovered in the kitchen, so that’s part of the fun.
Merily:
It also needs more garlic. The garlic is [00:35:44].
TJ Robinson:
Yes, oh, yes. Oh, yeah, that for sure. I mean, that is the only vinaigrette recipe you ever need, lemon juice, fresh-pressed olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic. I like a little lemon zest. We talked about the health promoting properties in lemon zest, really cheap health hack and flavor hack. I think it’s fantastic. I appreciate you guys letting me in your kitchen.
Merily:
It’s so fresh. It’s really fresh tasting.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, no, it is.
Merily:
When you understand the properties of the oil and of using a really good oil, you’re not just applying a condiment. You’re applying a nutrient. I think that’s what—in fact, this happens all the time, but everywhere we go I—just to cut to the chase…
Dr. Pompa:
She’s the oil Nazi, literally.
Merily:
I say I’m allergic to canola and vegetable oil. I’m fine with butter and olive oil, just to add that, because people often don’t understand.
Dr. Pompa:
They don’t know the difference. The reason she says allergy is because they take it very serious.
Merily:
It’s such a big deal. Literally, you cause cellular…
Dr. Pompa:
Oh, the kids are home. You’re on TV.
Merily:
You literally cause cellular disruption for 100 and how many days?
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, well, over three months, 132 days of dysfunction because those bad oils [00:37:13] membranes. We discussed this on other shows. That’s why I would sooner have some sugar as an exception as opposed to oil because it lasts—creates dysfunction for a long time, and so we’re very serious about our oils. By the way, dressings are notorious for always having bad oil. Even when they have olive oil, there’s other bad oils for whatever reason that are in the dressing, even in health food stores.
Merily:
I say it all the time. I’m ordering, and I say and that includes your dressing. If it’s cut with another oil, just bring me the straight olive oil and/or balsamic. I mean, I always cover that as well, and I ask about the things that are [00:37:55] in advance. I mean, it’s a big deal. This is so fresh. It tastes so good and to know that you’re nourishing yourself with just the quality of antioxidants and, obviously, the amazing power of those polyphenols. Thank you so much TJ.
TJ Robinson:
Hey, it’s a pleasure, and thank you for helping teach the world about this amazing product. These small family farmers around the world, they don’t have access to the American market. We fly it in my jet. It was picked in November. It was flown in and served to my club members in mid-December. They’re going wild over it. I mean, it’s just a really beautiful product, and it’s being treated with the love and the care and the respect that the farmer wants it to have. I appreciate you getting the word out.
Anyone that wants to try a bottle—I’m a chef, and I think the proofs in the pudding. We can talk about it all day, but I want you to actually get a couple tasting cups in your kitchen at home. I want you to get a bottle of olive oil for a buck. Don’t try to look for this deal on our website because it’s not there. You got to go to pompaoliveoil.com. For a buck, you get a full size bottle for a buck, and I want you to do your own at-home taste test. I want you to smell and taste both side by side versus what’s in your pantry. You’re going to be blown away at what these beautiful characters around the world, these families—you get a pressing report, so you can read all about the oil, the tasting notes, what olive varieties it was made from.
I think it’s a really nice, easy upgrade. It’s not like you have to hit the gym for an extra three hours a week. You can just drizzle your food with wonderful fresh olive oil. When you set your table, put the olive oil on the table. When you put the salt and pepper on the table, put your bottle of olive oil out there. Simply steam green beans, broccoli, anything, little salt, little good salt, and a little olive oil and you’re going to be in heaven. It’s just a beautiful thing.
Dr. Pompa:
One of the things I want to—we didn’t really touch on. We have in last shows, and I’ll have Ashley put the other shows that we’ve did underneath the links. We didn’t touch on the difference of the first pressed olive oil and why you can’t find it in a Whole Foods or a health food store. It’s because these families keep the first press for themselves. You can’t touch the level of 500 plus polyphenols in an olive oil buying off the shelf. We should’ve made that point early on, but that’s why you do this. That’s why you’re traveling around the world. You have to get first pressed olive oil. If we’re going to have some in our pantry year around, you’d have to get it from different parts of the world, which was discussed in past shows as well.
TJ Robinson:
That’s right. Those polyphenols that we’re such fans of, they deplete by 50% in the first 6 months after pressing. That’s why we race them by jet, whether it’s from Chile. The immigrants, they stitched in their clothing cuttings from their family back in Italy when they boarded the boat to Chile, or the Spanish immigrants who were going to the New World, they stitched in their clothing olive trees. When they got off the boat, they started planting them. It’s the opposite climate of the Mediterranean. It’s very similar down in Chile and Australia, but it’s the opposite season.
We go there in our summer, our Northern Hemisphere, to get fresh oil. It’s only harvested once a year in fall. In the Mediterranean, it’s typically in Italy around October, November, but in the Southern Hemisphere, it’s like May, June, July. Those are the main months in the Southern Hemisphere. Yeah, the club members, they get really spoiled for the good stuff, and it’s really hard, as you guys know, to go back to what’s out there available in the US market.
Dr. Pompa:
We’re fans.
Merily:
I have a question.
TJ Robinson:
Yes.
Merily:
I guess this is for Dr. Pompa.
TJ Robinson:
Let’s hear it.
Merily:
The concept of eating fat to purge fat, if you eat fat, you lose fat.
Dr. Pompa:
You teach your body to utilize fat for energy. That way, when you’re not eating, you’re burning your own, but go on.
Merily:
Would this quality of fat make it that much more powerful for your metabolism to kick in with the better quality fat?
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, your body wants to burn this fat. Obviously, when you downregulate inflammation—by the way, olive oil, it’s not like the monounsaturates are part of the cell membrane. What they do is they downregulate the inflammation of the cell membrane, and the inflammation of the cell membrane is really what stops people from becoming an efficient fat burner. Ingesting this does make that difference.
Merily:
It’s more bio available because it’s so pure. Your body’s going to use it effectively.
Dr. Pompa:
Your body would burn it. Whereas things like hydrogenated oils, you can’t burn them with a torch, let alone your body’s own metabolism. I have a question for Merily. Why was this here? Seriously, why is that here? She brought that out to—yes. She brought that out to hit me in case I said the story about years ago.
Merily:
Okay, bye. Bye.
TJ Robinson:
You guys are the most fun couple ever. I appreciate being in your kitchen. It means a lot. I can’t wait ‘til I’m back on the road again, and you guys can join me somewhere in the world. I’d love to have you be with some of these families. You guys would have such a great time.
Merily:
We’re in.
Dr. Pompa:
We’re in.
Merily:
We’re in.
TJ Robinson:
Let’s get it on the calendar for this fall.
Merily:
Let’s do it.
TJ Robinson:
I want you guys in. We’re going to meet in Sicily, Abruzzo. We’re going to be in Tuscany. I want you guys to actually taste at the mill what…
Merily:
We have a vineyard in Sicily that we really want to go to, the [Gulfi] vineyard.
TJ Robinson:
Oh, cool, I love it.
Merily:
Anyway, we’ll work that out.
Dr. Pompa:
By the way, the olive oil…
TJ Robinson:
I’ll go with you on that one, okay? Twist my arm. I’ll go with you on that one, and you guys [00:44:03].
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, us too. Twist my arm. I want to experience what you know about the olive oils. The Olive Oil Club, I do want to point out the whole point of it is so we always have first harvest olive oil in our pantry. That’s the point of your club, and you do it for—thank you for that. Thank you for making it so easy for us to get it.
Merily:
Yes, thank you.
TJ Robinson:
Thank you. Thank you, guys, so much. Check out pompaoliveoil. Learn all about it. Thank you, guys. We appreciate it and Happy New Year.
Dr. Pompa:
You got it.
TJ Robinson:
Ciao.
Ashley:
That’s it for this week. I hope you enjoyed today’s episode, which was brought to you by Fastonic Molecular Hydrogen. Please check it out at getfastonic.com. We’ll be back next week and every Friday at 10 a.m. Eastern. We truly appreciate your support. You could always find us at cellularhealing.tv, and please remember to spread the love by liking, subscribing, giving an iTunes review, or sharing the show with anyone who may benefit from the information heard here. As always, thanks for listening.
