Pinzimonio (raw vegetables in olive oil)

Pinzimonio is a ritual of central Italian tables: everyone has their own little bowl of oil and dips raw vegetables in it. There is no cooking and no other dressing, which is why it is the best way to taste the character of a new oil.

Ingredients for 4

• Seasonal vegetables, about 1 kg in all: fennel, celery, carrots, radishes, spring onions, peppers; in winter also tender artichokes
• IL CONTE Raggia single variety, about 2 tablespoons per person
• Fine salt or salt flakes
• Black pepper
• 1 lemon (optional, for the artichokes)

Method

1. Wash and dry the vegetables well. Cut fennel and celery into wedges and sticks, carrots into sticks, radishes in half, spring onions lengthways.
2. If using artichokes, clean them, cut them into thin wedges and keep them in lemon water until serving.
3. Arrange the well-chilled vegetables on a platter or standing in glasses.
4. Give each guest a little bowl with oil, a pinch of salt and some ground pepper, to mix with the tip of a vegetable before dipping.

The right oil

Here the oil is tasted as it is: it is the moment for the Raggia single variety, with its grassy notes and peppery finish. Try two little bowls, one of Raggia and one of Blend: you will taste the difference between a single variety and a blend at once.

Photo: Weldis, Wikimedia Commons, licence CC BY-SA 4.0.