Review & Recipes: Carapelli Olive Oils

One of my staples in my kitchen is olive oil. It's a healthy way for me to cook, and I've even been known it use it on my hair! I use it to make everything from marinades to cooking veggies to salad dressing - and now I can add mashed potatoes to that list.


Carapelli makes premium extra virgin olive oils imported from Italy. Their Extra Virgin Olive Oil is made with the first cold pressing of the olives. It has a deep green color, an intense flavor, and it's perfect for flavoring entrees or side dishes. I was sent some samples so I could try it out in my kitchen, as well as some new recipes to try out. One of the recipes was so easy to make - and so yummy - I wanted to share it with you now so you can try it out for your holiday dinner!

Olive Oil and Herb Mashed Potatoes:

Serving Size: 12

10 8-ounce potatoes, (about 5 pounds) peeled and cut in half
3/8 teaspoon white pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
1/2 cup Tuscan Herb paste*
1/2 cup Carapelli Premium 100% Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 cup heavy cream, warmed

*Here's the recipe for the Tuscan Herb Paste:

(Yield: 2 1/4 cups)

3/4 cup Carapelli Extra Light in Taste Olive Oil
1 cup Carapelli Premium 100% Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tablespoon fresh basil
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary
1/2 packed cup fresh Italian parsley
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
2 tablespoons fresh sage
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Blend herbs and crushed red pepper with light olive oil using a blender or food processor, then stir in extra virgin olive oil.

I ended up using dried herbs instead of fresh, because I only had fresh Italian parsley on hand at the moment. I also used Yukon Gold potatoes, since that's what I had on hand - but you can probably use any type of potatoes if you'd like. Now to get back to the mashed potatoes recipe, boil the potatoes in salted water. When cooked tender, mash potatoes. Mix salt and pepper with Tuscan Herb Paste, olive oil and warm heavy cream. Fold into potatoes, and serve.

And because the stock photo makes my photo look awful, I'm showing theirs instead of mine:


Thank goodness mine tasted as good as their photo looked. LOL The Tuscan Herb Paste sounds like it's a lot of work to make at first glance, but really all you are doing is tossing a bunch of ingredients into the blender or food processor. It takes seconds. My next try will be using it on our turkey on Christmas day! (You'll notice the Tuscan Paste recipe makes more than the potatoes uses - even though you're not supposed to store olive oil in the fridge, I put the remainder of the paste in ours) I'll take some photos (hopefully it looks better than my potatoes LOL) and I'll let you know how it turned out. I think I have a new go-to paste for chicken too - I like the idea of it with some chicken and pasta!

Right now if you visit the Carapelli website, you can find a coupon to save you $1.00 off your next purchase of Carapelli olive oil, 17 ounce or larger.

I received samples of the product mentioned above, and recipes to try out in my own home. All opinions are my own.