DIANE KOCHILAS: Could the secret to a longer, healthier life be as simple as a drizzle of olive oil?

I'll have a conversation with Dr.

Walter Willett to uncover how this golden elixir fuels longevity and vitality.

DR.

WALTER WILLETT: Olive oil conception is going up more than tenfold in the United States.

DIANE: Then, back in my kitchen, I'll cook up olive oil inspired dishes, from poached fish and leeks.

This is the bed upon which the fish will rest its perfectly tender flesh.

To feta preserved in olive oil.

Olive oil is a great way to infuse other flavors into something like feta cheese or almost anything.

And even a chocolate olive oil mousse with my son, Yiorgos.

YIORGOS STENOS: This is really good, Ma.

DIANE: I know.

YIORGOS: I'm surprised we don't make it more often.

DIANE: [Laughs] Thank you.

Join me on My Greek Table as we discover how olive oil can add not just flavor, but years to your life.

[Glasses clinking] ♪♪ ANNOUNCER: My Greek Table with Diane Kochilas is made possible in part by... The Fillo Factory.

Grecian Delight Kronos, A family committed to better eating.

The National Hellenic Society.

And by the following... [Greek guitar music] DIANE: From the time of Homer, olive oil has been the lifeblood of Greek culture.

More than food, it was fuel for light, medicine, and even currency.

Ancient friezes and vase paintings show athletes anointing their bodies with oil, symbols of strength and grace.

In Greek Orthodoxy, it remains sacred, blessing couples at weddings and infants at baptism, a symbol of purity and new life.

In every kitchen, olive oil is the golden thread binding past and present.

It enriches ladera, those plant-based stews of vegetables and beans bathed in oil.

It moistens breads, cakes and phyllo pastries, and it's poured raw over salads, greens and fish, a daily ritual of flavor and health.

Mmmmm.

In Ikaria, where people live well into their 90s, olive oil is more than food, it's faith.

A spoonful each morning is believed to keep the body supple and the years kind.

Modern science agrees, high polyphenolic olive oils, rich in antioxidants, protect the heart and brain, reduce inflammation and support longevity.

In fact, a 2022 Harvard study found that people who consumed at least a half tablespoon of olive oil a day had a 19 percent lower risk of mortality from any illness.

Ancient wisdom confirmed by modern research.

Greece, though small, is among the world's top producers.

From Crete, to the Peloponese, to Lesvos, olive groves shimmer silver-green, and Greeks consume more olive oil per person than anyone on Earth.

Each autumn, when the olive harvest is in full swing, I am reminded that longevity has a flavor all its own.

The rich, pure and deeply Greek gold that is olive oil.

DIANE: I'm here with Dr.

Walter Willett, uh Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, uh one of the most lauded uh voices in nutrition science on the planet, also Director of the Thich Nhat Hanh Center for Mindfulness and Public Health at Harvard.

After a lifetime of of, you know spent studying the connection between diet and health, um is there such a thing as the flavors of longevity?

DR.

WILLETT: Well, they're probably not too unfamiliar to you.

It actually can be the traditional Mediterranean diet, uh healthy types of fat being really important.

Of course, it's olive oil in the Greek diet, and Mediterranean diet in general, uh healthy forms of carbohydrate, meaning mostly whole grain, plenty of fruits and vegetables.

And it could be modest amounts if you like it, of meat and uh, fish and some poultry.

But uh, depending more and relying more on plant sources of protein.

DIANE: I'm making a dish called Prasa Ladera, which is basically stewed leeks with olive oil.

And this is one of the ways that we use olive oil in the Greek kitchen uh to slowly braise vegetables.

But I'm accompanying this dish with another way to use olive oil, which is in a poached fish.

[Soft chopping] [Bright music] So in these ladera dishes olive oil is used obviously as the cooking fat; ladi is the Greek word for oil and it almost universally refers to olive oil because that is basically the only oil we use in Greece.

DIANE: This dish speaks to the importance of locality and regional cooking.

This happens to be a dish actually from northern Greece, and in northern Greece, leeks and prunes grow locally.

I'm just grating the tomato.

You could also easily use canned tomatoes in this recipe.

Canned tomatoes are a good alternative if you don't have fresh tomatoes in season.

I started the leeks on pretty low flame.

These have to be slowly cooked.

That gives time for the natural sugars in anything that you're cooking to develop.

And it gives it a comforting texture.

And I think it's the best of course of all the vegetable cooking traditions throughout the Mediterranean.

[Sizzling] Let me just give this a stir.

[Sizzling] I just want to cover this, lower the heat a little bit, let it cook for about 20 to 25 minutes and then add everything else and finish stewing it.

[Sizzling] Looking good.

They're wilted, they're nice and soft, they're nice and golden, and I'm going to add everything else.

The tomato, just get that stirred around in here.

The prunes go in next.

We do use a lot of dried fruit in Greek cooking in savory dishes.

A little bit of salt.

A little black pepper, and I'm going to get the red wine in here next.

This is just a dry red wine.

And now this is going to cook for about another 25 minutes or so until the leaks are really soft and tender and all of this liquid has pretty much cooked down.

And what we'll end up with is a nice beautiful thick tomato sauce.

That'll be the base for our olive oil poached fish.

Ooh, that looks so earthy and delicious.

I'm turning off the heat.

I'm going to stir in some chopped parsley.

This rustic Greek cooking is my favorite.

It's my favorite way to eat.

I just want to serve myself a little of this before I get to the poaching of the fish.

Make sure the textures are all correct.

Yeah, the leak is nice and soft.

The prunes are, have almost like melted into this.

They look so good.

Mm.

This is totally rustic.

The leeks have the texture of, literally a velvet and the prunes are just they almost literally melt in your mouth.

The red wine, the tomatoes, the parsley brightens everything up.

This is a really balanced dish.

Definitely a standalone if you want to serve it this way, you can do it over a little rice or as a beautiful accompaniment to a piece of protein which is the next step in this recipe, our olive oil poached fish.

I just want you to see the color of this olive oil.

It's perfect.

It's almost emerald green.

We need quite a bit of olive oil in the pan.

You want to cover the fish.

So that's probably about an inch of oil.

And what you want to do is get it started on very, very low heat.

We want a very, very gentle simmer on the olive oil.

It's going to take a little time to heat up and in the meantime, I'm going to prep everything else.

So I have this beautiful piece of grouper here.

It's actually a rather thin filet.

I'm going to add a little bit of garlic to the oil and some cut fresh herbs.

I think a little basil will be nice in here [Snipping] and maybe some fresh oregano.

[Snipping] Mm.

[Sniffs] Smells good.

So we want to cut the garlic into slivers.

[Soft chopping] And then break apart the basil a little bit.

Time to cut the filet.

This is just a beautiful piece of grouper.

And you can use any uh nice uh, firm-fleshed fish for this.

Fresh cod, halibut.

You can do salmon poached in olive oil.

Obviously the thicker the piece, the longer it'll take to cook.

I'm going to get my herbs and garlic in here next.

Just a little bit of oregano and basil.

And these herbs will infuse the olive oil with really delicious flavors.

And the garlic goes in next.

And some peppercorns.

Let's just get a little salt over the fish.

And then I'm going to carefully lift and submerge the two filet pieces into the hot oil.

Do this carefully.

Watch your fingertips when you do it.

You want to definitely keep a gentle heat on this.

We're not frying the fish.

We're simmering it and that gentle heat is what will keep it nice and tender.

When you poach something in olive oil, you're using a very healthy fat.

You're using something that is packed with antioxidants and anti-inflammatories and this oil can actually be reused.

So that's another thing to keep in mind.

[Soft boil] I'm very excited about this recipe because it's it's, it's a composed dish.

It's a little fancy and yet it's also very traditional.

So I want to get my vegetables plated first.

[Upbeat music] This is the bed upon which the olive oil poached fish... Will rest its perfectly tender flesh.

I poached the fish skin side down and that was to help, keep it intact.

When you do this at home, be careful because the oil is quite hot.

Because it's Greek fish, a little lemon over the fish.

A little black pepper.

A touch of salt.

And maybe a sprig or two of some of the fresh herbs that we used.

Just to add some fresh color to this, I think we're good to go.

I'm ready to taste this.

I want to taste the fish first.

Oh.

That melts in my mouth.

Mmm.

This combination together is divine.

The fish is both firm and tender.

Oftentimes people, you know, overcook it and it's a little bit dry.

The olive oil poaching really helps prevent that.

The sweetness of the leeks and the prunes together.

The earthiness of the tomato and the red wine and all these beautiful herbs makes this dish the perfect example of how to use olive oil in a few different ways in the kitchen to marry all these gorgeous flavors together, create something that's not only beautiful, but healthy.

DIANE: You know I was actually at that, uh Mediterranean diet conference 33 years ago and at Harvard um, pregnant with my daughter at that time.

DR.

WILLETT: Right, that conference uh actually just about uh, two blocks from me here my home, was uh, really important because it did bring together scientists who were seeing that olive oil could be healthy and olive oil was being condemned at that point because it was high high fat basically.

But what we were seeing was that the type of fats much more important that yes there are some bad fats and the debate was around should it be margarine or butter and it was really good to be saying none of the above and here's olive oil and by the way it could taste really good.

So that was a really important turning point I think and uh since that time olive oil consumption has gone up more than tenfold in the United States.

Uh so there has really been recognition in the scientific world, but also in the general population and culinary world.

DIANE: I'm using extra virgin olive oil in this recipe to preserve feta and herbs.

Start by layering one inch cubes of feta in a clean airtight glass jar.

Then add your herbs.

I'm using rosemary and thyme.

Add some whole black peppercorns and some dried chilies.

Continue layering the ingredients until the jar is full.

Fill the jar with extra virgin olive oil, making sure all the feta is submerged.

And finally, seal the jar and marinate at room temperature or refrigerated for at least 24 hours before enjoying.

Okay, let's taste this marinated Greek feta in extra virgin Greek olive oil.

[Metal softly rattling] Ooh, looks really luscious.

I'm just going to take a few pieces out.

[Clank of fork on plate] Mmm.

Olive oil is a great way to infuse other flavors into something like feta cheese or almost anything.

And what I'm getting here besides the creaminess of the feta and a little bit of a slightly different texture on the feta, I'm getting the flavor of the rosemary, I'm getting the thyme loud and clear and I get a little tiny bit of bite from that chili pepper that's in here.

And you know what I'm going to say next, it's a feta compli.

DIANE: What is it about olive oil that makes it so, special?

DR.

WILLETT: We have seen that olive oil is very healthy probably for multiple reasons, especially the type of fat.

People are worried about fat increasing blood cholesterol but unsaturated fats actually reduce blood cholesterol.

And as we've studied olive oil further we can see that they do lots of other things, well.

In terms of reducing inflammation, uh we've seen better cognitive function and lower risk of dementia with higher olive oil consumption.

Some of this may be due to the type of fat almost certainly so; but there are other minor constituents of olive oil uh that are antioxidants and phytochemicals that have a lot of different biological effects that we still don't totally understand but clearly, it is a very healthy form of fat.

[Bright music] DIANE: So I have a guest in my kitchen today, my lovely son, Yiorgos, and I'm going to make one of your favorite desserts, a chocolate mousse, but with a little bit of a healthy twist.

I'm using olive oil instead of butter.

YIORGOS: Okay, perfect.

[Diane laughs] DIANE: We're going to start by melting the chocolate and you basically want to just break it into... Yeah, help me, please.

Break it into some pieces and get it in... YIORGOS: Does it matter the size?

DIANE: Not really.

And this is a double boiler.

If you do this on your own, you want to be sure that the bowl isn't exactly touching the water.

[Laughs] As soon as that melts, I'm going to get the olive oil in here.

YIORGOS: Okay.

DIANE: But I have another job for you.

We're going to pound the mastiha in the mortar.

When you pound mastiha, if you're doing something sweet, like the mousse, you want to add a little bit of sugar.

So just a pinch.

[Laughs] You're a little bit of a wise guy here.

Pound away.

YIORGOS: So just kind of like... DIANE: Yeah, you want to powder because we're going to add this to the mousse.

You don't want to bite into sticky mastiha crystals.

Because mastiha is a natural gum and it's something that we use a lot in Greek cooking, both in sweet and savory dishes.

It's almost like a piney incense.

I think you got it.

That's good.

Let's check the chocolate.

YIORGOS: Ohh!

DIANE: You see?

It's almost melted.

And you do this so that it doesn't burn.

You can also do this in the microwave.

And as it melts, it gets this nice sheen on it.

So this is pretty much melted.

And then as soon as this melts completely, we're going to add the olive oil.

Chocolate and olive oil, you know go pretty well together.

So you can pour the olive oil in here and I'll stir.

I think that's good.

And I'm going to set this aside to cool a little bit.

So the next thing is to separate the whites from the yolks.

YIORGOS: Okay.

DIANE: And can you grab a bowl?

YIORGOS: Yeah yeah, of course.

DIANE: You want to break it carefully.

And then you kind of just shuttle it back and forth like that and let whatever residual white is still in here into the bowl and then you just empty the yolk in here.

YIORGOS: Gotcha.

DIANE: You want to try one?

YIORGOS: Yeah.

[Yiorgos breathes in] DIANE: Don't worry, it's only eggs.

[Tapping on glass] DIANE: So let me get this behind us.

We're gonna need it in a second.

YIORGOS: This?

DIANE: This we're gonna need we want to make a stiff meringue.

[Whirring of mixer] YIORGOS: I was going to do the exact same thing.

DIANE: We want to beat these do you want to do it or shall I do it?

YIORGOS: Let me try.

DIANE: Okay, and I'm gonna add sugar while you do that, start like on a medium speed.

[Whirring of mixer] YIORGOS: Oh wow.

DIANE: I'm adding the sugar slowly.

[Whirring of mixer] You can see it changing, the peaks are forming.

YIORGOS: Mmm-hmmm.

DIANE: So I want to show you this isn't quite ready, you see it's getting shiny right it just needs a little bit more.

YIORGOS: Okay.

[Whirring of mixer] DIANE: So that is a stiff peak.

[Tapping of mixer blades] [Water running] DIANE: So now we have to get the second half of this done.

Put these back in.

Let's start whisking the eggs.

Do it on the lowest speed because this is pretty powerful.

YIORGOS: Yeah, this is strong.

[Whirring of mixer] DIANE: The mastiha.

The sugar.

The vanilla.

A little bit of orange zest.

'Cause orange, coffee and chocolate go really well together.

And orange, coffee, chocolate and mastiha go even better together.

[More whirring] DIANE: And the coffee goes in next.

I think we're good.

YIORGOS: Okay, now what do we do?

DIANE: Okay, now we have to add the melted chocolate and olive oil to the yolks.

YIORGOS: And we want to get every bit of chocolate, right?

DIANE: We do.

Yeah, you got it.

Keep going, keep going, keep going, get it all in here.

Get the last bit there on the edge- edge.

Now this is the trickiest part of making a mousse.

We want to get the meringue into here.

You want to get about a third of it in here.

YIORGOS: A third.

DIANE: And then fold it very quickly.

YIORGOS: Okay, just dump it?

DIANE: Yeah yeah.

So we want to just work, you want to work fast.

And then I'll add and you can learn how to stir it.

So let me show you what you don't want.

You see those streaks?

YIORGOS: Yeah.

DIANE: You don't want that.

You know, the idea here is to incorporate as much air as possible into the mousse.

YIORGOS: Oh.

DIANE: But also to work fast so that the meringue is completely incorporated and smooth.

YIORGOS: Alright.

So I'm folding.

DIANE: I'm going to dump, you're going to fold.

Try to lift it a little bit as you do that.

It's not so much a stirring as a lifting, like a lift and stir.

You're turning it, like lifting and turning.

YIORGOS: I'm turning.

DIANE: You're doing well.

YIORGOS: I don't know, it sounds like- DIANE: So all those lumps you want out.

You want it to be very very smooth.

YIORGOS: Mmmm.

DIANE: Okay, Yiorgos, I think you have a- YIORGOS: A talent for this kind of stuff.

DIANE: Yeah, maybe.

YIORGOS: I see.

DIANE: Okay, I think we're good.

And now we just want to fill the cups and I can pour it directly from the measuring cup into the glasses.

Let's get the rest of this in here.

YIORGOS: Thank you.

DIANE: Let's just get all of this good stuff in here all of it.

Ok I think we're good.

And now we just want to fill the cups, about two-thirds of the way.

Kind of like that, you see.

YIORGOS: Perfect DIANE: You want to do them?

YIORGOS: Yeah sure.

DIANE: Perfect.

[Clinking of cups] DIANE: We have one last step.

So we want to cover each glass so that the mousse doesn't form a film on top.

YIORGOS: Mm-hmm.

DIANE: And once this is set we will garnish it.

That's it.

Now we have to let this set in the refrigerator.

[Tray clanking in refrigerator] DIANE: Okay, time to- YIORGOS: You ready to go?

DIANE: I have a few different toppings.

I have halva, which is a tahini-based confection.

I have the chocolate pieces, the dark chocolate, which is the same chocolate we used in the mousse, some blueberries, and some raspberries.

YIORGOS: Okay.

DIANE: And we can top them, you know, as we like.

They don't have to be perfectly symmetrical.

YIORGOS: Okay.

And a couple of blueberries.

DIANE: Perfect.

The raspberries are nice 'cause they add some brightness.

YIORGOS: You want a little centerpiece?

DIANE: If you want a little centerpiece, do it.

All right, Yiorgos time to taste.

YIORGOS: All right.

DIANE: So let's hear your opinion about the olive oil chocolate mousse.

YIORGOS: I'm a tough critic.

DIANE: I know.

Taste it and tell me what you think?

YIORGOS: It's really good.

I like the combination of the halva with the chocolate.

DIANE: What about the olive oil?

YIORGOS: Kind of smooths everything together.

DIANE: It does.

YIORGOS: It gives a nice consistency too.

This is really good, Ma.

DIANE: I know.

YIORGOS: I'm surprised we don't make it more often.

DIANE: [Laughs] Thank you.

Mmm.

It's not that sweet.

It's got a very silky consistency because of the olive oil.

Do you get the mastiha and the orange?

YIORGOS: See, I get the hints of orange and like the mastiha as an aftertaste.

DIANE: That's what it's supposed to be.

It's very subtle.

You don't want it to overpower everything.

YIORGOS: Yeah yeah.

DIANE: So that's the whole point.

The surprising thing about using olive oil in chocolate mousse is that you'd think that would make it actually heavier, but in fact, it's the opposite.

To me, it's lighter and you actually get a little bit of the fruitiness of the olive oil itself.

So this is a great combination.

What do you think?

Cheers.

Oh, you're done.

You finished it.

YIORGOS: Yeah.

Proof.

DIANE: [Laughs] Proof.

DIANE: For recipe links and information about My Greek Table , visit my website, DianeKochilas.com.

ANNOUNCER: Diane's cookbooks, "The Ikaria Way" and "Athens: Food, Stories, Love" are available to purchase online at DianeKochilas.com or call the phone number on the screen.

My Greek Table with Diane Kochilas is made possible in part by... The Fillo Factory.

Grecian Delight Kronos, A family committed to better eating.

The National Hellenic Society.

And by the following... DIANE: Everything, you know, the same color perfectly incorporated.

YIORGOS: Okay, when you say fold.

DIANE: That's fold.

Fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, okay.

It's a little hard to do this standing next to someone who's two heads taller than I am, so... YIORGOS: Okay, I'm sorry, I'm sorry to ever doubt you.

DIANE: [Laughs] No, you can doubt me.

Just don't voice it publicly.

It's different.