I have a wonderful Italian friend who always brings me delicious offerings when he returns from his travels. Sopressata from his wife’s village in the north of Italy or delicious salame from Milan but this last week, he came to dinner bearing the most wonderful slab of bresaola from Switzerland — in fact bresaola is from Italy’s Valtellina Valley while beyond the border it is called carne secca dei grigioni (grison’s dry meat). Anyhow, today I brought out one of my best knives to cut myself a few slices for lunch.

I drizzled the bresaola with some of Mary Taylor Simeti‘s amazing olive oil — I buy it directly from her and her husband personally oversees the pressing of the olives to make sure the oil is not adulterated with lesser quality olives. Their oil is always brilliant but this year, the harvest was not only bountiful but also of superior quality which meant that the oil is even better than normal. Lucky I ordered two 5-litre tins! Hopefully my stash will last me for the whole year despite my using it on an almost daily basis.

To go with the bresaola, I happened to have some of the semolina Moroccan bread I had baked for the dinner my friend came to. The anise and sesame seeds I had added to the dough went rather nicely with the cured meat. And to add a fresh note, I made a lovely cabbage salad with spring onion and flat-leaf parsley. Naturally, I dressed the salad with my beautiful oil but instead of squeezing a regular lemon over it, I used a Meyer lemon which I had brought back with me from California. All in all, a perfect lunch. If only I could have it every day. Perhaps I will for the next two or three days given that I still have enough bresaola for one or two more solo lunches!