Olive oil can be so much more than a salad dressing or sauté base.

In their new e-book “Cooking Techniques with Olive Oil”, Mary Platis and Laura Bashar show how it can be used for poaching, braising, marinating, steaming, baking and infusing.

Poached rosemary garlic lamb chops, watermelon shooters with Persian mint syrup and dark chocolate olive oil cake with strawberries are a few of the book’s offerings.

Most of the recipes are Mediterranean, as Platis is of Greek descent and Bashar has Persian ancestry. The book also contains a primer on olive oil – its history, production, varieties and flavours, and details on selection and storing.

“Cooking Techniques with Olive Oil” has been nominated for a 2013 Global Ebook Award.