Mediterranean Women Stay Slim, Too: Eating to Be Sexy, Fit, and Fabulous! (19 page)

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin

beans (or use canned, drained and

olive oil

rinsed)

1 cup fresh basil leaves

2 cups new or fingerling potatoes,

2 cups vegetable or fish stock or broth

boiled until tender, drained, and

2 carrots, peeled and diced

diced

2 parsnips, peeled and diced

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 cup broccoli florets (immerse in

20-ounce wild Alaskan salmon fillet

boiling water for about 2 minutes

Salt and pepper to taste

to blanch)

1.
Make the pesto: Put the garlic in a food processor and process until well minced. Add the pine nuts, cheese, and 1/2 cup of the olive oil, and pulse until well ground. Add the basil leaves and 1/2 cup more olive oil, and puree until smooth. Set aside.

2.
In a large saucepan, heat the stock over high heat. Add the carrots, parsnips, broccoli, cauliflower, beans, and potatoes.

Bring to a boil, then turn down to simmer.

Madonna of Moderation

~ 171 ~

3.
Swirl the pesto into the vegetable mixture a little at a time, reserving a little for garnishing at the end. Remove from the heat and set aside.

4.
Put the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a sauté pan and heat on high until the oil ripples and just begins to smoke. Season the salmon with salt and pepper and place the fish, presentation side down (the side you will want up when you serve it), into the pan. Give the pan a quick shake immediately, then do not move until the salmon looks crispy on the edges, about 5

minutes.

5.
Carefully turn the salmon and sear on the opposite side.

Cook until the desired doneness. (I like to serve this rare to medium-rare, which takes about 5 more minutes.) Put the salmon on a platter and cut into 4 equal pieces.

6.
Pour the pistou-vegetable sauce into four shallow bowls and place a piece of salmon on top of each. Garnish with a dollop of the pistou.

Mediterranean Women Stay Slim, Too

~ 172 ~

Spaghetti with Calamari all’Arrabiatta

S e r v e s 4 t o 6

√Calamari, or squid, isn’t a seafood commonly consumed in the United States except in its deep-fat fried form in restaurants.

It is much more popular in the Mediterranean, where you can get it fresh from the sea. It really is delicious, so if you have access to fresh calamari where you live, try this delectable dish.

If you can’t find good calamari, you can substitute fresh clams or shrimp for a different but equally good taste. You can also top this with crunchy toasted bread crumbs instead of the cheese.

1 tablespoon salt plus more to taste

1 cup diced pickled cherry peppers

1 pound spaghetti

(sweet or hot, find these with the

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

pickled vegetables in the store, or

1 medium onion, peeled and diced

substitute marinated red pepper

1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and

strips)

diced

1⁄2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

1 jalapeño pepper, cored, seeded, and

1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

diced

Pepper to taste

2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

11⁄2 pounds cleaned calamari

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

3 tomatoes, blanched in boiling water

for 5 minutes and peeled

1.
Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil over high heat in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add the 1 tablespoon salt, then the spaghetti.

Cook 8 minutes, or until al dente. Drain and set aside.

2.
Meanwhile, heat the olive oil on medium-high in a medium sauce pot. Add the onions, red bell peppers, and jalapeño peppers.

Madonna of Moderation

~ 173 ~

Cook until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook 2 more minutes.

3.
Add the whole peeled tomatoes and pickled peppers and cook another 15–20 minutes. Add the parsley and oregano and check the seasoning, adding salt and pepper if necessary or some of the vinegar from the cherry peppers if you want a piquant sauce.

4.
Using a tomato or potato masher, crush the tomatoes and peppers together. If you don’t have a masher, use a food processor or a blender, but pulse only. You don’t want a smooth puree.

5.
Add the calamari to the sauce and heat it through, about 3

minutes.

6.
Add the pasta to the sauce. Toss to coat. Serve hot, garnished with grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, accompanied by a crusty baguette and red wine.

Even if you are still hesitant about straying from your normal course of chicken breast and salmon fillet (those American protein staples), I hope you will try something new for your once-a-week meat indulgence. Be daring. Go gastronomically wild! Why not? Participate in the adventurous spirit of Mediterranean eating. If you live near the coast, find out what seafood comes fresh from the waters nearest you. If you live in the heartland, consider bison instead of beef now and then, or guinea hen instead of chicken. Try lamb for a change, or pork, or even rabbit or duck! Remember, variety keeps your meals interesting, expands your taste intelligence, feeds your body better, and tempts you to eat less by making every bite alluring.

Just keep your servings small, eat meat only once a week, and you can try anything. Come on, I dare you. Live a little.
Comme
les méditerranéens
.

Mediterranean Women Stay Slim, Too

~ 174 ~

Q

9

To the Table, Famiglia

Eating at the family table was such an important part of my childhood and one of the ways in which my family most closely resembled the typical close-knit Italian families living in small towns along the Mediterranean coast. Dinner was a priority.

We all sat down together and enjoyed several courses of good, fresh, home-prepared food. We began with an antipasto platter.

We had soup, pasta, a fish course, a meat course, salad and cheese, and even dessert. We didn’t argue about it, we didn’t schedule things to do during this time, and we didn’t fail to show up at the table. We just accepted dining as one of the requirements of living in a family.

√ Making Time for Family

Of course, American women today sometimes have a hard time getting their partners and children together at the family table,

~ 175 ~

let alone finding the time to prepare a meal worthy of such a gathering. The longstanding tradition in Mediterranean families seems like a luxury to many of us. But you don’t have to be like the majority. Do you really want to be overweight, low on energy, and too busy to pay attention to the people you love and the food you eat? To really embrace the Mediterranean way of eating, you must embrace the Mediterranean way of living, which means making time for family and friends a nonnego-tiable priority. Mediterranean women are more than just sexy and vital femmes fatales; they are also
madonnas,
life partners, and devoted mothers! Love of family and home is an earthy sensuality that is simply a part of who women are in the Mediterranean and how they live.

This may sound idyllic to you. But, hey, life isn’t perfect.

Maybe your family squabbles at the table, or the kids complain about the food, or nobody will come to the table even after you’ve proclaimed, “Dinner’s ready!” three or four times. I know! Especially before everyone has embraced the habit of regular family dinners, establishing this time together can be difficult. But the effort is well worth the final result. You and your family will remember these dinners for the rest of your lives. I know I remember mine.

The argument I hear the most for not having regular family dinners is that people just don’t have enough time, or they aren’t all home from school or work or other activities at the same time. Women, men, and even our children take work very seriously in this country, even if that work is school or sports or volunteering. But Mediterraneans take family time, social gatherings, and mealtime very seriously. Their respect for family and food is a lesson for all of us.

Food is the most primitive form of comfort.

—Sheilah Graham, journalist

Mediterranean Women Stay Slim, Too

~ 176 ~

√ Enjoying Food Without Gaining Weight

You might wonder what sitting down at the table with your family has to do with staying slim or losing weight. Step back a few feet and you’ll see the big picture. It’s all connected: taste, quality, freshness, and sharing that wonderful food with people you love. If you eat food under happy, warm circumstances with those you love, you will be so fulfilled in other ways that you won’t need to stuff yourself for reasons that have nothing to do with physical hunger. Making a commitment to spend time at the table with family helps to bring all these elements together.

A close-knit family sharing food together, supporting each other, and expressing their fondness and love for each other makes life easier, less stressful, and more, well . . . filling. Good food may bring you all together and be the resource you share, but the big picture—all the pieces of a fulfilling, happy, pleasurable life—is bigger than what is on your plate today or tomorrow. The bigger picture is what brings you—your mind and your body—into harmony with yourself and the world around you.

What you are
not
doing when you eat with your family is very important. You aren’t eating alone! Think about how you eat when you eat alone, or on the run, or in the car. Do you notice the food, or do you gulp it down as fast as you can and move on to the next thing? Do you eat way too much? Do you eat to numb your feelings when nobody is watching how much you are eating? The foods we eat in this informal and often alienated fashion tend to be less healthy, less fresh, and more processed, and we tend to eat much more than we need. But there is more to eating right than quality.

When you sit down at a table, use dishes and silverware, and eat food that you or someone you love has prepared, eating be-To the Table, Famiglia

~ 177 ~

comes an entirely different experience than when you eat in the car on the way from one place to another. When you focus on your food and the people you are sharing it with, you notice what you are eating. It tastes better. Each bite means more and fulfills you more. It may even nourish you more, as you are eating in relaxed surroundings with a positive mindset.

When you eat at the table and make mealtime an event, you may end up eating less, even if you are eating multiple courses.

Just keep your portions small—just a taste! You will certainly feel more like you’ve really eaten and are less likely to want to eat again before the next meal.

In the Mediterranean, mealtime means conversation, each component of the menu a cause for celebration, discussion, and even analysis. Enjoying your food with others makes it a more vivid experience. What do you like? Why? What do your friends and family like? What are the differences in your preferences? Does one of you particularly appreciate the silky soup while another prefers the garlicky aroma of the pasta sauce?

And do you note that hint of tarragon, or is it basil?

To lift off the cover of a tomato-y mixture and let

it bubble up mushroom and basil under my nose

does a lot to counteract the many subtle efforts a

part of me makes to punish myself for all those

worst of my shortcomings.

—Mary Virginia Micka, poet

People in the Mediterranean rarely eat alone because social participation is considered a crucial part of the dining experience. Food is for sharing. If you have a meal planned with your friends or family, don’t waste your precious stomach space snacking first. Don’t eat while you are cooking except to taste for seasonings. Let the meal be an event for you, whether it is a
Mediterranean Women Stay Slim, Too

~ 178 ~

holiday or not. If you can manage at least one sit-down family dinner each week, consider it a triumph of the modern world.

Cook for those you love, or let them cook for you. Sit. Savor.

Eat! And make every bite worthwhile. Here are some ideas to help you share food with your friends and family.

To the Table, Famiglia

~ 179 ~

Sean Kelly’s Rosemary

Roasted Almonds

√

M a k e s 4 c u p s

These almonds are easy to make and have so much more flavor than the salty canned almonds you can buy in the store. This recipe comes from my friend and Denver-based fellow chef Sean Kelly. Try a handful of this healthful snack food when you are hungry between meals to fill you up instead of making you even hungrier like high-carb snacks do. You can store these almonds in an airtight container for up to two months. These are also excellent served with sherry or any before-dinner aperitif, or with cheese, or as part of an antipasti, which you’ll read more about later in this book.

4 cups unsalted raw almonds,

Salt and pepper to taste

with skins

1 teaspoon finely minced garlic

1⁄2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1⁄2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

3 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

1.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the almonds on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes until they are lightly toasted but not brown. Meanwhile, place the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl and stir to combine.

2.
Add the hot nuts to the bowl and toss to coat thoroughly.