Mediterranean Women Stay Slim, Too: Eating to Be Sexy, Fit, and Fabulous! (66 page)

1 pound plus 1/4 cup unsalted butter

2 teaspoons salt

5 eggs

2 tablespoons milk

2 tablespoons active dry yeast (or two

21/4 cups high-gluten flour (bread

packets)

flour)

6 tablespoons sugar

1.
Put all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix using a stand or handheld mixer until the sides of the bowl are clean. Refrigerate the dough overnight.

2.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Divide the chilled dough into 24

pieces. Roll each piece into a ball.

Baklava and Biscotti

~ 301 ~

3.
Place the dough on a lightly greased baking sheet or Silpat-lined baking sheet, about 2 inches apart, or put the balls of dough into lightly greased individual muffin tins.

4.
Bake until the rolls are light golden brown, 18–20 minutes.

Cool on a wire cooling rack and store covered for up to 2 days.

Mediterranean Women Stay Slim, Too

~ 302 ~

Olive Oil and Lemon--Scented

Semolina Cake

S e r v e s 1 2

√This cake may sound unusual to you, but it isn’t at all unusual to women living in the Mediterranean. In Italy and particularly in Greece, it is quite common to bake with olive oil instead of butter. Italians also like to use semolina flour—traditional for pasta—in their cakes for a denser, grainier texture. This is a filling, delicious cake that requires little garnishment. A small slice with coffee or tea makes a satisfying afternoon snack. However, if you want to fancy it up for a special occasion, top each slice with a small scoop of sorbetto, such as the Coconut Sorbetto earlier in this chapter, and a little bitter chocolate shaved over the top. I also like to drizzle the plate with chilled Pineapple Syrup (recipe follows).

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1⁄2 teaspoon salt

3⁄4 cup sugar

Optional garnishes: Pineapple Syrup

Zest of 1 lemon

(recipe follows), Coconut Sorbetto

2⁄3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

(page 297), bittersweet chocolate

11⁄4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

shaved with a vegetable peeler, mint

1⁄4 cup semolina flour

sprigs

1 tablespoon baking powder

1.
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Put the eggs into a large bowl and beat them with a stand or handheld mixer until combined.

Switch to the whip attachment and whip for 1 minute.

2.
Slowly add the sugar and whip until the entire mixture is very pale and frothy. Mix in the lemon zest.

Baklava and Biscotti

~ 303 ~

3.
In a separate bowl, mix together the olive oil, flours, baking powder, and salt. Add the sugar mixture in two batches to the flour mixture, mixing just until combined. Do not overmix.

4.
Grease a ring mold or bundt-type pan. Pour the batter into the pan. Bake until lightly browned, 25–35 minutes. A skewer should come out moist.

5.
Cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. To assemble the dessert for more formal occasions, drizzle chilled pineapple syrup on individual dessert plates. Top with a slice of warm cake. Place a small scoop of coconut (or other flavor) sorbetto on top of each cake slice, then top that with a few shavings of bittersweet chocolate. Garnish with a sprig of mint.

Mediterranean Women Stay Slim, Too

~ 304 ~

Pineapple Syrup

M a k e s a b o u t 1 c u p

√This syrup enriches any cake, or try it drizzled over coconut sorbetto for a refreshingly tropical dessert. Keep it in a glass jar in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

3⁄4 of a large pineapple, skinned, cored,

1⁄2 vanilla bean, split in half

and cut into 1-inch-thick slices

2 tablespoons golden rum, plus more if

3⁄4 cup simple syrup (3⁄4 cup water and

needed

3⁄4 cup sugar boiled together until

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon

sugar dissolves)

juice, plus more if needed

1.
Put the pineapple into a large saucepan. Add the simple syrup. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the pot, then add the vanilla bean, too. Cook over medium-low heat until the fruit is tender and cooked through.

2.
Process the mixture in a food processor or use an immersion blender in the saucepan. Strain the syrup into a bowl through a fine sieve.

3.
Stir in the rum and lemon juice. Adjust to taste. Chill at least 2 hours or overnight.

Baklava and Biscotti

~ 305 ~

Panna Cotta

M a k e s 5 s e r v i n g s

√This smooth, creamy panna cotta is very basic. Unlike a custard, it does not contain eggs and you don’t have to bake it. It gets its thick, tangy creaminess from yogurt, and this is a delicious way to eat yogurt. Panna cotta is easily dressed up with fresh herbs such as lemon verbena, mint, or lavender, a thin, crunchy cookie, and whatever fresh fruit is in season.

1⁄2 cup whole-milk yogurt plus

2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons plus

11⁄2 cups yogurt (you can

1⁄2 cup heavy cream or milk

use sheep’s, goat’s, or cow’s milk

11⁄2 teaspoons powdered gelatin

yogurt)

1⁄2 cup sugar

1.
Lightly oil five 4-ounce ramekins or molds with a flavorless oil such as canola.

2.
Combine 1⁄2 cup yogurt and the 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons heavy cream or milk in a medium stainless steel bowl.

Whisk to combine. Sprinkle the gelatin over the mixture and set it aside to expand and begin to gel.

3.
Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1⁄2 cup heavy cream or milk and the sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar. Stir this mixture into the mixture with the gelatin.

4.
Set a saucepan of water over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Place the bowl of yogurt–cream–gelatin mixture over the boiling water and stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved.

This could take 15 minutes.

5.
Remove the bowl from the heat and whisk in the remaining 11⁄2 cups yogurt. Mix until thoroughly combined.

Mediterranean Women Stay Slim, Too

~ 306 ~

6.
Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve or cheesecloth and pour it into the oiled ramekins or molds. Put them on a tray, cover them lightly with plastic wrap, and set them in the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours or overnight. To serve, run a small paring knife around the edge of each mold and turn it out gently onto a dessert plate. Garnish with fresh herbs, fresh fruit, pineapple syrup, or just enjoy in its pure form.

Baklava and Biscotti

~ 307 ~

√ About Coffee

If you love coffee with your dessert, you can easily fit this warming and stimulating beverage into a Mediterranean lifestyle. Different countries have different coffee traditions.

Coffee is a passion in the Mediterranean. Coffee with milk accompanies breakfast, while espresso makes a good afternoon pick-me-up as well as an after-dinner drink. And coffee is good for you! A recent study listed coffee as the number-one source of antioxidants in the American diet. Coffee’s concentrated antioxidants may protect against certain cancers and other diseases of aging. Coffee also lowers your risk of type 2 diabetes, increases cognitive abilities, and is a proven mood and perfor-mance booster. No wonder we love it so much!

In the eastern Mediterranean, coffee is often prepared with sugar and spices such as cardamom, and it is very strong, served in small demitasse cups. Turkish coffee is a perfect example. Our friend Lydia comes from Lebanon. Her Lebanese coffee recipe is provided here. Lydia says that in Lebanon, the hostess typically adds sugar according to individual guest preferences. Each cup of coffee is usually served with a glass of water on a serving tray, frequently along with a tiny piece of chocolate or other sweets. Coffee is always served to visitors following lunch. “Lebanese women don’t consider a visit complete without coffee,” counsels Lydia.

LYDIA’S LEBANON

In Lebanon, says our friend Lydia, who now lives in the United States, the diet is fresh and diverse. “Because we live on the Mediterranean Sea, Lebanon enjoys a large variety of fish and shellfish . . . and even sea tur-tles. Our diet is rich in wheat such as bulgur, vegetables of many choices,
Mediterranean Women Stay Slim, Too

~ 308 ~

rice, and beans. Fruits are essential to our diet and are served instead of desserts after the main meals.” Spices also play a big part in Lebanese cuisine, says Lydia. “Allspice, black pepper, and cinnamon are always used in our cooking, and so is garlic, in almost every dish. And onions!” Red meat and chicken are featured in some meals. Food is incredibly important to the people of Lebanon.

“Cooking is time-consuming, as Lebanese people like to celebrate with fancy food and are first-class gourmets. They work it off in a party of belly dancing, which is very popular in Lebanon,” Lydia says with a laugh.

Almost every night people go out to dance.”

Baklava and Biscotti

~ 309 ~

Lydia’s Lebanese Coffee

S e r v e s 2

√Lydia tells us this recipe originated in Turkey many centuries ago. The Arabic name of the coffee pot traditionally used to make this coffee is Rakwa, and it comes in different sizes. You can find these coffee pots in Middle Eastern stores, and more often than not, in good general-purpose kitchen stores, too.

2 demitasse-sized cups of water

Pinch of cardamom (optional)

1⁄2 teaspoon sugar (optional)

2 teaspoons coffee, very finely ground

1.
In a small saucepan over high heat, boil the water with the optional sugar.

2.
Add the cardamom, if using, and coffee. Boil several more times, lifting the saucepan up every time the coffee reaches the boiling point to lower the heat. Pour into demitasse cups and serve hot or warm.

Now wasn’t that sweet? Remember that dessert is one of the most pleasurable parts of a celebratory meal, but it simply isn’t a regular part of Mediterranean meals on a daily basis. Many women do have a very small sweet in the afternoon with coffee, but that would be the only sweet of the day. If you reserve sweets for special occasions, they really do become something very special.

Mediterranean Women Stay Slim, Too

~ 310 ~

?

16

Long Life!

Que será, será . . .

Whatever will be, will be . . .

For centuries, women have dreamed of a fountain of youth, a key to eternal life, and the best ways to live a long and healthy existence. All we need do is look to the Mediterranean, where women often live beyond a hundred years, comfortable, cared for, and healthy.

The Mediterranean lifestyle holds the secret. It is the fountain of youth. Caring for our body, mind, and spirit with good food, exercise, fresh air, strong families, and enduring friendships will nurture us into old age. We will be able to remain beautiful, healthy, connected to society, and well respected in the tradition of the Mediterranean, where everyone presumes that “older” automatically means “wiser,” and the oldest family members are cherished as active, vibrant components of family life.

You don’t have to quote statistics to a Mediterranean woman

~ 311 ~

about life spans and how many extra years may grace a Mediterranean woman’s life because of the way she eats, how she moves, how she thinks about life—she sees it around her in the lovely character of the old faces and agility of the old hands of women, still cooking, still laughing, still loving through generations of family,
living
a hundred years and beyond!

Sometimes, when I think about life in the United States, I think it seems very far away from life in the Mediterranean. But at other times, I think we almost have it right, as I wander through the tea garden or pick flowers for the tables or wave hello to my neighbors or greet the regular customers that travel from all around to come to Primo for dinner, where they know they will be nurtured with good food that is prepared with love.

I’m living the Mediterranean life, right here in coastal Maine, and you can live it, too, no matter where you live, even if you are miles from the sea.

As the American writer Charlotte Cushman once wrote, “To try to be better is to be better.” Taking these tiny, pleasurable steps toward a better life can make big differences in the way we look, feel, and embrace life. What better source for advice than the ancient wisdom of the Mediterranean? Everything you do to adjust your life to a healthier, more natural way of living can add years to your life and make you feel better, healthier, more energetic, right now.

It could well be that the best years of your life are yet to come. Let’s quickly review some of the ways in which the Mediterranean way of life can help you to live longer and better.

This is advice, pure and simple, from me to you, encompassing everything in this book that I think is truly crucial for embracing the Mediterranean diet, lifestyle, and spirit:

• A thermos of hot homemade soup is better than a Twinkie, anytime, anywhere.

Mediterranean Women Stay Slim, Too

~ 312 ~

• You can be different from many other people with their bad food habits and convenience store mentality. You can be yourself, however and whoever you are.

• The Mediterranean is a land of individualism. Be who
you
want to be, not who someone tells you to be. You don’t have to pretend to be French or Italian or Greek or anything other than who you are right here, right now.