The Olive Oil Hunter, Author at Fresh-Pressed Olive Oil

The Olive Oil Hunter News #15

Posted on January 8, 2021December 15, 2021 by The Olive Oil Hunter

The Ultimate Tex-Mex Chili Recipe, Spotlight on Urfa Peppers and Capsaicin, Plus How to Combat the Harmful Effects of Sedentary Behavior

Cold days almost demand comfort foods, and one of my favorites is a hearty bowl of chili. I love the depth of flavor you can build with spices along with the convenience of cooking it in one pot. This issue of The Olive Oil Hunter Newsletter also features one of the most exotic spices in my pantry—black Urfa chili. A mainstay in the Middle East for centuries, it has recently become better known in the West because current events in Syria have made it very hard to find its kitchen cousin, Aleppo pepper. Now let’s get cooking…

The Ultimate Tex-Mex Chili

$The Olive Oil Hunter News #15 The Ultimate Tex-Mex Chili with Urfa Pepper$ Rich and Hearty Chili
A mix of rich spices takes run-of-the-mill chili to a whole new level. You’ll need a few hours for the flavors to develop, but not a lot of active effort. And the results are more than worth it! If you prefer to start with dried beans, soak a total of two cups of your favorite variety or varieties and add them to the pot when you add back the cooked beef. Made with beans, this chili is a good source of important fiber as well as other nutrients.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 large onions, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 16 ounces baby portobello or white button mushrooms, sliced thin
- 2 pounds ground beef, chicken, or turkey
- 1 6-ounce can tomato paste
- 1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes with liquid
- 2 15-ounce cans great northern beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 15-ounce cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons ancho chili powder
- ½ teaspoon each cayenne, allspice, and coarse salt
- 1 tablespoon apple cider or sherry vinegar
- Optional toppings for serving: diced raw onions, shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, and crushed corn or tortilla chips as desired
Directions

Step 1

Heat a large stockpot or Dutch oven. Add the oil and then the onions and garlic. Cook over medium heat until soft. Add the mushrooms and sauté until soft. Add the ground meat in batches and cook until browned.

Step 2

Push everything to the sides of the pot and add the tomato paste. Cook it until it turns a deep, brownish red and then fold it into the vegetables and meat. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine.

Step 3

Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for three hours, stirring every half hour. If the liquid is evaporating too quickly, place the lid ajar. Remove the bay leaves and serve with your choice of toppings.
Yields 8 hearty servings.

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Urfa Peppers

Turkey occupies a unique place on the globe, at the intersection of Europe and Asia. Straddling the Black Sea to the north and the Mediterranean to the south, it’s a hotbed of amazing herbs and spices. Black Urfa chili (Capsicum annuum) takes its name from the ancient southeast town of Urfa—local farmers grow it in the surrounding hills.

In many areas of Turkey, Urfa chili, also known as Urfa biber or Urfa pepper, is as common on the dinner table as cracked black peppercorns are here. I’m still amazed when I see it growing:

These peppers are red and shaped like bell peppers, but pack a taste that a bell pepper can only dream of! Urfa peppers magically turn maroon as they ripen. Then, unlike most peppers that are simply dried after harvest, they go through a double process—sun-dried by day and tightly wrapped at night, a technique that preserves their oil content, enriches their flavor, and deepens their color to a purple-black. They’re then stone-ground into small flakes and mixed with some sea salt and sunflower seed oil to further enhance flavor and texture.

Healthy Kitchen Nugget

Cooking with Black Urfa Peppers

Black Urfa chili adds rich smokiness to Middle Eastern dishes, and it’s especially delicious on lamb boreks, koftis, kebabs, and other grilled meats, as well as on veggies. It’s also wonderful in many other cuisines—think French stews and South American pork roasts. It will enliven your favorite salad dressings and wet and dry rubs, jazz up simple scrambled or fried eggs, and bring extra depth and a hint of heat to brownies, blondies, hot chocolate, and even a scoop of chocolate ice cream.

For Your Best Health

Capsaicin and Urfa Peppers

As with all peppers, at the heart of black Urfa chili’s heat is capsaicin, the naturally occurring compound that determines how sweet or hot a pepper is. Capsaicin has antioxidant and antibacterial properties, so it may help protect against infection, improve digestion, and possibly one day have a role in anti-cancer therapies. According to a report published in Molecules, there’s some evidence that eating hot pepper every day helps curb hunger and may even lead to a higher calorie burn rate. Research is underway to figure out the best daily amount, but in the meantime you can test out the theory yourself.

Fitness Flash

Combat the Harmful Effects of Sedentary Behavior

Between the weather and the pandemic, you might be hunkered down at home, but it’s never been more important to be active. According to new global guidelines from the World Health Organization regarding physical activity and sedentary behavior, published in a special issue of the British Journal of Sports Medicine, it takes more daily exercise than currently prescribed to counter the harmful effects of sitting for long periods of time, defined as 10 or more hours a day, often a combination of a desk job and evenings spent watching TV. Logging more exercise minutes can lower the risk of early death, which has been linked to being sedentary, to the level of someone whose lifestyle is quite active.

While any amount of physical activity is better than none when it comes to good health, the guidelines emphasize aiming for 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise, or the equivalent combination of the two, every week, and the more, the better. A good daily goal is 30 to 40 minutes of moderate exercise. It’s fine to start slow and gradually build frequency, intensity, and duration over time.
Here’s how the report describes moderate and vigorous exercise:

Moderate-intensity activity increases heart rate and induces a degree of breathlessness that still allows a person to talk. Examples include brisk walking, dancing, and raking leaves.
Vigorous-intensity activity substantially increases heart rate and breathing rate. Examples include cycling, running/jogging, swimming, carrying heavy objects, walking up the stairs, digging in the garden, and playing tennis.

The report states that it’s also important to strength train on two or more days of the week, or three times (roughly every other day) if you’re over 65 to enhance physical functioning. And, of course, do whatever you can to reduce sitting time.

Stuck inside? “There are plenty of indoor options that don’t need a lot of space or equipment, such as climbing the stairs, active play with children or pets, dancing, or online yoga or Pilates classes,” said Emmanuel Stamatakis, PhD, professor at the University of Sydney and co-editor of the special issue.

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Rack of Lamb with Garlic and Rosemary

Posted on January 1, 2021September 21, 2021 by The Olive Oil Hunter

There’s no better way to enhance any cut of lamb than with a coating of garlic, rosemary, olive oil, and lemon juice, but feel free to adjust the garlic and rosemary up or down depending on your taste preference. Creamy polenta or whipped mashed potatoes are a perfect accompaniment along with roasted Brussels sprouts or glazed carrots.

Ingredients

1 rack of lamb with 8 ribs, frenched (see “Healthy Ingredient Spotlight” below)
3 large cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary needles, plus extra sprigs for garnish
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice or balsamic vinegar
Coarse sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Step 1

Place the rack of lamb bone side down on a rimmed baking sheet or in a roasting pan. Add the garlic, olive oil, rosemary, and lemon juice or balsamic vinegar to the bowl of a small food processor and pulse until the garlic is finely chopped. Coat the lamb on all sides with the mixture, and season generously with salt and pepper. Allow the lamb to stand at room temperature for one hour.

Step 2

Put an oven rack in the center position and preheat the oven to 450°F. Roast the lamb for 20 to 25 minutes for medium-rare or until the internal temperature on an instant-read meat thermometer registers 125°F. (Roast the lamb 5-10 minutes longer if you prefer it less pink.) After removing it from the oven, loosely tent the lamb with aluminum foil and allow it to rest for 15 minutes. To serve, slice the rack into individual chops and divide them between two dinner plates, fanning them in a semicircle. Top with a drizzle of olive oil and garnish with rosemary sprigs, if desired.

Yields 2 servings.

The Olive Oil Hunter News #14

Posted on January 1, 2021September 21, 2021 by The Olive Oil Hunter

Rack of Lamb with Garlic and Rosemary Recipe, Spotlight on Lamb, Healthy Eating Debunked and The Stairs Count

Having traveled around the world and sampled some of the most amazing grass-fed lamb dishes, from grilled chops to tandoori roasts to casseroles, I’m always shocked by the statistic that Americans barely eat one pound of lamb a year. It could be that a massive leg of lamb seems intimidating at first or that, as a pricey cut of meat, it isn’t a food many of us grew up with. If you’re new to this “other” red meat, there’s no simpler or more delicious introduction than a rack of lamb. My recipe will serve two for an elegant New Year’s Eve dinner or any other special occasion. For an even more festive presentation perfect for four people, ask the butcher to tie two racks together to form a crown roast, and just double the ingredients in the marinade (it should cook in about the same time).

Rack of Lamb with Garlic and Rosemary

Rack of Lamb with Garlic and Rosemary
There’s no better way to enhance any cut of lamb than with a coating of garlic, rosemary, olive oil, and lemon juice, but feel free to adjust the garlic and rosemary up or down depending on your taste preference. Creamy polenta or whipped mashed potatoes are a perfect accompaniment along with roasted Brussels sprouts or glazed carrots.
Ingredients
- 1 rack of lamb with 8 ribs, frenched (see “Healthy Ingredient Spotlight” below)
- 3 large cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary needles, plus extra sprigs for garnish
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice or balsamic vinegar
- Coarse sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Directions

Step 1

Place the rack of lamb bone side down on a rimmed baking sheet or in a roasting pan. Add the garlic, olive oil, rosemary, and lemon juice or balsamic vinegar to the bowl of a small food processor and pulse until the garlic is finely chopped. Coat the lamb on all sides with the mixture, and season generously with salt and pepper. Allow the lamb to stand at room temperature for one hour.

Step 2

Put an oven rack in the center position and preheat the oven to 450°F. Roast the lamb for 20 to 25 minutes for medium-rare or until the internal temperature on an instant-read meat thermometer registers 125°F. (Roast the lamb 5-10 minutes longer if you prefer it less pink.) After removing it from the oven, loosely tent the lamb with aluminum foil and allow it to rest for 15 minutes. To serve, slice the rack into individual chops and divide them between two dinner plates, fanning them in a semicircle. Top with a drizzle of olive oil and garnish with rosemary sprigs, if desired.
Yields 2 servings.

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

The Other Red Meat: Lamb

It’s time to sing the praises of lamb, a red meat that, depending on the cut, can have less fat than beef. Also, grass-fed lamb in particular tends to have less fat than grain-fed lamb, as well as fewer calories. Read labels to know for sure how the lamb was raised—New Zealand lamb, as well as most lamb raised in Colorado and some parts of the Midwest, is primarily if not completely grass-fed. (Surprisingly, imported lamb is often less expensive than US-grown.)

In addition to being a great protein source, with about 20 grams in three ounces, lamb has important vitamins and minerals—B12, iron, potassium, and zinc. As with most red meats, you want to remove as much of the visible white fat as possible before cooking to limit your saturated fat intake. “Frenching” a rack of lamb—prepping it in the French way—involves removing the meat, fat, and membranes from between each of the ribs. This not only creates a sophisticated presentation, but also pares down a lot of the fat that can be tempting to eat but just isn’t good for you. Many racks of lamb are often sold frenched or can be prepped by the butcher in the meat department of your favorite food store (you may need to request this cut in advance). One reason rack of lamb is more expensive is the work involved, but you’re also getting almost pure meat. If you want to exercise your knife skills, you can try the frenching technique at home. For a great step-by-step, check out the directions from W ork Sharp Sharpeners.

Healthy Kitchen Nugget

Oven-Roasting Meat Right

Oven-roasting is a great way to bring out the flavor of meat, and roasting whole cuts of meat (as well as whole chicken, turkey, and duck) on a well-oiled rack in a roasting pan allows any hidden fat to drip away as the meat cooks.

If you want to create a bit of a crust on the edges of a roast, press chopped herbs, ground seeds, or even chopped nuts mixed with a little extra virgin olive oil rather than breadcrumbs on all the exposed sides. Just as garlic and rosemary are ideal for any cut of lamb, crushed black peppercorns are great for beef. Using a dry rub of herbs and spices is another delicious way to prep the surface of a roast, especially a pork roast, for the oven.

For Your Best Health

Healthy Eating Debunked

Ever wonder if healthy eating is really all it’s cracked up to be? If these moments of questioning tend to happen as you pass your favorite bakery or get a hankering for a gooey meatball parm, strengthen your resolve with the latest report on the benefits of high-quality diets from the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Researchers reviewed numerous studies based on the health outcomes of three diets—DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), the Healthy Eating Index, and the Alternate Healthy Eating Index or AHEI, all of which call for eating lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy plant-based fats and a low intake of solid fats, added sugar, and sodium. Findings show that the better the diet quality, the lower the risk of all-cause mortality; coronary heart disease, stroke, and heart failure; cancer, including prostate and colon cancer; type 2 diabetes; neurodegenerative diseases; and among cancer survivors, all-cause mortality and cancer mortality—mega rewards indeed for healthy-eating efforts. Note that separate studies have found that the AHEI approach, while not as well known as some other healthy eating plans, may convey the most benefits of the three.

Fitness Flash

The Stairs Count

Want a snapshot of your heart health? Being able to climb four flights of stairs in less than a minute—at a fast pace without stopping, but also without running—is a simple and inexpensive cardio wellness indicator, according to research presented at a recent scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology. “The stairs test is an easy way to check your heart health,” said study author Dr. Jesús Peteiro, a cardiologist at University Hospital A Coruña in Spain. “If it takes you more than one and a half minutes to ascend four flights of stairs, your health is suboptimal, and it would be a good idea to consult a doctor.” Telling your doctor how you did on this test will help him or her decide whether more formal tests would be appropriate for you.

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Apple Sauté

Posted on December 25, 2020September 21, 2021 by The Olive Oil Hunter

More elegant than a baked apple yet healthier (and faster to make) than apple pie, this sautéed dish is a great way to satisfy a sophisticated sweet tooth. If you want to indulge even further, it’s amazing over a scoop of rich vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients

For the apple sauté

8 -10 shelled almonds
1/2 lemon
2 Macoun, Granny Smith, or Gala apples, cored
1 tablespoon walnut or grapeseed oil
1/2 cup apple cider, a liqueur like Poire Williams, or a sweet wine like Sauternes
1/2 teaspoon All-American Gingerbread Spice (recipe below)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
Cinnamon, preferably Vietnamese, to taste

For the All-American Gingerbread Spice

1 tablespoon whole cloves
2 tablespoons cinnamon, preferably Vietnamese
2 tablespoons allspice
2 tablespoons ground ginger
1 tablespoon grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Step 1

Toast the almonds in a small sauté pan for 3-5 minutes. When they’re cool enough to handle, chop coarsely and set aside. Using a microplane grater, zest the lemon half, setting aside the zest. On a cutting board, slice the apples horizontally into circles about one-half-inch thick, and then squeeze the juice from the lemon half over them. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the apples in one layer (do this in batches if needed to avoid crowding). Sauté for 2-3 minutes on each side until lightly browned. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, until the slices have released all their juices and feel tender when pricked with a knife tip, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spatula, lift the apples from the pan and transfer to a serving plate. Add the lemon zest, cider/liqueur/wine, gingerbread spice, and vanilla to the pan and rapidly boil down to a syrup, whisking constantly, about 3-5 minutes. Pour the sauce over the apples, and top with the chopped almonds and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Step 2

Pulverize the cloves in a coffee bean grinder and transfer to a small bowl along with the other spices. Whisk to combine and funnel into an airtight glass jar. Note: Wipe out the grinder very well to remove all traces of cloves.

Yields 2 servings.