A purée of red peppers and onions makes a sweet accompaniment that won’t overpower the taste of the salmon. Coulis leftovers make a great sandwich spread and dip for crusty bread.
Ingredients
2 large red bell peppers
1 medium sweet onion
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided use, plus more for drizzling
2 teaspoons sherry vinegar, plus more to taste
Kosher or sea salt to taste, plus more for the salmon
1-1/2 to 2-pound salmon filet, skin on
Freshly ground black pepper
A few springs of fresh thyme, chopped
Directions
Step 1
Turn on your oven to broil. Halve the peppers and remove the stems and ribs. Peel the onion and cut it into 4 thick slices. Brush a tablespoon of olive oil on a rimmed sheet pan. Place the onion slices on the sheet pan and top each one with a pepper half (this allows the onions to cook without burning). Broil until the pepper skins have blistered and blackened, about 10 minutes. Place the sheet pan on a heat-safe mat and cover the bell peppers with a domed lid for 10 minutes; this makes it easier to peel off the charred skin. Peel when cool.
Step 2
Place the peeled peppers in your food processor or blender along with the onions, all the pan juices, a tablespoon of olive oil, and the vinegar. Process until very smooth, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
Step 3
Turn your oven to 350°F. Place a piece of parchment paper on the same sheet pan (no need to wash it) and brush on another tablespoon of olive oil. Place the salmon, skin side down, on the parchment, and brush with the final tablespoon of olive oil. Sprinkle on just a pinch of salt, sone black pepper, and the thyme, and bake until the top of the filet feels firm to the touch, about 15 minutes, depending on thickness.
Step 4
Use a sharp chef’s knife to slice the salmon into 4 portions. Place a pool of the pepper coulis on each of 4 dinner plates and top each with a salmon serving and a drizzle of olive oil. Pass the rest of the coulis separately.
“Spiked” Apples Recipe, Spotlight on Apples, The Paring Knife, Cutting Calories May Boost Longevity, and Do You Have Aging Anxiety? Another Reason to Exercise!
If you’re like me, you love recipes that can be adapted to many dishes—and that’s why spiked apples are part of my winter repertoire. You’ll be tempted to eat them right out of the pan, but you should definitely explore the ways they can enhance other dishes. I’m also sharing two new discoveries—why just a small cut in daily calories can add years to your life and what you can do to quell anxiety over aging.
Calvados, the apple brandy from France’s Normandy region, adds great depth of flavor to apple dishes. Since most of the alcohol burns off, my spiked apples make a great addition to your morning oats or yogurt as well as a delicious filling for a tart or crêpes or the topping for a scoop of ice cream—vanilla and olive oil ice cream, of course! They’re equally delicious served alongside pork chops or a pork roast.
Ingredients
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tart apples, such as Granny Smith, cored and sliced into 12 wedges
2 sweet apples, such as Fuji or Honeycrisp, cored and sliced into 12 wedges
1/4 cup calvados
1/4 cup brown sugar or your choice of sweetener
Cinnamon to taste
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Directions
Heat a large frying pan over medium heat. When very warm, add the olive oil and the apples, arranging the fruit in one layer (do this in batches if your pan can’t hold them all at once). Let the apples cook until the edges brown slightly, then flip them and brown again. Add the calvados to deglaze the pan. After one minute, sprinkle on the brown sugar and cinnamon and toss. The sugar should melt, but don’t let it burn. Add the butter and swirl until it melts, then remove from heat.
Yields 4-6 servings
Healthy Ingredient Spotlight
Apples Galore
There’s merit to the old adage that an apple a day keeps the doctor away—high in fiber and nutrients, apples are a great way to get you closer to the recommended daily five to seven servings of fruits and vegetables needed for good health. With over 2,000 varieties of apples now available and more being developed at leading agricultural universities, it would take years to try them all! Here are some of the most widely available varieties and how best to enjoy them.
Empire: a sweet-tart cross between Red Delicious and McIntosh, ideal for eating raw or baking
Fuji: crispy, sweet, and juicy, ideal for all uses
Gala: crisp, juicy, and very sweet, ideal for eating raw
Golden Delicious: mild, sweet flavor, ideal for eating raw or baking
Granny Smith: tart and crisp, ideal for salads or cooking
Honeycrisp: sweet and crispy, ideal for eating raw or making applesauce
Jonagold: a sweet-tart mix developed from Golden Delicious and Jonathan apples, ideal for baking
Macoun: very sweet, juicy, and aromatic, ideal for eating raw or making applesauce
McIntosh: tangy and tart, ideal for eating raw or making applesauce
Pink Lady: a highly flavorful cross of Golden Delicious and Lady Williams apples, ideal for all uses
Red Delicious: sweet, crispy, and juicy, ideal for eating raw
Quick Kitchen Nugget
The Paring Knife
With all the stunning types of chef’s knives available, the chef’s knife’s sidekick, the paring knife, is often an afterthought in the kitchen. But it’s a very handy knife to have for precision work and when cutting smaller and soft foods, from a garlic clove up to an apple. (You’ll need to stick to your chef’s knife for hard foods like squash, potatoes, carrots, and melons.) A paring knife blade is typically between 3 and 4 inches long, and though the handle is smaller than that of other knives, you should still test it before you buy to make sure it feels comfortable in your hand.
For Your Best Health
Cutting Calories May Boost Longevity
Calorie restriction—decreasing daily calories—without depriving yourself of essential vitamins and minerals and other key nutrients has long been known to delay the progression of age-related diseases in animal studies. New research, published in the journal Aging Cell, suggests it may do the same for people.
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health and colleagues analyzed data from the Comprehensive Assessment of Long-Term Effects of Reducing Intake of Energy (CALERIE), a study supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA). For CALERIE participants, the goal was to reduce daily calories by 25%. However, over a two-year span, the best they were able to achieve was a 12% reduction. But it turns out that this was enough to rejuvenate muscle and activate key biological pathways that are important in healthy aging.
“A 12% reduction in calorie intake is very modest,” said corresponding author and NIA Scientific Director Luigi Ferrucci, MD, PhD. “This kind of small reduction in calorie intake is doable and may make a big difference in your health.”
The research team also sought to explain a finding of past studies: People practicing calorie restriction lost muscle mass (along with losing weight in general), but they did not lose all-important muscle strength. To understand this phenomenon, they looked at thigh muscle biopsies from CALERIE participants collected when people joined the study and at one-year and two-year follow-ups. They discovered that during calorie restriction certain genes were upregulated, meaning the cells made more mRNA, and others were downregulated, meaning the cells produced less mRNA. Specifically, a lower caloric intake upregulated genes responsible for energy generation and metabolism and downregulated inflammatory genes, leading to lower inflammation.
“Since inflammation and aging are strongly coupled, calorie restriction represents a powerful approach to preventing the pro-inflammatory state that is developed by many older people,” said Dr. Ferrucci.
Fitness Flash
Do You Have Aging Anxiety? Another Reason to Exercise!
According to Sarah Francis, PhD, Iowa State University professor and Jane Armstrong Endowed Chair of Food Science and Human Nutrition, many people experience aging anxiety—fears and concerns about losing autonomy and relationships as well as physical and psychological changes and discomfort or lack of enjoyment being around older people. “Previous research has shown that if you have high anxiety about aging, you have poor health outcomes. But if you view it more positively as a life stage, you have better health outcomes. You’re more likely to make lifestyle changes that benefit you in the long run,” said Dr. Francis.
Since 2010, she has been part of a USDA multistate project bringing together experts in physical activity, clinical nutrition, and community health programming to support healthy aging. Part of their research has focused on identifying factors that influence physical activity, such as aging anxiety. One explanation for the negative link between aging anxiety and poor health is that anxiety can get in the way of being physically active, and not being active is often at the root of many health problems.
To better understand how aging anxiety relates not only to physical activity but also to other factors like gender, marital status, and income, Dr. Francis and the team designed a 142-question online survey and recruited a cross-section of urban, suburban, and rural participants including people as young as 40 to understand how different aspects of aging anxiety shift with age. In total, 1,250 people from Washington, DC, and six states (Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and West Virginia) responded to the survey.
“One of the most important findings is that higher positivity about physical activity relates to lower anxiety about aging,” said Dr. Francis. “Perhaps this is because the physical, mental, and social benefits of staying active contribute to overall well-being and a more favorable perception of the aging process, ultimately reducing anxiety related to growing older.”
It’s also well known that exercise, especially strength training, helps conserve bone mass and muscle, reduce the risk of dementia, and maintain motor control. But, Dr. Francis pointed out, many middle-aged and older adults face barriers to exercising, from being afraid they’ll get hurt to not having easy access to a gym or greenspaces for walking. For those who can’t overcome these barriers, the team’s next project is developing and testing a virtual program that would include at-home physical activities and an educational component to encourage eating healthy.
Calvados, the apple brandy from France’s Normandy region, adds great depth of flavor to apple dishes. Since most of the alcohol burns off, my spiked apples make a great addition to your morning oats or yogurt as well as a delicious filling for a tart or crêpes or the topping for a scoop of ice cream—vanilla and olive oil ice cream, of course! They’re equally delicious served alongside pork chops or a pork roast.
Ingredients
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tart apples, such as Granny Smith, cored and sliced into 12 wedges
2 sweet apples, such as Fuji or Honeycrisp, cored and sliced into 12 wedges
1/4 cup calvados
1/4 cup brown sugar or your choice of sweetener
Cinnamon to taste
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Directions
Heat a large frying pan over medium heat. When very warm, add the olive oil and the apples, arranging the fruit in one layer (do this in batches if your pan can’t hold them all at once). Let the apples cook until the edges brown slightly, then flip them and brown again. Add the calvados to deglaze the pan. After one minute, sprinkle on the brown sugar and cinnamon and toss. The sugar should melt, but don’t let it burn. Add the butter and swirl until it melts, then remove from heat.
Bountiful Breakfast Quesadillas Recipe, Spotlight on Whole-Grains, The Cake Lifter, and The Mental and Physical Effects of Poor Sleep
Eat more whole grains—it’s at the top of most of our New Year’s health resolutions, yet it’s often so difficult to do. First, there’s the common misconception that whole grains aren’t as tasty as refined ones. Then there’s the problem of confusing package labels that don’t accurately describe what’s inside. This edition of The Olive Oil Hunter Newsletter homes in on the problem with easy fixes, starting with a delicious quesadilla—a great way to start your day!
This take on a quesadilla makes a festive presentation for brunch, and you can customize it with ingredients you love best.
Ingredients
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
1 bell pepper, any color, seeded and finely diced
1 chile pepper, such as a poblano or a jalapeño, seeded and finely diced
6 eggs
4 corn or whole-wheat tortillas
1-1/2 cups grated Manchego, Monterey Jack, or cheddar cheese, or a combination
1 cup black beans
1 avocado, cut into thin slices
Your favorite salsa
Directions
Step 1
Heat a large skillet over medium heat. When hot, add two tablespoons of olive oil, the onions, and peppers. Sauté until the onions soften and turn a light brown. Whisk the eggs and add them to the pan; cook to a soft scramble.
Step 2
Heat a griddle over medium heat. When hot, drizzle on the remaining olive oil. Place two of the tortillas side by side on the griddle and layer on the ingredients, in this order, divided between the two: half of the cheese, the scrambled eggs, beans, avocado slices, and then the rest of the cheese. Top with the remaining tortillas and press down gently with a large spatula or cake lifter (see Quick Kitchen Nugget in Newsletter #154).
Step 3
When the bottoms of the tortillas brown and the bottom layer of cheese has melted, flip them and continue cooking until the other cheese layer has melted. Transfer the quesadillas back to your cutting board and cut them into quarters. Serve with salsa as desired.
Yields 4 servings
Healthy Ingredient Spotlight
Choosing Whole-Grain Tortillas
An easy way to get more whole grains and fiber is to use corn or whole-wheat tortillas in place of the traditional white flour kind. But it’s still important to read the list of ingredients to be sure you’re getting 100% of the grain (see For Your Best Health below for more) and choose brands with the least salt and additives.
Quick Kitchen Nugget
The Cake Lifter
Picture a spatula the size of a 9-inch or 10-inch round or square cake layer—that’s a cake lifter. And it’s great not only for evenly stacking cake layers and transferring baked goods from pan to serving plate, but also for flipping tortillas and other foods cooked on a griddle. They’re available from well-known cookware companies like Wilton and Nordic Ware for under $20.
For Your Best Health
Are You Really Getting Whole Grains?
We know that whole grains are healthier than refined ones because they contain all parts of the grain, including all-important fiber. But according to research published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, unclear or misleading labeling makes it difficult to really know what you’re getting in packaged foods. The researchers pointed out that some manufacturers use deceptive labeling tactics, like putting the words “whole grain” in the product name or listing the amount of whole grains present but not what percentage of total grains that represents. A product with a vague callout, like “made with whole grain,” may contain only minuscule amounts. And there’s no current government policy that requires a complete disclosure.
What can you do to shop smarter? Look for products with the “100% Whole Grain Stamp” from the Whole Grains Council. This indicates that the food contains a full serving or more of whole grain in each labeled serving and that all the grain is whole grain. Whole-grain products not yet using this symbol may list the grams of whole grain somewhere on the package or use words like “100% whole wheat.” You can also look for the “50%+ Stamp” on products; it means that each serving of the food is at least half whole grain, with a minimum of 8 grams. There’s also the “Basic Stamp”—these products have at least 8 grams of whole grain per serving but overall may contain more refined grains than whole grains.
Fitness Flash
The Mental and Physical Effects of Poor Sleep
Missing out on needed sleep often leaves us dragging through the next day. But it can also take a mental toll that we often fail to appreciate. That’s because a good night’s sleep prepares us for activity and helps us be more productive, while not getting enough sleep affects how well we do at tasks that require attention, memory, and executive functioning, including driving safely. Many people now rely on so-called readiness scores given by their fitness and sleep trackers to let them know how restorative (or not) their sleep was, but they were designed to predict physical performance and may not tell you how you’ll perform cognitively.
A group of scientists decided to test how well cognitive function tracked with physical function. Professor Michael Chee, MBBS, Assistant Professor Stijn Massar, PhD, and Alyssa Ng, PhD student, of the Centre for Sleep and Cognition at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine of the National University of Singapore, asked 119 university students to report their mood, motivation, and sleepiness after waking and before going to bed daily for between two and six weeks. Sleep was measured with Oura rings and cross-referenced with smartphone app-based self-reports that also captured daytime naps and their duration.
They found that after nights with longer sleep than a given participant’s average, that person experienced a better mood, higher motivation, and lower sleepiness, and that a good night of sleep following a poor one could be helpful for restoring social functioning. For those who regularly missed out on sleep, taking naps helped ease some of the ill effects. Their findings also reinforce the idea that sleep is highly personalized, with significant differences from person to person in the amount of sleep necessary to maintain mental well-being.
“People say they know all they need about their sleep within a few weeks of using a sleep tracker, but our work suggests there is real value in continuing to measure sleep to help you judge when to push it and when to hold back in work or social settings,” said Dr. Chee, who has been a significant contributor to research evaluating the utility of wearable sleep trackers.
