This escarole-stuffed pizza is one of the many delicious dishes that Graziella Di Mercurio cooked for us after our visit to the family mill, Frantoio Mercurius. I’ve included her dough recipe, but the results are just as flavorful when prepared with refrigerated store-bought pizza dough—you’ll need about 2 pounds.
Ingredients
For homemade dough:
1 1/2 cups warm water, about 110°F
1 teaspoon sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided use
4 cups 00 pizza flour or bread flour
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
For the filling:
1 1/2 pounds escarole, about two heads
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 tablespoons pine nuts
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided use
4 shallots, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 anchovies or 2 teaspoons anchovy paste
4 ounces black olives, halved
1 tablespoon capers
1 teaspoon pepperoncini (crushed red pepper flakes)
Directions
Step 1
To make homemade dough, place the water, sugar, and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the kneading attachment and wait for the yeast to bloom (become foamy), about 5 minutes. Add 3 tablespoons olive oil, the flour, and salt, and turn the mixer on low to combine the ingredients and form a ball. If the dough looks shaggy, add water, just 1/2 tablespoon at a time to avoid its getting too wet. Once a ball forms, raise the speed one notch and knead for 5 minutes.
Step 2
Pour 1 tablespoon olive oil in a clean bowl, add the dough ball, and roll it to coat it with the oil. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and place in a draft-free spot to rise until double in volume, between 60 and 75 minutes.
Step 3
While the dough is rising, prepare the escarole filling. Trim the heads and rinse the leaves. Bring a large pot of water to a boil; add 1 teaspoon salt and the escarole and boil for 5 minutes. Transfer the escarole to a colander, drain, and squeeze out any excess moisture with your hands or in a kitchen cloth.
Step 4
Heat a large sauté pan. When hot, dry-toast the pine nuts for 2 minutes until they turn golden, then transfer to a small bowl and set aside. Add 3 tablespoons olive oil to the pan along with the shallots and garlic, and sauté for 2 minutes. Whisk in the anchovies, then add the escarole, and slow-cook over medium high heat for 10 minutes to extract more liquid. When the greens stop releasing liquid, fold in the pine nuts, olives, capers, and pepperoncini, then remove from the heat.
Step 5
When the dough has risen, pour 1 tablespoon olive oil in a 9×13 or 12-inch round baking pan and spread it over the bottom and sides with a pastry brush or clean fingers. Use a pastry cutter or sharp knife to cut the dough in two pieces, one slightly larger than the other. Use your hands to stretch out the larger half to a size slightly larger than your baking pan—the thinner the better (make two fists and use your knuckles on the underside of the dough). Press the dough into the bottom of the pan and about 1 inch up the sides. Add the escarole mixture, leaving a 1-inch border. Stretch out the rest of the dough and place it over the escarole to form the top crust. Press together the edges of the two dough sheets to seal them. Note: If any holes form in the dough, just pinch them together with your fingers.
Step 6
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top is crusty and golden or an instant-read thermometer registers between 200° and 210°F. Serve warm or at room temperature.
While we waited for the magic window for harvesting, My Merry Band of Tasters and I rented a house in Toscana where we could create recipes for this Pressing Report. Duccio shared two of his favorites, including this comforting broth enriched with cheese and olive oil.
Ingredients
2 medium carrots, trimmed, peeled, and cut into large chunks
1 large celery stalk, trimmed and cut into chunks
1 medium onion, peeled and quartered
1 medium tomato, quartered
4 fresh flat-leaf parsley springs
2 quarts water
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt, plus more to taste
20 black peppercorns
8 ounces pastina, stars, orzo, or other tiny pasta
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 ounces Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated, plus more to taste
Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
Directions
Step 1
Place the carrots, celery, onions, tomato, and parsley in a stockpot with the water, salt, and peppercorns. Cover with a lid and bring to a boil. With the lid ajar, continue to cook at a low boil for 45 minutes.
Step 2
Strain the broth to remove the vegetables, parsley, and peppercorns. Return the broth to the pot and bring it back to a boil. Add the pastina and cook until tender, about 5 minutes, stirring often; don’t overcook the pasta. Taste and season with more salt and pepper as desired.
Step 3
To serve, ladle into four bowls and top with equal amounts of cheese, stirring it into the broth. Drizzle liberally with olive oil.
Vietnamese-Style Cucumber Salad Recipe, Spotlight on Cucumbers, Keeping Diabetes in Check, Plus Exercise to Curb Appetite
With the year-round availability of cucumbers, it’s always time for cucumber salad! Fresh-pressed olive oil is a wonderful addition to Asian ingredients, as you’ll taste with this bountiful veggie bowl—it’s a great way to get healthier-eating plans off the ground. Need help curbing appetite? A study I’m sharing suggests exercise intensity can help. Plus here’s what you need to know about the negative effects of ultra-processed foods on blood sugar control.
Inspired by the ingredients in a traditional Vietnamese summer roll, this is a zesty salad that’s hearty enough for a meal any time of the year. To make the recipe your own, choose the types of cucumber and chiles you like best.
Ingredients
1 pound cucumbers
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce such as Mae Ploy (available at Asian markets)
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1 chile, such as jalapeño, serrano, or poblano, depending on heat preference, stemmed and chopped
1 carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks
2 scallions, trimmed and sliced on the diagonal into 2-inch pieces
2 Hass avocados, ripe but still firm
1 pound cooked jumbo shrimp
1/3 cup peanuts
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Directions
Step 1
If using thin English or Persian cucumbers, slice them into 1/4-inch discs; if using thicker cukes, cut them in half lengthwise, then into half-moon shapes about 1/4-inch thick. Place the slices in a large colander set over a large bowl or in the sink and sprinkle with the salt; toss well. Allow the cucumbers to sweat for about 15 minutes, then rinse to remove extra salt and shake well.
Step 2
In a large glass bowl, mix the olive oil, vinegar, sugar, lime juice, and sweet chili sauce. Add in the cucumbers, red onion, chile, carrots, and scallions, and toss to combine. Cut the avocados into small cubes and halve each shrimp lengthwise from top to tail; fold both into the cucumber salad along with the peanuts and herbs. Allow the mixture to marinate for about 20 minutes, then serve at room temperature.
Yields 4 servings
Healthy Ingredient Spotlight
Cukes!
Whether you choose the ubiquitous American garden cucumber or opt for a thinner variety, like short Persian or long English cucumbers, cukes are extremely versatile, often taking on the flavors of the other ingredients in a recipe. Very low in calories, cucumbers can fill you up and help you stayed hydrated, thanks to their high water content. They also make perfect dippers for salsa, guac, and more. Keep on the peel to get maximum nutrients, notably vitamin K, along with small amounts of vitamin C, potassium, calcium, and fiber.
Commercially grown garden cucumbers are typically treated with an edible wax to keep them from drying out. It’s possible to scrub some of it off with a food brush, but if it keeps you from eating the nutrient-rich peel, buy unwaxed cukes at farmers’ markets or opt for one of the thin varieties, typically sold unwaxed but often shrink-wrapped to protect them.
Quick Kitchen Nugget
Cucumber Prep
Cucumber seeds are rich in nutrients, so they should be eaten. But the larger the cucumber, the more bitter the seeds can taste. If you want to remove them for a recipe, the simplest tool to use is a spoon, preferably a grapefruit spoon. Slice the cucumber in half lengthwise, then run the tip of the spoon from one end to the other to remove the seeds in long strips. Rather than discard them, you can save them, refrigerated, to add to your next smoothie.
For Your Best Health
Keeping Diabetes in Check
There’s no end to the warnings about the perils of a diet high in ultra-processed foods, from sodas and packaged snacks to even certain types of sugar-sweetened yogurt. Recent studies have found links to higher rates of cardiovascular disease, obesity, sleep disorders, anxiety, depression, and even early death. New research n ultra-pprocessed foods done at the University of Texas (UT) and published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics should be of particular concern to the millions of Americans managing type 2 diabetes.
The study used baseline data from an ongoing clinical trial called Texas Strength Through Resilience in Diabetes Education (TX STRIDE), led by Mary Steinhardt in UT’s College of Education. Participants included 273 African American adults diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and recruited through Austin-area churches. Each participant provided two 24-hour diet recalls and a blood sample to measure HbA1C, a snapshot of blood sugar control over the past three months
“There are a lot of ways to look at and measure healthy eating,” said Marissa Burgermaster, PhD, assistant professor of nutritional sciences and senior author of the paper. “We set out to see which measurement was associated with blood sugar control in people with type 2 diabetes. We found that the more ultra-processed foods by weight in a person’s diet, the worse their blood sugar control was, and the more minimally processed or unprocessed foods in a person’s diet, the better their control was.” Also, eating more ultra-processed correleated to higher HbA1C levels while eating fewer ultra-processed correleated to lower HbA1C levels. Having an HbA1C below 7 is considered ideal for people with type 2 diabetes, and people who consumed, on average, 18% or fewer of their grams of food from ultra-processed foods were more likely to meet this mark.
Ultra-processed foods are typically higher in added sugars and sodium, but the researchers concluded that the HbA1C increases they saw were not about merely added sugar and sodium, or they would have correlated with the typical tools that measure overall nutritional quality in the diet. Synthetic flavors, added colors, emulsifiers, artificial sweeteners, and other artificial ingredients may be in part to blame, hypothesized Erin Hudson, a graduate student and co-author of the paper, and this would suggest that dietary guidelines may need to begin placing more emphasis on ultra-processed foods and its additives.
Fitness Flash
Exercise to Curb Appetite
A vigorous workout does more to suppress hunger levels in healthy adults than does moderate exercise, and women in particular may benefit from this response, according to a small study published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society that examined the effects of exercise intensity on ghrelin levels and appetite in men and women. Ghrelin is nicknamed “the hunger hormone” because it’s associated with perceptions of hunger. It’s also been shown to have wide-ranging biological effects in areas including energy balance, glucose homeostasis, immune function, sleep, and memory.
“We found that high-intensity exercise suppressed ghrelin levels more than moderate-intensity exercise,” said lead author Kara Anderson, PhD, of the University of Virginia and the University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville. “In addition, we found that individuals felt ‘less hungry’ after high-intensity exercise compared to moderate-intensity exercise.”
Ghrelin circulates in acylated (AG) and deacylated (DAG) forms, which are known to affect appetite. Data on the impact of exercise intensity on AG and DAG levels, and their effects on appetite, is sparse and primarily limited to men, the study noted. To address this shortfall, the study examined eight men and six women. Participants fasted overnight, completed exercises of varying intensity levels that were determined by measurements of blood lactate, and then self-reported measurements of appetite.
The women had higher levels of total ghrelin at baseline compared with the men, yet demonstrated “significantly reduced AG” following the intense exercise, according to the findings. The researchers found that “moderate intensity either did not change ghrelin levels or led to a net increase.” This suggests that exercise above the lactate threshold “may be necessary to elicit a suppression in ghrelin.”
“Exercise should be thought of as a ‘drug,’ where the ‘dose’ should be customized based on an individual’s personal goals,” Dr. Anderson said. “Our research suggests that high-intensity exercise may be important for appetite suppression, which can be particularly useful as part of a weight loss program.” The researchers also acknowledged that more work is needed to determine the extent to which the effects of exercise differ by gender.
Legend has it that porchetta, a highly seasoned and rather large pork roast, originated more than two thousand years ago in the town of Ariccia in Lazio. This zesty spread lets you savor the taste without having to make the roast—serve it with roasted chicken, pork, or vegetables. For a fabulous sandwich, lavish it on ciabatta bread and add slices of ham, turkey, or your favorite meat, arugula for a hint of spiciness, and a drizzle of olive oil.
5 garlic cloves, grated on a microplane grater or mashed to a paste
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
3/4 teaspoon pepperoncini (crushed red pepper flakes)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Directions
Add the fennel fronds and seeds, herbs, garlic, salt, both peppers, and zest to a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add the lemon juice and olive oil and process until well combined.
