Fresh-Pressed Olive Oil Club
News Page 35

The Olive Oil Hunter Newsletter #56

Posted on by The Olive Oil Hunter

The Best BBQ Sauce and Red Wine Vinaigrette Recipes, Gastrique À L’Orange, Spotlight on Red Wine Vinegar

Ever since I introduced my fresh-pressed olive oils, I’ve been asked about the right vinegars to pair them with. I believe in having a full collection of vinegars, but red wine vinegar is a pantry essential—it’s amazingly versatile. And vinaigrettes are just the tip of the culinary iceberg when it comes to how many dishes red wine vinegar enhances. To show you what I mean, I’m sharing three very different recipes along with red wine vinegar’s intriguing history and why I went to Portugal to source it for my new collection of artisanal vinegars.

The Best BBQ Sauce

  • The Best BBQ Sauce The Best BBQ Sauce

    This sweet and tangy sauce is great on ribs as well as roast chicken—and it makes a terrific topping for your favorite style of burger!

    Ingredients

    • 3 cups ketchup
    • 2/3 cup dark brown sugar
    • 1/2 cup water
    • 1/3 cup red wine vinegar, such as Vinagre de Touriga Nacional
    • 6-ounce can tomato paste
    • 2 tablespoons powdered yellow mustard
    • 2 tablespoons ancho chili powder
    • 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
    • 1 teaspoon coarse salt
    • 1 teaspoon onion powder
    • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
    • 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated, or 1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger

    Directions

    Step 1

    Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan and stir to mix.

    Step 2

    Bring to a boil, and then lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

    Yields about 4 cups

Red Wine Vinaigrette

  • Red Wine Vinaigrette Red Wine Vinaigrette

    Simple and superb! This sweet and tangy sauce is great on ribs as well as roast chicken—and it makes a terrific topping for your favorite style of burger!

    Ingredients

    • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, such as Vinaigre de Banyuls
    • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
    • 1 teaspoon honey
    • 1/8 teaspoon coarse salt, plus more to taste
    • 1/2 small garlic clove, peeled and minced  
    • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
    • Freshly ground black pepper to taste

    Directions

    Step 1

    In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the vinegar, mustard, honey, the 1/8 teaspoon of salt, and garlic.

    Step 2

    Gradually whisk in the olive oil until the dressing is emulsified. Season to taste with black pepper and more salt.

    Yields about 1/3 cup

Gastrique À L’Orange

  • French sweet-and-sour sauce Gastrique À l’Orange

    This quintessential French sweet-and-sour sauce is a wonderful way to dress duck and beef, especially when the meat is seared. The ingredients are simple: sugar, vinegar, and fruit juice or purée. Here is the classic gastrique recipe, but have fun experimenting with different combinations using this basic technique. 

    Ingredients

    • 1/2 cup white sugar
    • 1/2 cup red wine vinegar, such as Vinagre de Touriga Nacional
    • Juice of one orange

    Directions

    Step 1

    In a sauté pan over medium heat and without stirring, slowly heat the sugar until it caramelizes. Lower the heat and carefully whisk in the vinegar.

    Step 2

    Next, add the juice, whisking continuously (if the mixture hardens, the heat will melt it again). Continue cooking until the liquid reaches a syrupy consistency, but don’t let it get too thick or it will solidify—take it off the heat just before you think it’s done.

    Yields about a 1/4 cup, enough to sauce two portions of your chosen protein

Spotlight on Red Wine Vinegar

Spotlight on Red Wine Vinegar

The finest vinegar comes from the finest grapes

The history of red wine vinegar dates back to Roman times, but it was arguably the French who turned it into a culinary staple when, as legend has it, wine abandoned in the area of Orléans turned to vinegar on its own. The city became the de facto vinegar capital of France, and the Orléans method of barrel-aging was adopted around the world.

Of course, France doesn’t have a lock on making fine vinegar. I discovered the amazing Vinagre de Touriga Nacional offered in my Curated Culinary Collection of artisanal vinegars in Almendra, Portugal, at CARM, the Casa Agricola Roboredo Madeira (if you missed my email about the collection, just click on the link in the P.S. below!). Members of the Fresh-Pressed Olive Oil Club have come to know my dear friends Filipe Roboredo Madeira, his brother, António, and their father, Celso—now 88 and still going strong—and the story of how Celso made the delicious decision more than two decades ago to revive the centuries-old olive groves on their estate. This is also where the country’s oldest-noted wine region begins—the Demarcated Douro and Port Wine Region was recognized in 1756 and made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2001—and the grapes grown here are legendary. The family’s vineyards are at an average altitude of about 1,000 feet with an eastward exposure. The confluence of geography and climate enables the production of grapes that create aromatic, fresh, and elegant wines.

To craft a vinegar worthy of his olive oil, Filipe decided to use only Touriga Nacional grapes, considered by many the finest of Portugal’s red wine grapes. Both red wine and red wine vinegar are made by fermenting red grapes, but vinegar requires an additional step, a second fermentation that turns the wine’s natural sugars into acetic acid. It’s a painstaking endeavor, with the typical aging process for red wine vinegar being two years. Of course, Filipe had other ideas—the vinegar that’s part of my collection of artisanal vinegars has been aged for 20 years!

Enjoying Red Wine Vinegar

Food Pairings

Enjoying Red Wine Vinegar

Many red wine vinegars are very concentrated, including my Vinagre de Touriga Nacional, so use it judiciously—add, taste, and then add more as desired. Use it in soups and stews, in beans with chorizo and rice, with fried fish, and in the cod dish bacalao; in wild green and vegetable salads and sautés; in antipasto salads and with grilled cheeses; and in herb-based sauces and marinades. It’s perfect for quick-pickling cucumbers and red onions and as a finishing touch for caramelized vegetables such as onions, potatoes, and beets, and for fatty fish such as salmon, tuna, and cod. 

Healthy Kitchen Nugget: Versatile vinegar

Healthy Kitchen Nugget

Versatile vinegar

Here are two of my favorite ways to cook with red wine vinegar:

Deglazing. Use vinegar instead of (or even in addition to) wine to deglaze a pan and turn the fond—those dark, flavorful bits that collect on the bottom of your pan—into a rich and quick sauce.

Marinating. Because vinegar is acidic, it helps break down and tenderize protein fibers for juicier grilled meat.

Get More Recipes In Your Inbox!

The Olive Oil Hunter News #55

Posted on by The Olive Oil Hunter

The Essential Fra Diavolo Sauce Recipe, Olive Oil’s Role in a Plant-Based Diet and The Benefits of Olive Oil for Heart Health

Did you know that many chefs—including me!—prefer using canned tomatoes rather than fresh ones when making sauce? All the prep work has been done for you, so they’re a huge time saver as well as being flavorful. This week’s recipe for deliciously zesty fra diavolo sauce capitalizes on this pantry essential. I’m also sharing news about the heart health benefits of olive oil. A wealth of studies have found that it helps stave off heart disease and that the sooner you starting using it, the healthier you’ll be in the decades to come.

THE ESSENTIAL FRA DIAVOLO SAUCE

  • The Essential Fra Diavolo Sauce Seafood Fra Diavolo

    This Italian classic often gets its heat from pepperoncino (red pepper) flakes, but I love the depth that comes from including fresh serrano pepper in the garlic and onion sauté. For another layer of flavor, I use a full can of tomato paste. So delicious, plus you can make it your own with any seafood you like—go simple with shrimp, lavish with lobster tail meat and scallops or easy with chunks of your favorite fish!. As a final step to this recipe, you might stir in a pound of shelled shrimp and cook until opaque. Serve it with or without pasta. It’s also delicious with any legume-based pasta—top with a good amount of grated Parmesan or Pecorino.

    Ingredients

    • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, more as needed
    • 2 pounds assorted seafood, such as 8 ounces each peeled shrimp, scallops, calamari rings, and crabmeat
    • ½ cup finely chopped onion
    • 1 serrano pepper, seeded and chopped
    • 4 large garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
    • 1 6-ounce can tomato paste
    • ½ cup red wine
    • 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
    • ½ teaspoon dried oregano
    • Pinch of salt

    Directions

    Step 1

    Heat a large skillet—it’s ready when a few drops of water sizzle on the surface. Add the olive oil and then the seafood, gently searing it on all sides. With a slotted spoon, transfer the seafood to a bowl next to your cooktop. Add more oil to the pan if needed, then add the onions and sauté until soft and translucent, but not browned. 

    Step 2

    Add the pepper and garlic and cook until soft. Then add the tomato paste and cook it until fragrant and almost brown-burgundy in color, whisking it constantly as it caramelizes. Slowly whisk in the wine and then add the crushed tomatoes, oregano, and salt, and heat through.

    Step 3

    Return the seafood to the pan and cook for 3–4 minutes until cooked through. Serve over your choice of pasta.

    Yields 4 servings

Healthy Kitchen Tip: Choosing and Using a Pastry Brush

Olive Oil’s Role in a Plant-Based Diet

Building out healthy eating

The research: “A Plant-Centered Diet and Risk of Incident Cardiovascular Disease during Young to Middle Adulthood” and “Relationship Between a Plant-Based Dietary Portfolio and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease: Findings from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) Prospective Cohort Study,” Journal of the American Heart Association, August 2021.

As much as you love fresh-pressed olive oil, it shouldn’t be the only item on your healthy menu. These two new studies both looked at the heart benefits of eating a plant-centered diet—not necessarily vegetarian, but with a foundation of fruits, vegetables, olive oil, nuts, whole grains, and legumes.

One looked at the advantages of starting such a way of eating younger in life. It followed 4,946 adults from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study for about 30 years. Participants went through lab tests, physical measurements, medical histories, assessments of lifestyle factors, and detailed diet history interviews. Researchers used a scoring system called A Priori Diet Quality Score (APDQS) to assess the participants’ diets. APDQS classifies food groups as beneficial (like fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, and whole grains), adverse (like fried potatoes, high-fat red meat, salty snacks, pastries, and soft drinks), and neutral foods (like potatoes, refined grains, lean meats, and shellfish) based on the foods’ known links with cardiovascular disease.

People who scored in the top 20% for diet quality by eating the most beneficial foods and fewer adverse ones were 52% less likely to develop cardiovascular disease. Also, between years 7 and 20 of the study, when participants ranged in age from 25 to 50, those who improved their diet quality the most were 61% less likely to develop cardiovascular disease later on than those whose diet quality declined the most during that time.

The other study looked at the heart health effects of an eating program called the Portfolio Diet. It followed 123,330 postmenopausal women from the Women’s Health Initiative, a long-term national study, for 25 years. The Portfolio Diet includes nuts; plant protein from soy, beans, or tofu; soluble fiber-rich oats; barley; okra; eggplant; oranges; apples and berries; olive oil; canola oil; and avocados, with limited saturated fats and cholesterol, an approach already found to lower unhealthy LDL cholesterol.

Based on the participants’ answers to questionnaires, the researchers found that the women who followed the Portfolio Diet more closely were 11% less likely to develop any type of cardiovascular disease, 14% less likely to develop coronary heart disease, and 17% less likely to develop heart failure than the women who followed it the least.

“These results present an important opportunity, as there is still room for people to incorporate more cholesterol-lowering plant foods into their diets. With even greater adherence to the Portfolio dietary pattern, one would expect an association with even less cardiovascular events, perhaps as much as cholesterol-lowering medications,” said senior study author John Sievenpiper, MD, PhD, of St. Michael’s Hospital, in Ontario, Canada, and associate professor of nutritional sciences and medicine at the University of Toronto.

“We also found a dose response in our study, meaning that you can start small, adding one component of the Portfolio Diet at a time, and gain more heart-health benefits as you add more components,” said lead author Andrea J. Glenn, PhD, RD, now an instructor at York University in Toronto.

Fitness Flash: A Link Between Exercise and Brain Health

The Benefits of Olive Oil for Heart Health

Even small amounts make a big difference ​

The research: “Olive Oil Consumption and Cardiovascular Risk in U.S. Adults,” Journal of the American College of Cardiology, April 2020.

This study looked at one of the most important benefits of olive oil: its link to helping lower heart disease risk. What sets it apart from previous studies is that the participants were Americans; most previous large studies involved people living in the countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, where olive oil consumption is much higher than it is here. The aim was to compare the effects of olive oil on heart health to those of margarine, butter, mayonnaise, and dairy fat.

The researchers analyzed diet and lifestyle data from 61,181 women who were part of the Nurses’ Health Study and 31,797 men who took part in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study and who filled out questionnaires every four years between 1990 and 2014. The study found that participants who had anywhere over a half tablespoon of olive oil each day in place of the other fats had a 15% lower risk of having any kind of cardiovascular disease and a 21% lower risk of coronary heart disease. This led them to conclude that replacing even small amounts of animal fat with olive oil could move the needle toward a healthier heart. More information from a smaller pool of the participants showed that higher olive oil intake was also linked with lower levels of several inflammatory biomarkers and higher levels of HDL cholesterol—the good kind.

Get More Recipes In Your Inbox!

The Olive Oil Hunter News #54

Posted on by The Olive Oil Hunter

Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Muffins Recipe, Whole-Wheat Flour Power, Salt in Sweets, 9 Foods to Add to Your Diet Now and the Benefits of Walking

No muss, no fuss, and no mixer needed to whip up this week’s recipe—chocolate chip muffins that taste sinful but deliver all the benefits of olive oil. My secret ingredients are two types of flour (including whole-wheat flour_ you might not yet have in your pantry but will reach for time and again once you do. I’m also sharing new insights into fruits and veggies for brain health and why you don’t need to start at 10,000 steps a day to reap the benefits of walking.

Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Muffins

  • Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Muffins Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Muffins

    Extra virgin olive oil makes these muffins tender on the inside and crunchy on top. Using pastry flour creates a finer crumb, and the addition of white whole-wheat flour adds fiber and protein.

    Ingredients

    • 1 1/2 cups plus 1/3 cup pastry flour or all-purpose flour
    • 2/3 cup white whole-wheat flour 
    • 2 teaspoons baking powder 
    • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
    • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
    • 1 scant cup sugar 
    • 2 extra-large eggs 
    • 1 cup Greek yogurt 
    • 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for the muffin tin 
    • 1/3 cup milk 
    • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
    • 12 ounces dark chocolate chips or chunks

    Directions

    Step 1

    Heat your oven to 350ºF. Grease a 12-muffin tin (including the spaces between the cups) with a small amount of olive oil.

    Step 2

    In a very large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to combine.

    Step 3

    In another large bowl, whisk the sugar and eggs until well incorporated, and then whisk in the yogurt, followed by the olive oil, milk, and vanilla extract.

    Step 4

    Slowly pour it into the flour mixture, folding with a spatula as you go until the dry ingredients are mostly incorporated. Add the chips and continue folding until you no longer see any traces of flour. 

    Step 5

    Use a large ice cream scoop to fill the muffin cups just about to the top (the muffins will nicely rise over the rims as they bake).

    Step 6

    Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, depending on your oven—they’re done when the tip of a dinner knife inserted into the center of 2 or 3 muffins comes out clean. Cool the pan on a wire rack before turning out the muffins.

    Yields 12 oversized muffins

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight: Red Pepper Flakes

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Whole-Wheat Flour Power

I’m always looking for ways to “healthify” recipes, especially sweets. For instance, one of the great benefits of olive oil in place of butter is that you drastically cut the saturated fat. Another effortless swap is replacing some of the white flour in baked goods with whole-wheat flour, but not the standard type, which can make the finished food too dense. Instead, choose white whole-wheat flour made from white wheat, or whole-wheat pastry flour made from red wheat. Both are great, though I prefer white whole-wheat flour for sweeter foods, such as cakes and muffins, and whole-wheat pastry flour for more savory rolls and breads. As a rule of thumb, you can use either in place of 25% of a recipe’s all-purpose white flour without noticing a taste difference. The experts at the King Arthur Baking Company suggest that you can go as high as 50% with the white whole-wheat flour without adjusting liquids or rising agents, but going to that level with whole-wheat pastry flour may require tweaking. Experiment to see what tastes best to you.

Healthy Kitchen Tip: Grilling with Flavored Wood Chips

Healthy Kitchen Nugget

Salt in Sweets ​

Since salt often gets a bad rap, you might wonder whether you really have to include it in baked goods. The answer is yes, because it brings out the flavor of other ingredients, including chocolate. When you do the math, one teaspoon, or even two, spread out over a dozen portions of a recipe means just a few grains per serving. In terms of sources of excess sodium, packaged and processed foods are the ones to watch out for. For the best results in home cooking, always use kosher or coarse sea salt.

For Your Best Health: Olive Oil and Brain Function

For Your Best Health

Over the Rainbow: 9 Foods to Add Now ​

Flavonoids are among the most important phytochemicals—nutrients found in fruits and vegetables. It’s actually the umbrella term for many different types of plant nutrients. Anthocyanins, for instance, are well known for giving berries their bright hues. You often hear the advice to “eat a rainbow” because each fruit and veggie has its own unique mix of flavonoids, and you want to get as wide a variety as possible. Flavonoids are a great source of antioxidants, renowned for their ability to fight off the aging effects of oxidative stress and boost overall health. A major study done at Harvard and published in Neurology has found another reason to chow down on fruits and veggies. The researchers discovered an important link between eating lots of flavonoid-rich foods and lowering the odds of subjective cognitive decline (SCD)—how much memory loss or sense of confusion you feel in your daily life.

They looked at data from nearly 50,000 women and 28,000 men over roughly 20 years. Those who had the most flavonoids in their diet lowered their odds of SCD the most compared to those who had the least, they reported. Three types of flavonoids in particular—flavones, flavanones, and anthocyanins—had the most impact. Which fruits and vegetables did the participants eat most? Strawberries, blueberries, oranges, grapefruits (whole or juiced), apples, pears, celery, peppers, and bananas. Onions, peaches, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, lettuce, and potatoes also ranked high. Another key finding is that it’s never too early to start enjoying these foods on a regular basis—think of it as making deposits in the bank of brain health.

Fitness Flash Icon

Fitness Flash

Step to It ​

There are many ways to get and stay fit, and walking—considered a light-intensity physical activity, or LIPA—remains one of the easiest. Though we often hear that 10,000 steps a day is the ultimate goal, it may not be the right goal for you, according to Benjamin Washburn, MD, of the University of Missouri, and Joseph Ihm, MD, of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, authors of the article “Using Step Counts to Prescribe Physical Activity: What Is the Optimal Dose?” published in the American College of Sports Medicine’s Current Sports Medicine Reports. In their report, based on analyzing extensive data, and in a blog post on the topic, they detailed why a target step count should be personalized to each person’s current activity level and needs.

They wrote that “significant health benefits can occur at activity levels below 10,000 daily steps, especially if individuals increase their baseline activity by at least 1,000 steps per day. Several studies demonstrate that near-maximal or maximal health benefits can be achieved by engaging in predominantly LIPA totaling approximately 6,000 to 8,000 steps per day…At the lower end of the activity level spectrum, reaching a minimum of about 4,000 steps per day may be beneficial for many groups if they are at or below this level of activity at baseline.” They added that this may be a helpful goal for older people looking to start a walking program.

The concept of gaining more benefits with every additional 1,000 daily steps also applies to people already getting 10,000 per day. They pointed out that going beyond the weekly minimums set in physical fitness guidelines will likely keep you healthier than someone who achieves a lower level of activity. But “for some, a lower level of activity will still be better than being less active,” they stated.

Get More Recipes In Your Inbox!

The Olive Oil Hunter News #53

Posted on by The Olive Oil Hunter

Chilean Empanadas de Pino Recipe, Spotlight on Grinding Your Own Beef, How to Manage Stress and a Link Between Exercise and Brain Health

I love empanadas (if I’m being honest, I love all kinds of meat pies!), but they can seem daunting to make at home. This week’s recipe breaks it down for you. One step that makes every ground meat dish better is grinding the meat yourself, and it’s a snap with a countertop appliance you might already have…as long as you follow one simple step. I’m also sharing two important health discoveries—a creative way to manage stress and a newfound benefit of exercise that’s the latest example of the mind-body link. 

CHILEAN EMPANADAS DE PINO

  • Chilean Empanadas de Pino Chilean Empanadas De Pino

    Stuffed meat pies are part of nearly every culture. This very popular Chilean version builds on the pino—sauteed and beautifully seasoned ground beef—by adding a bounty of other flavors to the filling. 

    Ingredients

    For the dough:

    • 3-3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
    • 1 tablespoon sugar
    • 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
    • 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes and kept chilled
    • 1-1/4 cups ice water 

    For the filling:

    • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
    • 3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
    • 3/4 pound of ground beef, preferably chuck 
    • 1 large onion, peeled and finely diced
    • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
    • 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
    • 1 teaspoon dried oregano 
    • 1 teaspoon hot sauce, or more to taste
    • Salt and pepper to taste

    For the assembly:

      null

    • 3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and quartered lengthwise 
    • 12 brined large green or black olives, pitted 
    • 3/4 cup golden or sultana raisins
    • 1 egg 
    • 1 tablespoon of water

    Directions

    Step 1

    Make the dough: In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar, and salt just until combined. Add the chilled butter and pulse again until the butter bits are about the size of peas—be careful not to overprocess. 

    Step 2

    Transfer the mixture to a large bowl, then add the water, 1/4 cup at a time, stirring and pressing it into the flour mixture with a spatula until you get a cohesive dough (you may not need all the water). 

    Step 3

    Turn the dough out onto a clean, lightly floured work surface and divide into 12 portions. Form each portion into a ball, place the balls on a plate, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for an hour for easier rolling. 

    Step 4

    Prepare the filling: Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Add the garlic, beef, and onion and sauté until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the spices, hot sauce, and salt and pepper and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes until the meat is cooked through. Set aside to cool for about 15 minutes.

    Step 5

    Assemble the empanadas: Set out two large baking sheets. Working on a well-floured surface with a well-floured rolling pin, roll one of the dough balls into a 6- or 7-inch circle about 1/8-inch thick. 

    Step 6

    Place 2 heaping tablespoons of the meat mixture in the lower half of the round and arrange an olive, an egg quarter, and a tablespoon of raisins on top of the meat. Fold the upper half of the dough over the filling to create a half-moon shape. To seal it, fold up the edge along the half-moon by about 3/4 inch and crimp all along the way with the tines of a fork for a braided look. Use a large spatula to transfer the empanada to one of the baking sheets. Repeat with the rest of the dough balls. 

    Step 7

    Bake the empanadas: Preheat your oven to 425°F. Make an egg wash by breaking the egg into a small bowl and whisk it thoroughly with the tablespoon of water. Use a pastry brush to lightly brush the tops of the empanadas with the egg wash. Bake on two racks in the oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes, rotating the pans at the halfway mark for even browning. 

    Makes 12 — Recipe courtesy of the Fresh-Pressed Olive Oil Club

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight: Grinding Your Own Beef

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Grinding Your Own Beef

There’s no better way to elevate ground meat than to grind your own, and it’s not complicated. If you’ve got a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, invest in the grinder attachment (the kit also includes stuffer tubes for making your own sausages!). If you’ve got a food processor, you can simply use the steel blade—it will have a denser texture because it’s mincing rather than grinding.

For the best grind, everything needs to be icy-cold. Prep your meat by cutting it into 1-inch cubes, spreading them out on a baking sheet, covering with wrap, and popping in the freezer for 15 minutes along with your grinder or processor blade. For the grinder attachment, follow manufacturer instructions. For the processor, use the pulse button for the best control, so you don’t end up with a mash instead of a mince.

Healthy Kitchen Tip: Choosing and Using a Pastry Brush

Healthy Kitchen Nugget

Choosing and Using a Pastry Brush

Pastry brushes might seem like a luxury, but a simple natural boar-bristle brush from a company like Ateco is only a few dollars, and the golden finish from painting an egg wash on pastry before baking is more than worth it. Silicone brushes are easier to clean (they can go right in the dishwasher), but a thin egg wash doesn’t coat their bristles well—save silicone for a thicker application, like brushing BBQ sauce on ribs. To clean a natural bristle brush, rinse it under warm water, rub a small amount of dish detergent into the bristles, and rinse again. Blot the bristles with paper towels and let the brush air dry, flat, on a clean dish towel. When the bristles start falling out or if the brush develops any odors, it’s time to replace it. 

For Your Best Health: Making Stress Work for You

For Your Best Health

Making Stress Work for You

For years, Jeremy Jamieson, PhD, associate professor of psychology and the principal investigator at the University of Rochester’s Social Stress Lab, has been developing ways to rethink how people can deal with stress. Because stress is a normal part of life, it’s better to change how you think about it than to ignore it. For his latest study, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, college students were taught to see stress as a positive—a tool rather than an obstacle. As a result, they lowered their anxiety levels, scored higher on tests, and responded to academic challenges in a healthier way. 

“We use a type of ‘saying is believing’ approach to learn about the adaptive benefits of stress,” said Dr. Jamieson. For instance, tell yourself that your sweaty palms and racing heart are responses that can energize you to perform well. “Stress reappraisal is not aimed at eliminating or dampening stress,” he explained. “It does not encourage relaxation, but instead focuses on changing the type of stress response: If we believe we have sufficient resources to address the demands we’re presented with—it doesn’t matter if the demands are high—if we think we can handle them, our body is going to respond with the challenge response, which means stress is seen as a challenge, rather than a threat.” Try it and see for yourself!

Fitness Flash: A Link Between Exercise and Brain Health

Fitness Flash

A Link Between Exercise and Brain Health

A group of scientists led by Bruce M. Spiegelman, PhD, the Stanley J. Korsmeyer Professor of Cell Biology and Medicine at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, has just released its latest research on irisin, a hormone produced by muscles during exercise and discovered by Dr. Spiegelman in 2012. After research on human brains found that irisin, named for the Greek messenger goddess Iris, was absent in people who had died of Alzheimer’s disease but was present in others, the team wanted to explore how the hormone might be involved in brain health. 

The most recent study, published in Nature Metabolism, used a variety of lab experiments involving mice to show that irisin can cross the blood-brain barrier and improve cognition—thinking and memory—in both healthy animals and those with a rodent version of Alzheimer’s. These findings suggest that the simple act of exercising could change the course of brain function as we age and lower dementia risk. While it will take research involving humans to learn what types and frequency of exercise are best, these results already suggest that exercise can be as good for your brain as we know it to be for your heart, which should motivate all of us to get moving.

Get More Recipes In Your Inbox!