Spanakopita “Cigars” Recipe, Spotlight on Pine Nuts, Handling Phyllo, Being Distracted Leads to Overindulging, Climbing Stairs for Longevity
They say cooking can be therapeutic—it’s a type of mindful activity that calls for being focused and it can also fill you with a sense of accomplishment. When you cook for others, that nurturing creates other positive feelings in you as well. There are few recipes that demand as much focus as those that include phyllo, delicate sheets of the thinnest dough that require an equally delicate touch on your part. You also need a lot of patience when building up layers, whether for a sweet baklava or these spinach-filled rolls. Most important, the results are delicious! Focus is also the subject of a new study on why people tend to overindulge. I’m sure you’ll find it as fascinating as I did.
Spanakopita “Cigars”
Spanakopita “Cigars”Packaged spanakopita, often in canape-sized shapes, can taste rather bland. With a package of frozen phyllo (or fresh if you live near a Greek pastry shop!), you can make this wonderful dish with layers of flavor—the sweetness of the caramelized onions, pine nuts, and currants, the freshness of the parsley and dill, and the zest of the cheeses—all enhanced by the richness of fresh-pressed olive oil. If you have the time, you can steam and chop fresh spinach, but you’ll need a very big volume to achieve two pounds. Frozen is easier to work with—allow it to defrost overnight in the fridge along with the phyllo. This recipe also includes bulgur, a tasty whole grain. You can roll the dough and filling into many different shapes. Long logs, or cigars, are easy to roll up and the shape is less likely to tear the delicate phyllo. Enjoy the process of working with phyllo—it’s easy once you get the hang of it…if you allow yourself time to work at a comfortable pace.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds frozen leaf spinach, defrosted
- 1/3 cup pine nuts
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 pound sweet onions, preferably Vidalia, coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup uncooked bulgur
- 1 cup very finely chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley
- 1/2 cup other assorted fresh herbs, like oregano, dill, and spearmint
- 1/3 cup dried tiny currants, such as Zante, or chopped golden raisins
- 8-ounce block of fresh feta, preferably from Greece
- 1/2 cup ricotta
- Coarse sea salt, to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 3 large eggs
- 16-ounce package frozen phyllo, defrosted
- 1 tablespoon each white and black sesame seeds
Directions
Step 1
Use your hands to squeeze and discard as much excess liquid from the spinach as you can, then place it in a large colander lined with paper towels over a bowl to continue draining.
Step 2
Heat a large frying pan and, when hot, toast the pine nuts for just a minute or two to bring out their flavor; watch carefully because they can easily burn. Transfer the nuts to a small dish and set aside. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the hot pan, then the onions, and cook on low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring often, until the onions are very soft. While they’re cooking, make the bulgur in a small saucepan according to package directions; when done, there should be no water left in the pan.
Step 3
Squeeze any remaining liquid from the spinach and transfer it to a large bowl. Add the pine nuts, onions, bulgur, chopped herbs, and currants or raisins. Finely crumble the feta and add it in along with the ricotta; mix thoroughly. Taste and season with salt and pepper as desired—it may already taste salty enough from the feta. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs, reserving about 1/4 cup. Work the beaten eggs into the spinach mixture.
Step 4
Preheat your oven to 375°F. Line a rimmed sheet pan with parchment paper and set it to one side. Prep the section of countertop where you’ll work with a sheet of parchment paper (see “Quick Kitchen Nugget” in Newsletter #176 for details). Pour olive oil into a small bowl.
Step 5
Gently open the phyllo package and unroll the dough onto another rimmed sheet pan lined with parchment paper; immediately cover it with a dry dish towel topped by a damp dish towel. When you’re ready to start, quickly remove one sheet of phyllo and place it on the parchment in front of you. Use the tips of a pastry brush to dab some olive oil across the surface—you don’t need to be too thorough since you’ll be adding more oil with each sheet. Top with another phyllo sheet and dab again, placing the oil on areas where you can see that there’s no oil on the first sheet. Repeat with a third sheet of phyllo.
Step 6
Scoop out a generous half-cup of filling and use your fingers to spread it out in a line across the long end of the dough closest to you, 1 inch in from the edge and from the two short sides. Roll up the phyllo just enough to cover the filling, fold in the outer ends, dab on more oil, and roll up the rest of the way, adding a final dab of oil before transferring the cigar with a bench scraper or wide offset spatula to the parchment-lined sheet pan; cover it with another clean towel.
Step 7
Repeat the process with the rest of the filling and phyllo. Once you’ve rolled all the cigars, remove the towel and use the pastry brush to brush them with the reserved egg, then sprinkle on the sesame seeds.
Step 8
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until the phyllo crisps and browns.
Yields 12 cigars
Healthy Ingredient Spotlight
Pine Nuts
Pesto isn’t the only recipe that benefits from these sweet nuggets, which are actually the seeds of pinecones. Considering their tiny size, pine nuts are nutrient powerhouses: One ounce delivers 4 grams of protein, 1 gram of fiber, 20 grams of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat, and good amounts of vitamin E, copper, and manganese.
Though there are more than 100 species of pine trees, most pine nuts—you might see them packaged or referred to in recipes as pignoli—come from just three of them. Prized and enjoyed for centuries the world over, pine nuts are very slow to produce and hard to harvest. This all explains why they’re so much more expensive than true nuts. So you’ll want to use them judiciously. To preserve their flavor, store them in a sealed bag in your fridge or freezer, not on a cabinet shelf. To bring out that flavor, toast them in a warmed, dry pan for a minute or two before using them in recipes.
Quick Kitchen Nugget
Handling Phyllo
Unless you’re lucky enough to live near a Greek or Middle Eastern market that makes and sells its own phyllo, look for frozen versions at your supermarket. Because it is rolled paper thin, it is tricky to make from scratch at home—though it can be done.
Phyllo sheets are extremely fragile and can dry out and tear easily. A few quick tips will make it easier to work with, no matter what recipe you’re making. First, defrost frozen phyllo overnight in the fridge. About an hour before you use it, place the box on a countertop to bring it to room temperature.
Before you get started, be sure your work surface is clean and dry. Place a long piece of parchment paper in front of you and another to one side. Gather three clean dish towels; slightly dampen one of them. Have your olive oil and a silicone pastry brush plus your filling at the ready. Line a rimmed sheet pan with parchment.
Gently open the package and unroll the phyllo on the parchment. Immediately cover it with one dry towel topped by the damp towel. Peel back the towels just long enough to take out one sheet of phyllo and place it on the parchment in front of you, then follow your recipe’s directions.
If you notice any rips that expose filling, cover them with small pieces of phyllo drizzled with oil—no one will be any the wiser!
For Your Best Health
Being Distracted Leads to Overindulging
New research published by the American Psychological Association in the Journal ofPersonality and Social Psychology aims to unravel the mystery of why we overindulge despite good intentions. The study looked at how distraction affects “hedonic consumption,” or buying and using products and experiences because they make us feel good and not necessarily because we need them.
“On any given day, a person may take great pleasure from one or more of these activities, yet people often consume more hedonic goods than they want or than is good for them,” said lead author Stephen Lee Murphy, PhD, of Ghent University in Belgium.
One reason for this overconsumption may be distraction, according to Dr. Murphy. When people are distracted while engaging in a hedonic activity, research suggests, they are likely to experience less enjoyment from it than if they were fully focused. That may lead to feelings of dissatisfaction and drive more consumption to compensate for the shortfall. If you tend to do other things while eating dinner, for instance, you risk overconsuming later on, possibly because the distraction caused you to enjoy your meal less—you weren’t sated because you weren’t focused on the pleasure of eating in the moment.
To better understand the role of distraction in overconsumption, the researchers first conducted an experiment involving 122 participants (mostly female and mostly between the ages of 18 and 24) who reported on how much they expected to enjoy their lunch before eating it. They were then asked to eat their lunch under one of three conditions: no distraction, moderate distraction (watching a video), and high distraction (playing Tetris). After lunch, participants reported on their actual enjoyment, satisfaction, desire for further gratification, and amount consumed. They also reported on their snacking later in the day.
Participants who ate while distracted reported lower enjoyment and satisfaction, which was associated with increased snacking afterward and a more general desire for further gratification.
The researchers believe that this proposed effect, which they called hedonic compensation, likely applies to activities beyond eating. For example, people who are distracted while watching a movie or playing a game may be more likely to engage in additional consumption, like checking social media, to compensate for a diminished enjoyment of the original activity.
The researchers also followed 220 participants aged 18 to 71 (again mostly female) for a week to investigate this broader effect beyond food. Participants filled out seven brief surveys per day via their smartphones regarding their hedonic consumption, distraction, and satisfaction. As with the food-based experiment, researchers found that when people were distracted during consumption, they were likely to enjoy a product less than they hoped, feel less satisfied, and experience an elevated need for further gratification.
“Overconsumption often results due to a lack of self-control,” said Dr. Murphy. “However, our findings suggest overconsumption may also often be driven by the simple human desire to reach a certain level of enjoyment from an activity. When distraction gets in the way, it’s likely we may try to compensate by consuming more.”
Dr. Murphy and his colleagues plan to conduct further research to replicate and confirm the existence of a hedonic compensation effect. If confirmed, they have plans to apply interventions that could help people pay more attention to their experiences in an effort to lower the likelihood of overconsumption. “By understanding the key drivers of hedonic overconsumption, we can develop strategies to help prevent its occurrence,” he said.
Fitness Flash
Climbing Stairs for Longevity
Cardiovascular disease is largely preventable through actions like exercise. However, more than one in four adults worldwide do not meet recommended levels of physical activity. Stair climbing is a practical and easily accessible form of physical activity that is often overlooked, according to research presented at ESC Preventive Cardiology 2024, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology.
To help determine whether climbing stairs, as a form of physical activity, could play a role in reducing the risks of cardiovascular disease and premature death, the study’s authors collected the best available evidence on the topic and conducted a meta-analysis. Studies were included regardless of the number of flights of stairs and the speed of climbing. There were nine studies with 480,479 participants in the final analysis—including both healthy participants and those with a previous history of heart attack or peripheral arterial disease. Ages ranged from 35 to 84 years old and 53% of participants were women.
Compared with not climbing stairs, stair climbing was associated with a 24% reduced risk of dying from any cause and a 39% lower likelihood of dying from cardiovascular disease. Stair climbing was also linked with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart attack, heart failure, and stroke.
“Based on these results, we would encourage people to incorporate stair climbing into their day-to-day lives…If you have the choice of taking the stairs or the lift, go for the stairs, as it will help your heart,” said study author Dr. Sophie Paddock of the University of East Anglia and Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals National Health Service Foundation Trust in Norwich, UK. “Even brief bursts of physical activity have beneficial health impacts, and short bouts of stair climbing should be an achievable target to integrate into daily routines.”
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