Place the lentils in a sieve and rinse under cold running water, picking through to remove any pebbles. Bring the stock to a boil in a large pot, then add the lentils, celery, carrots, bay leaf, and salt. Turn down the heat to maintain a simmer, cover the pot, and cook until the lentils are tender but still toothsome (think al dente), about 25 minutes. Check 5 minutes in advance to make sure there’s still some liquid so that the lentils won’t scorch. If the lentils aren’t tender once the broth evaporates, add 1/2 cup more liquid and continue cooking 5-10 more minutes.
Step 2
While the lentils are cooking, make the dressing. In a medium bowl, mix the vinegar, shallot, black pepper, and Dijon. Slowly whisk in the olive oil. Taste and add more vinegar if desired.
Step 3
When the lentils are ready, strain off any remaining liquid and transfer to a large bowl; discard the bay leaf. Fold in the red onion, bell pepper, and parsley. Pour on the dressing and toss to coat. Taste and add salt as desired. Serve at room temperature or chilled.
Grilled Salmon with Canary Islands Mojo Sauce Recipe, Spotlight on Dried Chiles, Avoiding Mislabeled Seafood, Protein Power and Strength Training for Women
If you’re a year-round griller like me, you’ve probably lit up the hardwoods even on days your porch or yard was buried under snow. But if you’re not that daring, you can still enjoy a subtle char from your oven broiler. I also find that the dead of winter is the perfect time to experiment with some added heat…from dried chiles. Peppers—fresh, dried, and ground—are the stars of this week’s Olive Oil Hunter Newsletter.
This piquant sauce comes from the famed islands off the coast of Spain. It’s so popular that it’s often served at tapas bars as a dip for bread. I also love it with other toothsome fish like tuna, sea bass, and monkfish.
Ingredients
For the mojo:
2 red bell peppers
1 dried chile pepper, such as ancho
8 sprigs fresh cilantro, leaves plus a few stems
2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
2 to 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons honey, or more to taste
2 teaspoons pimentón (smoked Spanish paprika)
1 teaspoon ground cumin, or more to taste
1/2 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
For the fish:
2-pound fillet of salmon, skin on
Extra virgin olive oil
Coarse salt
Fresh coarsely ground black pepper
Directions
Step 1
To make the mojo sauce, start by charring the red peppers. You can do this on a grill, under the broiler in your oven, or by holding one pepper at a time over a gas range burner. Turn as needed to blacken the skin on all sides, and then let them cool for several minutes before peeling off and discarding the skins and removing the stems, ribs, and seeds. Coarsely chop the peppers and put them in the jar of a blender.
Step 2
On the grill or in a dry sauté pan, toast the dried chile pepper for 30 seconds to 1 minute, turning once. Let cool, and then break into pieces, discarding the stem, ribs, and seeds. Add half to the blender jar, reserving the rest. Add in the cilantro, garlic, vinegar, honey, pimentón, cumin, and salt. Blend until fairly smooth. Then slowly add the oil through the blender lid with the machine running and process until the oil is incorporated. You want a thick but pourable sauce. If the sauce is too thick, add water one tablespoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency. Taste for seasoning, adding more of the reserved chile, vinegar, honey, cumin, and/or salt as needed. Pour into a serving bowl and set aside.
Step 3
Run your fingers over the salmon fillet to check for bones. Pull out any that you find with kitchen tweezers or sanitized needle-nose pliers. Lightly oil the salmon on both sides and season with the salt and pepper.
If you’re using your oven broiler (typically at a temp of 450-500ºF), place the salmon on a baking sheet and broil for 10 to 15 minutes. (Alternatively, you can bake it at 350ºF for 20 to 25 minutes or until cooked through.)
Step 4
If you’re grilling the salmon on a charcoal grill, rake the coals to one side of the grill pan; for a gas grill, light the outer burners but leave the middle burner(s) unlit. Brush and oil the grill grate. Arrange the salmon with its skin side down on the grill grate, but not directly over the coals. Put the lid on. Cook for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the flesh is opaque and flakes easily when pressed with a fork. Use a large spatula to transfer the fillet to a platter. Drizzle some mojo sauce over the fish and serve the rest of the sauce on the side.
Note: A wire grill basket is a great tool for grilling fish—oil the basket, place the fish in it, and place it on your grill. When the fish is done, use tongs to lift the basket off the grill without the worry of the fillet coming apart.
Yields 4 servings.
Healthy Ingredient Spotlight
Dried Chiles
A bag of dried chiles can look intimidating, but they’re so easy to use that you should make room for them in your pantry. Just as I have various fresh chiles on hand when available, I keep a selection of dried varieties in my kitchen—cascabel for mild heat, ancho for rich smokiness, guajillo for smokiness and a bit more heat, and arbol for a lot of heat! I love them for adding depth to sauces like mojo, to stews and casseroles, and of course, to all manner of Mexican dishes.
Toasting them—for less than a minute—brings out their flavor before grinding or chopping them, but depending on the recipe, you might instead rehydrate them with a 20-minute soak in warm water. With either method, before using the peppers, discard the stems, ribs, and seeds, which can add unwanted bitterness to your dish. Also, kitchen scissors are great for snipping off the stems and cutting the peppers into pieces whether they’re dry or rehydrated.
Healthy Kitchen Nugget
Avoid Mislabeled Seafood
Renewed reports about mislabeled seafood might have you questioning whether that wild salmon you’re eyeing at the store could actually be farm-raised. After shrimp, salmon is the second-most mislabeled seafood, according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program, which assesses most of the seafood consumed in the U.S. and offers recommendations for making sustainable choices. According to the watchdog group, virtually all Atlantic salmon is now farmed rather than wild-caught. But not all farm-raised Atlantic salmon (think of it as the variety, not its geography) is bad. Because of better farming techniques, Atlantic salmon farmed in Norway’s Skjerstad Fjord in marine net pens and worldwide in indoor recirculating tanks with wastewater treatment is a “best choice.” Farmed Atlantic salmon from Maine, Canada’s British Columbia, Scotland’s Orkney Islands, the Faroe Islands, and elsewhere when produced in indoor recirculating tanks without wastewater treatment is a “good alternative.” You want to avoid Atlantic salmon farmed in Canada’s Atlantic, in Chile, and in other areas of Norway and Scotland, mostly because of the overuse of chemicals.
According to a report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, it’s not just consumers who pay the price of mislabeled seafood—the consequences extend to marine life, fisheries management, and the environment. “In the United States, we’re actually very good at managing our fisheries,” said the study’s lead author Kailin Kroetz, assistant professor at the Arizona State University School of Sustainability. “We assess the stock so we know what’s out there. We set a catch limit. We have strong monitoring and enforcement capabilities to support fishers adhering to the limit. But many countries we import from do not have the same management capacity.”
To make the best choices, know the buying recommendations and make friends with your local fishmonger so that you’ll feel comfortable asking about the origin of any seafood you’re considering. Check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch search tool to learn which types of seafood are fished or farmed in environmentally sustainable ways.
For Your Best Health
Protein Power
Have you ever noticed that you feel more satisfied after eating protein? It’s not your imagination. Protein does a better job of quelling hunger than carbs and fat do. That can make a difference when you’re cutting calories to lose weight and want to stay on track. A small study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition looked at how healthy participants metabolized a high-protein liquid diet of 40% protein, 35% carbohydrate, and 25% fat compared to one with 15% protein, 55% carbohydrate, and 30% fat (the breakdown of the typical U.S. diet). Researchers found that people on the higher protein diet burned more fat and calories—more evidence of the power of protein.
According to NASM, the National Academy of Sports Medicine, while many different diets can result in weight loss, a diet’s protein content is a key factor for a number of reasons. Eating enough protein helps you hold on to lean muscle as you lose fat. Your body also burns a few more calories when metabolizing protein than carbs or fat—up to 75 calories a day or the equivalent of an extra 10-minute walk. While all excess calories tend to be stored as fat, it’s harder for the body to do this with protein.
How much do you need? NASM’s guidelines are to eat 0.73 to 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight, or 1 to 1.5 grams per pound if you’re a heavy exerciser, when trying to lose weight. One gram of protein has 4 calories, so once you total how many daily calories go to protein, subtract that number from your overall calories to know how much you have left to allocate to healthy carbs (veggies, fruits, and whole grains) and fats like extra virgin olive oil. If you’re vegan or vegetarian, NASM has terrific tips to help you meet your protein needs.
Fitness Flash
Women and Strength Training
Strength training is an important part of building health and fitness, yet many women shy away from it. A study done at Penn State University and published in the Journal of American College Health has shed some light on why. Researchers found a reluctance on the part of female students to use weights at the campus’s gym facilities, describing them as “highly gendered spaces.” A lack of knowledge about how to use the equipment, a lack of confidence and feeling self-conscious in the presence of men, and getting unsolicited advice from male peers were the main reasons—all of which can prevent women from strength training at the very time it should be becoming part of a regular fitness routine. Since developing and maintaining muscle strength is essential, especially in later years, if you’re not yet lifting weights, it’s time to get started. And you can do it at home or by joining a gym that caters to women or has women-only sections or hours.
Some of our favorite members of the Brassica family, brussels sprouts, star in this vegan-friendly mélange of seasonal vegetables. Large king oyster or shiitake mushrooms can be found at many supermarkets or Asian food emporiums. Feel free to substitute other meaty mushrooms, such as portobellos or creminis.
8 ounces medium shallots, peeled and halved lengthwise
6 to 8 fresh thyme sprigs
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided use
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt (kosher or sea)
1 pound king oyster or shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
Directions
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Toss together the brussels sprouts, pearl onions, shallots, thyme, and 1/4 cup of olive oil on a large rimmed baking sheet; sprinkle with the pepper and 1 teaspoon of salt. Roast until tender and browned, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven; remove and discard the thyme sprigs.
Step 2
While the brussels sprout mixture roasts, heat the remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms; cook, stirring occasionally, until just starting to brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low; cook, stirring occasionally, until nicely browned and nearly crisp, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from the heat. Stir in the soy sauce, smoked paprika, and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Transfer the mushrooms to paper towels to drain. Stir the mushrooms into the brussels sprout mixture just before serving.
Serves 8 to 10 — Recipe from Food and Wine, November 2020
Greek Fava Recipe, Spotlight on Legumes and Gluten-Free Legume Pasta, and the Truth About Diet and Exercise
This is the time of year when I’m usually in Italy and Greece, tasting the most amazing, freshly pressed olive oils and working with my growers on creating flavorful and unique blends. There’s nothing quite like spending fall in the heart of the Mediterranean, with its comfortable daytime temps and cool evenings, wonderful for unwinding at a Greek taverna, savoring luscious mezze—their wide array of appetizers—and wine with people who not only love them, too, but are responsible for growing the crops that chefs and vintners depend on.
Mediterranean food is rich, heart-warming, stick-to-your-ribs cuisine. With this week’s recipe, you can bring one of my favorite tastes of Greece to your own table…
In Greece, “fava” is a creamy purée made from the yellow split peas traditionally grown on the island of Santorini. These split peas are not related to fava beans, though both are legumes. Yellow and green split peas are great pantry items, and supermarket brands cost just cents a bag. But if you really want to splurge, for just a few dollars more, you can buy true Greek yellow split peas from Arosis, a purveyor that sources them from small Greek farms. Many online merchants sell a variety of the company’s products.
Greek fava is a wonderful twist on hummus, the better-known legume-based dip. Fava has a silky creaminess for a great mouthfeel. It’s often topped with caramelized onions and capers and served with toasted pita wedges, but I love using cucumber spears and sliced veggies for dipping.
Ingredients
1 cup dry yellow split peas
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock, homemade or low-sodium canned
2 small onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 bay leaf
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more if desired
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon fresh oregano or flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
Coarse salt
Freshly ground pepper
Paprika (smoked if possible)
Optional: capers, caramelized onions and lemon wedges
Directions
Step 1
Rinse the split peas in cold water to remove any grit and drain. Transfer to a large saucepan and pour in enough stock to cover by at least an inch—start with 2.5 cups. Add half the diced onion, the garlic and the bay leaf. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and skim off any foam that accumulates on top. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the peas reach a thick, porridge-like consistency, 30 to 60 minutes. Stir occasionally and add the final half-cup of broth if all the liquid is absorbed before the peas are tender—don’t let them dry out or scorch on the bottom of the pan.
Step 2
When the peas are done, allow them to cool. Discard the bay leaf. Transfer the peas to a food processor using a slotted spoon and reserving any remaining cooking liquid in case needed. Add 5 tablespoons of the olive oil and the lemon juice and process until smooth. The consistency should be like mashed potatoes. If the mixture is too dry, add any stock that remained in the pan or a couple of tablespoons of water. Add the oregano or parsley and pulse until well distributed. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Step 3
Mound the fava in a serving bowl and top with a sprinkle of paprika and the remaining diced onion and tablespoon of olive oil or more to taste. If making ahead, refrigerate and then let it come to room temperature before digging in. Garnish with capers, caramelized onions and lemon wedges as desired.
Quick Kitchen Hack: Once a week I like to make a batch of caramelized onions. Not only are they great on the fava, but they’re also delicious as a condiment or flavor booster on everything from eggs and burgers to steamed vegetables and even toast. Slice three or four large onions and sauté in 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Cook them low and slow—it could take up to an hour—until completely soft and brown, a sign that their natural sugar has been released. Finish with a splash of your favorite balsamic vinegar, pack into a glass jar, and refrigerate.
Yields 6 appetizer servings.
Healthy Ingredient Spotlight
Superstar Legumes
Legumes are superstars among plant-based foods because of their fiber, protein and wealth of other nutrients. Within legumes is the group called pulses. These are specifically plants that have pods, explains USA Pulses, and a pulse itself is the dry edible seed within the pod. Among the most delicious types are whole and split dry yellow and green peas; green, French green, red, black and small brown lentils; and a veritable army of beans, including the well-known kidney beans, great northern beans and black-eyed peas (a bean, not actually a pea!), adzuki beans, the oversized cranberry bean, and, yes, the fava bean. Explore more at pulses.org.
Healthy Kitchen Nugget
To Soak or Not to Soak
Not all legumes need a long soak before they can be used. Simply rinse lentils and dried peas, removing any tiny pebbles you might find. For cooking, a good rule of thumb is to start with 2.5 cups liquid per 1 cup lentils, 2 cups liquid for 1 cup dried peas, and add more as needed during cooking. They’re often tender after a 30-minute simmer.
You can cook beans without soaking first, but they’ll take a lot longer. For chickpeas, use 3 cups water to 1 cup chickpeas, and soak for 8 to 24 hours. For beans, use enough water to cover and soak overnight. Your bowl should allow for the beans to double or triple in size. Drain, rinse with cool water and simmer 1.5 to 2 hours, depending on your recipe.
For a faster no-soak method, USA Pulses recommends a quick boil and rest: Boil 2 cups water and 1 cup beans for 3 minutes, or 3 cups water and 1 cup chickpeas for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and wait 1 hour before proceeding with your recipe.
For Your Best Health
Gluten-Free Legume Pasta
You know that regular pasta is part of the pantheon of refined flour-based products that lack the micronutrients of whole grains. Enriched pasta contains some, but hardly all, of the vitamins and minerals lost when the wheat is refined. But whole-grain pasta isn’t the only alternative, particularly if you want gluten-free or simply fewer carbs. Enter legume-based pasta—black beans, chickpeas and red lentils are taking the starring spots among pasta alternatives from companies like Eden Foods and even pasta king, Barilla. Plus, they have more fiber and more protein than whole-grain pasta, according to a report by UC Berkeley. To keep the goodness going, think vegetable- and olive oil-based sauces rather than butter or cream.
Fitness Flash
The Truth About Diet and Exercise
Whether you’re a casual or serious fitness enthusiast, you know that exercise and diet work together to build a better body. But it turns out that some sports nutrition lore is actually incorrect. At last year’s meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine, renowned Newton, Massachusetts-based sports nutritionist Nancy Clark, RD, set the record straight.
You don’t need protein supplements to build muscle. Getting about 110 to 150 grams of real protein a day will do it. To increase muscle size, the answer is strength training.
Think protein if you want a bedtime snack. In fact, a study published in the British Journal of Nutrition in 2018 found that a cup of cottage cheese about an hour before you turn in will help with muscle repair while you sleep.
For vegans, make sure to get enough leucine, the amino acid that triggers muscles to grow. Nonanimal sources include nuts, seeds, soy foods, lentils, beans and other plant proteins. Since a standard serving of most of these plant-based foods doesn’t have as much leucine as a serving of meat, for instance, you might need to have a serving at every meal and for snacks to get the recommended daily intake, Clark advises.
