Mediterranean Women Stay Slim, Too: Eating to Be Sexy, Fit, and Fabulous! (24 page)

vegetables, fish, whole grains—but in the Mediterranean, where children grow up eating what the adults eat and refining
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their palates at a much younger age, pickiness is more about pleasure. Why eat something that doesn’t fill you with pleasure?

Je ne sais pas.
Be picky and don’t settle for food that doesn’t infuse you with childish joy. Even if it’s a healthy food such as fish or green beans or apples, don’t eat it if it isn’t well prepared and delicious. The food you eat should be truly good and worthy of your body (remember rule number 1!). If it isn’t, just say,
No,
grazie!

3. Slow down.
Americans always seem to be in a hurry. In general, life in the Mediterranean isn’t about rushing through the day. It’s more about savoring the day. You can carry this attitude into many aspects of your life. Take your time to look around and notice what you are doing, taste what you are eating, listen to who is talking to you, and pay attention to the world as it spins past you. Chew your food. Taste it. Don’t just gulp and swallow. If you really tune in to the experience of every bite and enjoy each morsel of food in your mouth as long as possible before sending it into your stomach, you’ll find that you don’t eat as much. At the same time, your meals will be more memorable.

4. Shun fast food.
This is the flip side of rule number 3. Slow down by shunning fast food. In the Mediterranean, food isn’t fast. It might be convenient at times, it might be easy to make, it might be very simple, but fast?
Certainement pas!
One group in favor of this rule is Slow Food. This international organiza-tion works to combat the trend toward fast food and the ho-mogenization of food by raising awareness about the positive benefits of knowing the origins of your food and preparing it with care, encouraging the practice of biodiversity, and fund-ing initiatives devoted to taste education, gastronomic culture, and the preservation of traditional foods in danger of being lost
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to the world. Slow Food, founded by Carlo Petrini in 1986 (not surprisingly, he is an Italian), now has 80,000 members in 100

countries. If you want to learn more, chances are there is a local Slow Food chapter near you. Check the Internet at www.slowfoodusa.com.

5. Buy local.
It is quintessentially Mediterranean to eat what grows where you live, and to know your growers, whether they are the people who run that little produce stand on the highway or the regulars at the farmers’ market, or the butcher, baker, and produce clerk at your local grocery store. Let them know who you are, talk to them, ask them questions, and make it known that you are looking for the very best. It really does make a difference if you know where the food comes from. You will appreciate your food and treasure it much more. You’ll be less likely to waste food or cook more than you need. You will also find yourself woven into a community if you cultivate these relationships. Plus, people are social creatures by nature, and they like it when others are interested in what they do. Show interest, and you might just get the inside scoop on when the best food will be available.

6. Go organic.
In a world with a huge population and factory farms producing food in bulk, pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers seem to be a necessity for efficiency and profit.

But many farmers are standing up and arguing with that so-called wisdom by practicing organic farming methods and sustainable agriculture. The result for consumers is food grown without chemicals or the lingering aura of environmental de-struction. Dousing food in the substances used by American producers would be scandalous to many Mediterranean producers, and Mediterraneans wouldn’t buy the stuff, anyway.

When you choose organic food and free-range organic meat,
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you will not only be supporting these earth-friendly practices, but you will be getting food much closer to what you would get in the Mediterranean, where food is grown on small farms nearby and carted to the market immediately after picking. If you are getting to know your food producers, you might discover that many small farmers don’t go through the huge ex-pense to have their food certified organic, but that doesn’t mean they don’t use organic farming methods. Ask and they’ll tell you.

Our small farms and farmers, especially those practicing organics, are the caretakers of our land. They give back to the soil as they farm, keeping the land healthy and providing food with greater nutritional value.

7. Pay attention to what you buy. Pay more for it.
Organic produce often costs more than “regular” produce in the grocery store (although it may actually be less at the farmers’ market when it is in season and an even better value than produce in the supermarket). The more you taste the difference, the more you may realize that a few extra pennies are well worth the higher quality. You’ll find that better-quality food generally costs more than processed food made with cheap ingredients.

A jar of mass-produced pimiento-stuffed “Spanish” olives from California is a lot cheaper than a jar of artisanally produced olives like those from the Santa Barbara Olive Company, also based in California, but what a difference! Would you rather pay less for a wrapped-up slice of processed cheese food or more for a wedge of spectacular aged French cheese or a hunk of lovely fresh artisanally crafted sheep’s cheese? You see what I mean. Sometimes paying more for quality food really is an investment in your health and in your own pleasure.

You often get what you pay for, so pay attention to what goes into your basket and buy the food that you decide is worth eating.

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8. Exercise portion control.
Portion control may be one of the hardest things for Americans to get a handle on. It’s just so easy to take more. We’ve got so much food available to us! But part of the beauty of cherishing and savoring your food is that less is more. What’s so valuable about a pound of spaghetti with canned sauce? But half a cup of risotto studded with wild mushrooms and rich sauce, well . . . that’s something entirely different. Have you ever noticed that the more expensive the restaurant, the smaller the portion size? And the cheaper, the bigger? In French, the phrase to have a hearty appetite—
avoir
un bon coup de fourchette
—literally means to have a good way with the fork. It has nothing to do with huge portions; it has to do with a huge appetite for goodness, flavor, and quality. Keep your portions small and your food good, and you’ll value every bite and feel more satiated.

9. Follow the recipe.
One good way to help keep portions small is to follow the recipe. If a recipe says it serves four, don’t eat the whole thing yourself. Divide it between four people, or eat one-fourth of it and put the rest in the freezer for later. Put the rest away
before
you start eating so that you won’t eat mindlessly. Europeans are generally shocked by the portion sizes in American restaurants and homes—portion sizes that have grown substan-tially in the past few decades. Whether pasta, steak, wine, or one of those jumbo frozen drink glasses, our vision of what serves one person is getting pretty cloudy. So when you cook at home, follow the recipe and take the number of servings quite literally. Pay attention to a single serving. Then when you go to a restaurant, you will know how much of that jumbo plate of food to eat and how much to save for later.

10. Follow the three-bite rule.
Another funny thing about American eating habits is the concept of “cheating.” You ate a piece of
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cake or a cookie, and now you feel horribly guilty because you cheated. On whom? On what? Special treats should be special treats, but feeling guilty about them destroys all the pleasure and ruins the whole point of getting to enjoy a piece of cake or a cookie. Eating them every day isn’t a good idea for anyone, but eating them every now and then when the opportunity for something truly good presents itself . . . well, that’s just living life to the fullest! If you are following the other nine rules, you aren’t going to be bingeing on packaged cookies or junk food, anyway, but when something excellent comes along—a fresh French pastry, a homemade birthday cake, a warm batch of chocolate chip cookies made by someone who loves you, a scoop of gelato—follow the three-bite rule. The first three bites of a new taste are always the best, so just take three luscious bites, and stop. Wasn’t that a satisfying treat?
Ça descend tout
seul!
No guilt allowed, or necessary.

I’ll devote the remainder of this chapter to some of my favorite indulgences in which quality of ingredients is absolutely paramount. Make them with love and savor them with restraint, and you’ll truly be living
la dolce vita
.

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Candied Pecans or Walnuts

M a k e s 2 c u p s

√A serving of these sugary nuts is about 1 ounce, or about an eighth of a cup. Use high-quality, fresh, raw nuts that are unsalted. Relish just a few in silence, and it will be a good day.

Pass the rest around to your family. You’ll probably get an empty bowl passed back to you. Nuts are high in fat but also high in protein and energy. A few go a long way, and they are great for your skin.

2 cups whole pecans or walnuts

1⁄2 cup hot water

1 cup light brown sugar

1.
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Put the nuts on a baking sheet and toast them for 5–8 minutes, or until they turn a golden brown.

Don’t overbrown them.

2.
Meanwhile, put the brown sugar in a medium bowl. Add the hot water very gradually, mixing well after each addition until the sugar looks like thick, wet sand. (You might not need all the water.)

3.
Add the hot nuts to the sugar and stir well until all the nuts are coated. Turn them back out onto the baking sheet and bake an additional 5 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

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Summer Tomato-Feta Salad

with Tapenade Crostini

S e r v e s 4

√This beautiful salad makes a filling and luxurious lunch if you use a collection of freshly picked tomatoes from the garden or farmers’ market, a good Greek feta or locally produced goat cheese, and Tapenade Crostini you make yourself. If you can find heirloom varieties of tomatoes, these make the salad even more special. I like Marvel Stripe and Big Daddy Sunburst.

2 yellow tomatoes, sliced

8–10 cherry tomatoes

2 beefsteak tomatoes, sliced

E xtra-virgin olive oil to taste

1 pint pea shoots

Sea salt and freshly ground black

1 pound feta cheese, broken into 4

pepper to taste

chunks

Tapenade Crostini (recipe follows)

1.
Assemble the sliced tomatoes on a plate. Arrange the pea shoots, cheese, and cherry tomatoes around the sliced tomatoes.

2.
Drizzle the whole salad with olive oil. Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper. Garnish with the crostini.

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Tapenade Crostini

S e r v e s 4

8 baguette slices, cut about 1⁄4 inch

2 fresh or canned anchovy fillets,

thick

rinsed and patted dry

1 garlic clove, peeled and cut in

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

half

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, or

1 cup pitted kalamata olives

more if necessary

2 teaspoons chopped garlic

Freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon

11⁄2 tablespoons capers

Salt and pepper to taste

1.
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Put the baguette slices on a baking sheet and toast in the oven until golden, about 10 minutes. Rub each toasted baguette with the garlic clove halves. Set aside.

2.
Combine all the remaining ingredients in a food processor.

Process until spreadable but still slightly grainy. Add more olive oil if the mixture is too stiff. Adjust the seasoning.

3.
Spread the tapenade on the baguette slices and serve.

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Fresh Sheep’s Ricotta Frittata

with Mushrooms and Herbs

S e r v e s 2

√This recipe is plenty for two people for breakfast or lunch. Use fresh organic eggs produced locally, for maximum taste and nutrition, and a quality sheep’s milk ricotta, or regular ricotta if that’s all you can find. Don’t bother with the low-fat ricotta, which has very little taste. Eggs and cheese may seem like an indulgence to the diet conscious, but this is a nutritious and heart-warming recipe that takes very little time to prepare. It also makes a great supper when you want to go without meat. Just cut this recipe in half to make yourself a nice meal when you happen to be on your own. You’ll feel light and happy after-ward.

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage

1 cup sliced assorted mushrooms, such

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

as domestic, portobello, shiitake, or

Salt and pepper to taste

chanterelle

4 eggs

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

2 tablespoons sheep’s milk ricotta (or

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

regular ricotta)

1.
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Melt the butter in an 8-inch nonstick ovenproof skillet (an omelet pan is perfect if you have one) over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and cook until tender, about 6 minutes. Add the thyme, rosemary, sage, and parsley.