Hello all! I have a special treat for you today! Get excited! A friend of mine I met in college reached out to me to ask if I would be willing to allow her to share some of her favorite healthy Mediterranean recipes with you guys.
Do not be shied away after reading some of the ingredients or names of these brilliant recipes if they seem unfamiliar. I promise you, these recipes are FABULOUS because they are nutritious and delicious powerhouses of dishes. Be bold and try something new. You never know, it could be your next favorite "go-to" meal!
My beautiful friend, Tenar, is pretty amazing. She has traveled to many places in her life. I hope to travel all over just as much as she has some day. In the meantime, I'm glad she shared a little bit more about her background and interest in food, cooking, and nutrition with me so she could feature one of her favorite Mediterranean meals to share with you guys. I'll let her tell you the rest. :) Thank you Tenar for adding a bit more variety of culture to Enticing Healthy Eating!
Do not be shied away after reading some of the ingredients or names of these brilliant recipes if they seem unfamiliar. I promise you, these recipes are FABULOUS because they are nutritious and delicious powerhouses of dishes. Be bold and try something new. You never know, it could be your next favorite "go-to" meal!
My beautiful friend, Tenar, is pretty amazing. She has traveled to many places in her life. I hope to travel all over just as much as she has some day. In the meantime, I'm glad she shared a little bit more about her background and interest in food, cooking, and nutrition with me so she could feature one of her favorite Mediterranean meals to share with you guys. I'll let her tell you the rest. :) Thank you Tenar for adding a bit more variety of culture to Enticing Healthy Eating!
| Hello! My name is Tenar, and I am happy to share my Mediterranean background with you! When I was fourteen I started working during my holidays at a holistic retreat house-restaurant called “the House of the Sun” where they’d do week long communal living and teach about nutrition. As the second cook of the House, I got to learn many healthy habits that are part of the Mediterranean Diet and their nutritional value. Although this was not the start of my “experimenting with food” career, it did trigger my curiosity to learn much more about food, and during my many travels I always try to take popular recipes back with me. |
While living in NWA I found a bigger love for cooking as even what I’d consider a simple recipe would have admirers between those who tried my cooking. I had a thought of possibly opening my own Mediterranean business there, but then I came across Kaylin’s excellent blog and the idea of contributing (from the distance) to improve healthy habits in the community was love at first sight. So I contacted her about it and she seemed as excited as me, so here I am! Sharing my first recipe! I hope you enjoy it and find it delicious!
Menu of the day: Endive (chicory) salad and Cardoon.
Cardo a la Española (Spanish Cardoon)
Although this recipe is traditionally made on Christmas Day, I have been craving it for a while, and nothing tastes better than something you want!
Cardoon is a type of Thistle that grows just everywhere in Spain and, if I’m informed well. New Mexico too has a lot of it. Many people don’t know its edible and even less know how to cook it, which is actually very easy! It just takes time, you’ll notice with my interventions that most of my recipes are time consuming; this is because I consider cooking an art, and as an art, it needs time to achieve perfection.
Cardoon is a type of Thistle that grows just everywhere in Spain and, if I’m informed well. New Mexico too has a lot of it. Many people don’t know its edible and even less know how to cook it, which is actually very easy! It just takes time, you’ll notice with my interventions that most of my recipes are time consuming; this is because I consider cooking an art, and as an art, it needs time to achieve perfection.
| Serves 4 Ingredients: --700g of Cardoon. (Sometimes you can find it pre-cooked, sometimes you can’t, but don’t worry! If it’s not cooked you’ll also need lemon juice.) --Half a zucchini --Three pealed carrots --1 white onion --Two cloves of garlic --White canned asparagus (optional). (If they are not canned you can add them to the boiling cardoon and they’ll cook simultaneously.) --Olive oil --Salt, white pepper --Flour --White wine (preferably white sherry--optional) --Natural almonds (uncooked) |
| If your cardoon is already cooked, proceed to next step. If not, wash it (Rule Number one of the Kitchen: always, no matter what, wash your vegetables), peel it and bathe it in lemon juice. Then cut it in pieces of about two inches and put water to boil, when the water starts boiling add the cardoon and the lemon juice and let it cook for about two hours or until its texture is soft. You can also add a bit of vegetable broth to the water, as we'll be using this same water later for the sauce. | 
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Use a mortar to crumble the almonds and put them to cook at minimum temperature with a bit of olive oil. Be careful not to let them burn!
On a sauce pan, add olive oil and the garlic, previously sliced. When the garlic starts to toast add the onions, zucchini and carrots and let them cook. The vegetables should be cut in small pieces too. I find it easier to cut them Julianne style and then again transversally.
Add your spices as you like, I personally love the taste of white pepper so I always am easy on the hand adding it.
Add your spices as you like, I personally love the taste of white pepper so I always am easy on the hand adding it.
| When you feel your veggies are “al dente” add the cooked almonds and then, one tablespoon at a time, flour and the cardoon’s broth alternating it and swerve quickly until you get a thick sauce. This would be the point to also add your white wine. When cooked wine loses its alcohol (it evaporates) and thus it’s safe to eat for children leaving a sweet aftertaste to sauces. Make sure you have enough of it as it should cover the cardoon and asparagus once it’s done. Add your cardoon and voila! You’ve made it! |
Healthy Recipe Tidbits
Nutritionally, cardoon has about anything your body needs vitamin wise. Yes, that prickly plant that looks like a cactus is healthy. Living in the desert the plant has to provide a lot of vitamins for itself, and the good thing about it is it doesn’t lose them as much as other veggies when you cook it, so you get a good intake of healthy in a short time.
This dish is perfect for a Saturday meal after a week-long of stress, workouts, or anything that draughts your body. This meal is also nutritionally speaking the equivalent of engulfing two steaks, so yeah.. Take that body
This dish is perfect for a Saturday meal after a week-long of stress, workouts, or anything that draughts your body. This meal is also nutritionally speaking the equivalent of engulfing two steaks, so yeah.. Take that body
Endive Salad
| Serves 3 Ingredients: --Endives (2 endives serve 3) --½ Red Bell Pepper --Olive tapenade --Philadelphia cheese (optional) --Olive oil | Directions: Wash and cut your endives and bell pepper however you like. I prefer small slices because I think the flavours mix together better and you get to experience the full salad with each bite. If you want to add Philadelphia cheese, mix it well with your olive tapenade and then add olive oil and mix it to your endives and peppers. Done deal. Take a bite, enjoy. You are welcome. |
Healthy Recipe Tidbits
Endives are also a great vitamin intake helper! I always try to have at least one meal a day that includes “raw food” (salad, fruit, etc.), and sometimes I get tired of the predetermined salad we all know.
Endives are a bit bitter and are a great substitute for those winter and summer days that you just don’t feel like making a normal salad yet want something salad-y.
*Tip: Olive Tapenade*
If you can’t find olive tapenade you can make your own!
I prefer only black olives tapenade, but depending on how you dress it a mixture of both green and black is also very very tasty.
You’ll need one can of black olives, a tomato, salt and olive oil. Mix them well and you have a homemade olive tapenade. When I make it I use a hand-mixer, but whatever you have at home I’m sure will work.
Bonus: Are you tired of cereal in the morning? Make yourself a couple toasts of olive tapenade!
You can follow Tenar's adventures in travel and cooking by following her on Instagram (instagram.com/tlorente) or Twitter (twitter.com/tdanceislife)
Endives are a bit bitter and are a great substitute for those winter and summer days that you just don’t feel like making a normal salad yet want something salad-y.
*Tip: Olive Tapenade*
If you can’t find olive tapenade you can make your own!
I prefer only black olives tapenade, but depending on how you dress it a mixture of both green and black is also very very tasty.
You’ll need one can of black olives, a tomato, salt and olive oil. Mix them well and you have a homemade olive tapenade. When I make it I use a hand-mixer, but whatever you have at home I’m sure will work.
Bonus: Are you tired of cereal in the morning? Make yourself a couple toasts of olive tapenade!
You can follow Tenar's adventures in travel and cooking by following her on Instagram (instagram.com/tlorente) or Twitter (twitter.com/tdanceislife)
Do you have a favorite healthy dish that is from your own cultural background? Please share! Love to hear about it!
