Flavor of Spain

Ingredients for 4 servings:
1 cheakpeas can or jar
1/4 green pepper
1 tuna can
1/2 onion
2 boiled eggs
4 leaves of iceberg lettuce
10 black olives
1 tablespoon of sesame seeds
olive oil
salt to taste

Procedure:
Chopped the lettuce, green peppers and onion. Open can or jar and rinse with water the cheakpeas.
Boil eggs and when they are done cut them in half. Mix everything in a bowl, add tuna and sesame seeds, olive oil and salt. Mix again and serve it.

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This is a guest article from Emilia Klapp author of Your Hearth Needs the Mediterranean Diet. Learn How Mediterraneans Have Kept a Healthy Heart for Centuries.

The traditional Mediterranean diet, rich in tomatoes, tomato products, and other carotenoids has been associated with a lower incidence of chronic diseases, including heart disease. Recent scientific studies have shown that people who eat regularly tomatoes and tomato products are less likely to suffer from heart attacks than those who don’t make tomatoes part of their diets.

Tomatoes and the arteries
Tomatoes are crucial in the fight against heart disease because they contain lycopene. Lycopene is the red pigment found in several fruits and vegetables such as guava, rosehips, watermelon, pink grapefruit, and red chilies, but it mainly comes from tomatoes and tomato products. As a powerful antioxidant, lycopene prevents the oxidation of LDL cholesterol caused by free radicals. In a study to investigate the effects of tomato lycopene on the oxidation of cholesterol, Agarwal and colleagues provided the participants one-to-two servings per day of tomato juice, spaghetti sauce, and concentrated lycopene for one week. The study showed an important reduction of oxidized LDL cholesterol.

Absorption of lycopene
An important consideration in studying lycopene is its absorption by our cells. Research has shown that the level of lycopene found in our organs’ tissues is a better indicator of disease prevention than the amount of lycopene we eat.

How to increase absorption of lycopene
Lycopene appears more readily in the blood if the meal includes a source of fat or if the tomatoes have been heated, as in the case of tomato sauce and tomato paste. Heat changes the chemical structure of lycopene and makes it ready for our cells to absorb it.
To increase the level of lycopene in your body tissues you can do several things:
• Process the tomatoes with heat. An example would be tomato sauce, tomato paste, or tomato soup.
• Eat fresh tomatoes with fats such as olive oil.
• Eat products that contain lycopene with other food antioxidants. An example would be eating tomatoes with other vegetables such as in salads or eating a piece of fruit for dessert. Use olive oil and lemon juice as dressing, and you will have the perfect combination of lycopene and antioxidants.

Is pizza a good combination of tomato and fat?
Although pizza is not the ideal combination of fat and lycopene because the fat in cheese is mainly saturated, the wrong type for our arteries, you can eat pizza in moderation. Ask the waiter or cook to go easy on the cheese and hold the pepperoni and ham.

For more information about the author and her book “Your Heart Needs the Mediterranean Diet” visit www.emiliaklapp.com.

This lovely and colorfull recipe you can serve it as an appetizer but also is perfect as a side dish. If you love zucchini as much as I do, you should try this formula. I really enjoy it, so yummy and so simple to do. Really worth it play around with this recipe. I suggest you to give a try.

If you like this recipe also you should take a look also to my Fried Eggplant with Potatoes and Peppers.

Ingredients for 4 Servings:
2 tablespoons of Olive Oil
1 pound ( 0,5 Kg) Zucchini
2 Garlic Cloves sliced
1 teaspoon of Rosemary
1,5 cup Cherry Tomatoes
10 Olives
1 tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 cup fresh Parsley thinly sliced
Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:
First trim and cut the zucchini into 1/2 inch thick slices. Chopped in slices the garlic cloves. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half.

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium/high heat. Then add the zucchini, garlic and rosemary. Add salt and pepper to taste. Saute for 5 minutes or until zucchini is soft. After that add the cherry tomatoes and olives. SAaute all together for 3 minutes or until tomatoes begin to get soft.

Finally add parsley and vinegar and mix all together and saute for 2 more minutes.

….And ready to go!

Enjoy,

Samuel

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This is the first of a series of episodes I am going to talk about the wine regions of spain. Also I created for your reference and futures tastings a Jumilla Vintage Chart that you can download for free. I hope you enjoy it. Download your free Jumilla Vintage Chart

Today I am going ot talk a little bit about Jumilla area. The Jumilla D.O Denominacion de Origen is located in the South East of Spain near the Mediterrenean Coast.

Talking about Jumilla appellation is talking about grape varietry “Monastrell” and iteration of the french “Mourvèdre” but it deserves far better. Is a variety of high resistence to drought, what makes the prices very affordable and the value high. For bargain wine hunters is difficult to beat the Jumilla wines.

So what distinguishes DO Jumilla wines from other wines from Spain is that they are elaborated from the “Monastrell” grape.

Red wines, with their dominant presence of the Monastrell grape, have a strong colour, normally intense purple red, very expressive edgings and a fruity aroma (black and ripe fruit, plums…). They have live tannins in your mouth and big body. Red wine will pair fantastically with meat like barbequed ribs, grilled pork, beef and french fries.

Also is amazing that wine advocate Robert Parker rated the wines of Jumillaand this is the verdict: “After tasting around 700 Spanish wines, the prestigious North American critic Robert Parker affirmed the big international boom of Spanish wines, ratifying the relevance and extraordinary quality of the Designation of Origin Jumilla wines. At the tasting of these Spanish wines, which Parker considered one of the most exciting of his 26 years as a professional”

As a sample and tasting reference for all of you between the huge selection of Jumilla wines those are my favourites after tasting them, also comes with Robert Parker ratings:
Bodegas Juan Gil, Juan Gil , 2002 vintage: 91 points.
Bodegas Juan Gil, Juan Gil, 2003 vintage: 91 points.
Bodegas El Nido, Clio, 2002 vintage: 93 points.
Bodegas El Nido, El Nido, 2002 vintage: 96 points.
Bodegas Finca Luzón, Altos de Luzón trademark, 2003 vintage: 89 points.
Bodegas Finca Luzón, Castillo Luzón trademark, 2002 vintage: 87 points.

The best of all is that most of those fantastic wines like “Juan Gil” and “Finca Luzon” are (still) under $15 dollars a bottle. Never better said cheap is good!

Cheers

Samuel