Five Mediterranean Diet Recipes

Any Mediterranean diet cookbook or recipes are usually tasty, exotic and scrumptious in flavor but more often it is renowned for its excellent health benefits. Whether you are simply trying to lose weight or improve your nutrition and health, these few recipes from my Mediterranean cookbook will suit your needs.

In the Mediterranean diet:
- Butter is most often replaced by the use of extra virgin olive oil,
- There are no synthetically produced fats.
- Processed foods are not an option
- Red meat and dairy products are consumed in moderation.
- Cheese is most often feta, parmesan, goat’s cheese etc.

Here are some of the popular Mediterranean diet recipes:-

1. GRILLED SHRIMP SALAD

Basic Ingredients:-

- 10 - 12 large shrimp.
Shrimp is a Mediterranean shellfish that can be identified with prawns. Shrimps are mainly found in sea water.

- Two to three zucchini as per your requirements.
Zucchini is an Italian summer vegetable – available almost everywhere.

- One cluster of asparagus. Asparagus is a type of vegetable, good for most meals particularly the little shoots.

- Two cups of salad assortments including endive, radicchio and butter lettuce Endive is one of the variants of the winter folio type of vegetable chicory that is brought into use while cooking or can also be eaten as a salad. Radicchio is a leafy vegetable that has white-streaked crimson foliage or leaves.

Butter Lettuce is a mild yearly plant usually developed as a leafy vegetable. However, any dark leafed lettuce will do

- One Avocado

Avocado is a tree and also the crop of the tree that is categorized in the blossoming plant species of Lauraceous and it can be identified with berry.

- Two cups of newly sliced basil leave (a kind of herbal leaf).

- Beaker full of extra virgin olive oil.

- One cup of lime juice without any additions.

- One spoon of mustard that is a thick yellow paste having a spiky flavor.

- Two teaspoons of powdered garlic.

- A mug full of red mauve tart that has a sour taste.

GUIDELINES TO MAKE GRILLED SHRIMP SALAD

Make a mixture of olive oil, lime juice, pesto, chopped fresh garlic and red vinegar. Then preserve the shrimp in 1 ½ of the salad dressing for about half an hour. Then place the shrimp on bayonet and chop zucchini and asparagus on sideways. Then lay the shrimp, zucchini and asparagus onto the oven grill & heat until prepared. Place all the heated things in a basin, cut up the avocado and put in it to the heated stuff.

2. WHITE BEAN DIP

Basic Constituents:-

- One small chopped onion.
- One large spoon of powdered garlic.
- One crimson pepper; a kind of spice.
- Two canisters of flotilla or blue beans.
- Additional olive oil.

GUIDELINES TO MAKE WHITE BEAN DIP

Deep fry the chopped onion in live oil, add a big spoon of crushed garlic & chopped raw red pepper in olive oil till it gets hot and the color of the onion becomes lucid. Draw off all the water that remains & wash 2 tins of pallid blue beans. Place all constituents in a food grater and intermingle till it gets soft. Mix with a marine salt and pepper (spice) for flavor and on top of it sprinkle with olive oil and serve up with hot portions of wheat bread.

3. VEGETABLE BEAN SOUP

Vegetable bean soup at one time can be served to maximum of eight people.

Basic Constituents:-

- Beaker full of kidney beans.
- Beaker full of white bean salt.
- Two averaged sized chopped onions.
- One peeled and roughly chopped carrot.
- One roughly chopped bay leaf.
- One roughly sliced rhizome.
- One horde of chopped dill.
- Three cabbage leaves.
- One cup of spinach leaves.
- Three endive leaves (Endive leaves are sliced and thinly divided. Leaf color is green).
- Black pepper.
- 1 beaker full of washed rice.
- Olive oil is required for giving a damp feel to the dish.
- Parmesan cheese to be used as the topping.

GUIDELINES TO MAKING VEGETABLE BEAN SOUP
Saturate parched beans in icy water for about an hour and after that draw off the water. Get a big pan filled with brackish water and heat it. Then put the beans, onions, carrot, celery & bay leafs. When the water is in boiling, lessen the heat so the soup or chowder gradually simmers. After 45 minutes, check for the suppleness of the beans and if they are still stiff then continue boiling until they become soft.

After the initial process, put in dill, cabbage & endive leaves. Add salt and pepper as per your taste. Low boil the mixture for about 30 minutes; put in the rice and cook it for fifteen minutes with cover on. Sprinkle olive oil and cheese over it and it is ready to serve.

4. SPAGHETTI WITH FRESH TOMATO

Can be served to a maximum of four individuals.

Basic Constituents:-

- Six hundred grams of thick tomatoes.
- Four garlic pieces.
- Three big spoons of extra virgin olive oil.
- Chopped oregano (important)
- Fifty grams of finely chopped piccante pecorino.
- Thinly grated basil leaves.
- Red or black spice and salt as per your taste.

GUIDELINES TO MAKE SPAGHETTI WITH FRESH TOMATO

Boil tomatoes in water; take them out after a considerable amount of time and then strip them of their skin and slice them into small pieces by hand. You can take out all the seeds carefully but most people don’t. Place the grated tomatoes in a dish bowl along with crushed garlic, oregano, olive oil and basil leafs.

Put the tomatoes in boiling water; remove them after a few minutes, peel and cut them into small pieces by hand. Get rid of the water and the seeds. Put a cloth over a bowl for 1 hour so that all the ingredients inside the bowl get soaked. After an hour, boil and cook the spaghetti, chop the pecorino and put it in the same bowl. On top of this, sprinkle black or red pepper as per your taste. Serve with red wine.

5. MEDITERRANEAN TOMATO SAUCE.

Basic Constituents:-

- Twelve peeled and slightly crushed tomatoes.
- One big spoon of olive oil.
- One chopped fresh garlic.
- One cup of red wine
- Two big spoons of grated basil leaves.
- Sprinkled black pepper and marine salt.

GUIDELINES TO MAKING MEDITERRANEAN TOMATO SAUCE

Put fresh tomatoes in a pan and boil them for over a minute. After that drain the remaining water, peel the tomatoes and slice them. Deep heat the olive oil (not too hot) in a pan and then drop in the garlic & onion; heat them for more than 3 minutes, stirring until they become supple. Add a little red wine, herbs, black pepper & salt accordingly and simmer. Cook the paste for 15-20 minutes. Put the sauce in fridge for three days. Mediterranean tomato sauce can be frozen up for a period of four to five months.

At least one of these will be to your liking and like me, you’ll cook them over and over again.
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