Good Lifestyle

It is no case if, just over ten years ago, UNESCO has decided to recognize the Mediterranean diet asIntangible cultural heritage of humanity. It is such a natural, genuine and healthy diet that it is difficult not to recognize the extraordinary qualities! Vegetables, fruit, cereals, legumes, eggs, cheeses, fish and meat (to be consumed in moderation). If you think about it, the Mediterranean is one of the few places in the world where all this can be found in the territory. We have the sea, the hills and mountains a short distance from each other, where genuine products are produced, which make it good, and at low environmental impact as the emissions are minimal for their production and marketing. However, what not everyone knows is that the definition of this immense treasure is not the work of an Italian, of an inhabitant of the Mediterranean basin or a European. We need to thank Ancel Keys, an American! And do you know what the favorite recipes of him? Take paper and pen and start writing the ingredients!

Ancel Keys

American biologist and nutritionist was the first to recognize the immense value of the Mediterranean diet. In the second post-war period I spent time in Cilento to work on a food research and noticed that the inhabitants of Campania, like those of Crete, did not suffer from chronic diseases like in the rest of the world, he realized that they were the food (simple and Genuine) and the lifestyle they led. Not surprisingly, Ancel spent the last twenty years of his life in Campania and guess a little ... lived a hundred years!

Beans and scarools

Beans, scarools, a celery stem, an onion and two carrots. Boil the beans first and apart from the scarola (the proportions by weight are 1: 1). In a pan from the high edge you prepare a background with extra virgin olive oil, onion, carrot and celery, make just a minute to flavor and add the beans, then the scarola and a pinch of salt. In 30/35 minutes you will have brought a unique and tasty dish to the table!

Lagane and chickpeas

In a pan, make a sauté of garlic, oil, chilli and lard. Prepare the chickpeas (if you use the dried ones put them in the evening before and cook them in hot water), crush half to get a cream. Add the chickpeas, both the cream and the whole ones, in the pan with the sauté and cook for ten minutes.

Now prepare the pasta, rule n. 1: The pasta is done at home with semolina flour and water. The quantities depend on the number of diners, but the essential is that the dough is eventually homogeneous and smooth. Spread it with a rolling pin on a pastry board, roll it up and cut it as you would do it for noodles. Cook the pasta al dente and, once drained, sweep it with the chickpeas. Enjoy your meal!

Cavatelli al sauce

The rules and ingredients to make fresh pasta are the same. Work the dough, reduce it to thin curbs, cut rolls of about two centimeters and hew them with the fingertips. For the sauce: if you use the one ready it must be one of the good homemade ones. If you want to do it at the moment to taste even more flavor and perfume, choose organic tomatoes. After cooking the pasta join it with the sauce, a grated local cheese, a basil leafET Voilà.

Acquapace fish

Simple ingredients: fish (usually mackerel), garlic, oil, a handful of cherry tomatoes and a sprinkling of parsley. Take a pan, brown the garlic with a little oil, add the fish, cherry tomatoes, a part of the parsley and cover everything. It will only be enough 10 minutes to have a dish that has the whole flavor of the Mediterranean.

Breaded anchovies

Let's finish with a delight to be allowed without exaggerating: breaded and fried alies! Take the alleys without head and lisca and open them to book. You will need an egg, flour and breadcrumbs (better if done at home raised by stale bread). Bread the anchovies passing them first in the egg, then in bread and flour and fry them. A unique and simple flavor you will never forget!