Looking to make a healthier gastronomic lifestyle change? THE IBERIAN TABLE: Healthy Cooking Secrets from the Land of Longevity By award-winning health author Robin Keuneke, may be just the ticket to your new key to health success. The book centers around the Spanish Mediterranean Diet and has over 100 recipes created with the home cook in mind. However, what we especially loved about Robin’s book besides the creative recipes, is the interesting stories behind the recipes, which provide an explanation about how the recipe came about as well as its health benefits.
Cooks love Sofrito, a traditional Spanish culinary staple made with tomatoes, onions, and garlic sautéed in extra-virgin olive oil, however did you know that it is loaded with antioxidants and has been around in written reference since 1324? Also interesting to learn is that there are approximately 100 distinct kinds of beans in Spain, and that eating bananas can lower blood pressure and protect the heart. Robin Keuneke’s book is filled with fascinating nutritional facts and historical references that will appeal to home cooks, professional chefs, culinary historians, and nutritionists.
Edward’s aunt, Theresa, was a gourmet home cook and enjoyed cooking until her late 80s, when her new pastime became reading cookbooks and culinary magazines into her 90s. We know that she would have enjoyed reading Robin’s book for the recipes, as well as for the interesting anecdotes, health benefits, historical facts, and the interviews with Michelin Star Chefs Elena Arzak and Carme Ruscalleda.
What we also liked about the book is that it includes a Cheese Chart with a listing of 29 different cheeses made in Spain and the region they come from. While many people are familiar with Manchego and Cabrales, the cheese chart provides many more Protected Designations of Origins cheeses to make your cheese board stand out with originality.
Robin Keuneke graciously gave us permission to reprint two of her fabulous recipes from THE IBERIAN TABLE: Healthy Cooking Secrets from the Land of Longevity by Robin Keuneke (published by Bay of Roses Books, October 2024) to give you a delicious “taste” of the cookbook.
Cocina Rapida – Orange Salad with Spanish Cheese, Olives, and Sweet Onion
“Combine Valencia orange sections with gem lettuce, thin slices of fresh, sweet onion, olives, and Manchego, Idiazábal, or Petit Basque cheese, all seasoned with olive oil and white vinegar. It’s not only Valencian oranges that are prized. Clementines are too, and the best are believed to be from the Catalan Terres de l’Ebre region. On the counter in little cups, glistening blood-red pomegranate seeds beckon. They are used in Spanish Mediterranean cooking in unique ways. Try pom seeds with roasted cauliflower and tossed into cooked rice or quinoa, with toasted almond slivers. A rainbow fresh surprise.”
“Moving through the stall, suddenly strawberries emit fragrant perfume. The aroma and plump lushness is a reminder we should eat all kinds of berries often. The American Institute for Cancer Research reports that strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and cranberries can help fight cancer due to the antioxidant pterostilbene.”
“Berries also offer protection from cognitive decline and help prevent glaucoma, with black currants preventing the spread of glaucoma better than any other drug on the market as claimed by a study from Japan. Try black currant coulis with grilled venison.”
Lemony Chicken Stew with Shallots and Eggplant
(Serves 6)
“If you like Chardonnay, enjoy this recipe with a glass of Galician Godello. You may never drink Chardonnay again.”
Ingredients:
3 to 3½ pound chicken, cleaned, dried, and cut into pieces 1 teaspoon of dried thyme
8 large shallots
2 Japanese eggplants, cleaned, dried, and trimmed
5 to 6 cloves of garlic
1 bay leaf
Salt, pepper
⅓ teaspoon of pimentón
½ lemon
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
¾ cup of chicken stock
½ cup of Godello wine (or a good Spanish white)
EVOO
Method: Slice eggplants half lengthwise, score the flesh with diagonal knife cuts, sprinkle with salt, and place in a platter while the water draws out. After 20 minutes, wipe with a clean dishtowel. Prepare the garlic rub by pureeing 2 cloves of crushed garlic with 4 tablespoons of EVOO in a mortar, with the juice from most of half of a lemon. Place eggplants, cut side up, on a baking dish with parchment-lined foil, and rub on the garlic mixture. Cook uncovered for 30 minutes. After eggplants are roasted, remove, and set aside.
Mix 2 more cloves of crushed garlic with 4 tablespoons of EVOO. Rub onto the chicken, and season with half of the dried thyme and pepper. Let marinate for 10 minutes. In a large ovenproof pan or cazuela, sauté the shallots in EVOO, seasoning with salt, until they begin to turn golden. Add chicken to the pan, after evenly seasoning with salt, the pimentón, and the rest of the thyme and the bay leaf. Brown the chicken on all sides, taking care to also turn the shallots. Add the stock, sprig of rosemary, and wine and, what’s left of the lemon juice, sprinkle over the chicken.
Cook in a 400-degree Fahrenheit oven for 30 minutes. Uncover and baste. Reduce heat to 325-degrees Fahrenheit. (Depending on your oven, it will take 5-10 minutes for the actual temperature to lower, so in reality you will only be cooking at this lower temperature for the final 15 minutes or so.) Cut the roasted eggplant into large bite-sized pieces and place around the chicken. Finish cooking, uncovered, for 25 minutes more. Serve the shallots along with the chicken and eggplant.
About the Author
Robin Keuneke
Robin Keuneke is an award-winning health author, natural foods chef, and fine artist, ad the former food editor for Total Health Magazine. Her first book was Total Breast Health: Power Foods for Protection and Wellness (Kensington, 1998), a Publisher’s Weekly Best Book of the Year.
She is the co-author with Thomas J. Slaga of The Detox Revolution: A Powerful New Program for Boosting Your Body’s Ability to Fight Cancer and Other Diseases (McGraw Hill, 2003). THE IBERIAN TABLE: Healthy Cooking Secrets from the Land of Longevity is Robin Keuneke’s third book.
Her next book, Basque to Barcelona and Stories Along the Way, is a collection of historical fiction around the theme of Spanish culinary pursuits.
As an artist, Robin Keuneke has exhibited her oil paintings in New York City and London, and her etchings are in the permanent collection of the New York Public Library. She makes her home with her husband, Thomas, in Atlanta, Georgia and Delray Beach, Florida.
Until next time, Bon Appetit!
Websites where you can purchase THE IBERIAN TABLE: Healthy Cooking Secrets from the Land of Longevity By Robin Keuneke include: Amazon.
THE IBERIAN TABLE: Healthy Cooking Secrets from the Land of Longevity By Robin Keuneke
Publication Date: October 22, 2024
Publisher: Bay of Roses Books
Genre: Lifestyle/Cookbook/Health
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 0692982191
Price: $24.99
Website: https://theiberiantable.com/
Instagram: @theiberiantable
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