Mediterranean food has long been considered healthier than traditional British cooking so why not add a little sunshine into your diet and make being healthy taste delicious.
Female First gets the low-down on the Med diet from author and chef Diane Seed and then cooks up some tasty but healthy recipes to tingle your taste buds without widening your waistline.
“Food in countries like Italy is very seasonal so it's always very fresh but you can make it taste almost as nice in this country if you just use a few tips,” says Diane on how we can get that holiday taste in our kitchens at home.
A recent survey by Bertolli found that 95% of people consider the Mediterranean diet to be the most healthy and Diane thinks it's all to do with a high vegetable content: “The med diet is very healthy because people don't eat big slabs of meat. Meat is always a very minor ingredient and it's always thin small slices wit all the far removed. The vegetables are so important. They are not just something served on the plate at the side of the meat.”
Diane also says that a lower amount of animal fats helps to make the Med diet more healthy. “There's no spreading fats on bread in Mediterranean countries so you use olive oil instead. Dress everything with olive oil rather than other fat based things.”
Using olive oil is one of the easiest ways we can adopt our diet to make it more healthy. Remember it's the small changes that make the big difference: “If you're going to the office you can always take a few vegetables and a little dip made with balsamic vinegar and olive oil rather than always the sandwich or the bread or something, “says Diane.
These days everyone thinks that bread and pasta are big baddies in the healthy diet world but Diane disagrees: “Good bread and good pasta is very good for you,” she says.
“What makes it unhealthy is what you serve with the pasta and what you put on the bread and as long as you're avoiding animal fats and things then it's still very very healthy.”
A healthy pasta meal is quick and easy to make and fab if you're starving after a hard day at work.
“If you're having a pasta dish for dinner you can make a very quick sauce based on any vegetable or shellfish. Start off with heating up some olive oil, add some finely chopped garlic and if you like spicy things just add a little bit of chilli. Then you throw in your shellfish or your vegetables, like broccoli or courgette or whatever you want. You can do that while the pasta is boiling then just throw in the pasta is done.”- Simple as that!
Healthy Mediterranean food is quick and easy to make and is based around a few key ingredients: “You need to have garlic, you need a whole chilli pepper- you want need a whole one but it's better to have it because the flavour is better than the flakes you buy. You need olive oil definitely. Maybe also you should keep some capers and some canned anchovies handy too,” says Diane.
Now you know the basics, you've got your essential ingredients so it's time to get creative. Check out these quick and simple dinner ideas to get you started and soon you'll be cooking up a little bit of slice of summer holiday every night.