A warm sun, a fresh sea breeze off turquoise waters and fishermen returning with their catch of the day. Narrow winding cobblestone streets, bright red flowers cascading from tiny balconies and the delicious smell of freshly baked bread cooling on a window sill. Mountainy slopes riddled with olive and fruit trees, grape vineyards as far as the eye can see and in a small rural village, the terraces abound with locals enjoying a drink on a warm Sunday afternoon. These are just some of the things that come to mind when I think of the Med. Pure joie de vivre!
Nestled deep inside this Majorcan village’s streets are local restaurants just waiting to be discovered.
European mountain vineyards; truly breath-taking! Wine, a staple in the Mediterranean diet.
Fresh ingredients are key in the Mediterranean, no matter what country!
In Europe and particularly in the Mediterranean region, a truly Romanesque practice is shopping for fresh produce on a daily basis. Going to the local outdoor market and picking out the best fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, bread, artisanal cheeses and charcuteries is what Mediterranean culture is based upon; fresh and delicious food! It’s an absolute pleasure going to the market and being inspired for dinner by the bountiful wares the farmers and fishermen have brought to sell. In fact, the Mediterranean diet is a very heart healthy diet and boasts many benefits for our health, so many in fact that many people outside the region are adopting it as a healthy way of preparing meals for themselves and their families.
There’s nothing better than the smell of walking into a vegetable market!
Cheeses are abundant and cured meats are a delight!
This deliciously devilish garlic bread recipe will leave you and your guests wanting more. Click here for the recipe!
The principal aspects of this diet include a relatively high consumption of olive oil, legumes (such as beans and other pulses), unrefined cereals, large amounts of fruits and vegetables, moderately high amounts of fish rich in omega 3 (such as sardines and salmon), moderate amounts of dairy products (mostly cheeses and yogurt), and a small amount of meat; all accompanied by a modest amount of wine.
The diet is a modern nutritional recommendation inspired by the traditional dietary habits of the southern Europeans and northern Africans. On December 4, 2013 UNESCO recognised this style of eating as an intangible cultural heritage of Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Morocco, Croatia and Cyprus. Olive oil contains very high levels of monounsaturated fats, oleic acid in particular, which studies suggest may be linked to a reduction in the risk of developing coronary heart disease.
There’s also irrefutable evidence that the antioxidants found in olive oil improve cholesterol regulation and reduce LDL cholesterol levels. There is a great deal written about the benefits of olive oil and all the other ingredients of a Mediterranean diet, including the wine! Reams of information credited to health and nutrition experts is abundant and can easily be found on the internet.
Rich in nutrients and combined with vitamin C-rich lemons and extra virgin olive oil in this simple recipe, artichokes are a delicious starter to any meal. Click here for the recipe!
Brunch, for most people is a combination of breakfast and lunch dishes and conjures up thoughts of mimosas, bacon, eggs, toast, bagels, cream cheese, smoked salmon, cocktail shrimp, roast beef and a selection of salads, not to mention a selection of baked goods and coffee or tea. More often than not, the typical time for brunch spans from about 11 o’clock in the morning to about 3 o’clock in the afternoon. However, on the Med, lunch only starts at 2 pm.
That being said, this article probably could have been titled as “lunch” however, as most people are not accustomed to having lunch at 2 pm, our latest recipes make for a delicious and light brunch for a lazy week-end afternoon, Mediterranean style!
Eggplant, tomatoes and zucchini are staples in the Mediterranean. Click here for our delectable eggplant and zucchini stacks loaded with tomato sauce and Italian cheeses.
The traditional cookware used in many Mediterranean households are earthenware or ceramic pots and shallow dishes, similar in size and shape to the Fornetto line of ceramics. In fact, the Fornetto oven’s ancestry dates back to ancient Rome with it’s roots deeply embedded in the Mediterranean and in years gone by, everything would have been cooked in wood-fired ovens or directly over open flame.
Nowadays, conventional ovens are by far much more common than traditional wood-burning ovens and fortunately, Fornetto’s line of ceramics perform excellently in the Fornetto oven as well as in conventional electric or gas ovens as demonstrated in our three latest recipes.
This is of particular interest if you live in a severe weather zone and getting to your Fornetto just isn’t possible. Our friends to the north have been bombarded by bad weather this winter, with record amounts of snow, wickedly cold temperatures in the negative double digits and even freezing rain storms. Equally dramatic, our friends to the south have had to endure shockingly hot temperatures. Therefore, come rain or shine, scorching heat or freezing cold, if you have invested in or are thinking of investing in Fornetto ceramics, you can rest assured that if you can’t get to your Fornetto oven or if you don’t have one yet, that they will work flawlessly in your conventional oven as well.
