Luscious grains. Vibrant fruits and vegetables. Smooth velvety cheeses. Deep rich Olive Oils.Sensory overload? No, just the abundant cuisine of the Mediterranean. Not only is this cuisine a feast for your eyes and seriously delicious, but it turns out after all it’s provides those that follow it with some of the highest life expectancies around the world. This is a lifestyle and a diet that provides all of the pleasures but none of the guilt!
So what exactly are the regions that this cuisine hails from? Traditionally it’s from Greece, but as it’s popularity has emerged you’ll find recipes from parts of Italy, Spain, Portugal, southern France and even Turkey, Morocco and the Middle East.
The warm sun, the fragrant sea, the azure sky… a taste of the Mediterranean. These recipes are a little bit of all of that. Now that’s a lifestyle that I wanna live.
½ cup pignoli (or pine nuts)
4 cloves garlic
1 bunch arugula
1/3 cup olive oil
Coarse sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 pound fusilli
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
In a skillet pan toast the pignoli nuts. The nutty aroma from oils will begin to be released. Toast to a warm golden brown.
Then add pignoli nuts & garlic to the blender to form a paste. Add the arugula and olive oil and pulse into the pignoli mixture. The perfect texture you’re going to be looking for will be gritty and grainy, keeping the integrity of the pine nuts.
Add the fusilli to the water and cook until al dente. Drain pasta and add Arugula Pignoli mixture and give it a stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
The simplicity of this dish is perfectly Mediterranean all the while keeping that balance of healthy, astonishingly easy and fresh.
History of Pignoli (Pine Nuts) in the Mediterranean
Pignoli, Pinolos, Pinhao, Pinon, Pine Nuts these are all the names different cultures use for this crunchy buttery nut used around the world.
Pingnoli were common food used in the Mediterranean cuisine and have been used as an ingredient for over 2000 years. In ancient times they were put into wine or eaten preserved in honey. Today we mostly know pine nuts for use as a salad topper or to use in pestos. They offer so much more! Try using them as an ingredient in cookies, toasted over rice or in a savory sauce over fish. When raw, they have a soft texture. But once you toast them, these little gems add a buttery, sweet flavor that lends itself to just about anything!
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