Spring cleaning your diet

Spring is about renewal and fresh starts. Spring cleaning your diet is a refresh for your home, body, and lifestyle. Just as spring cleaning declutters your home, removing unhealthy foods and eating habits can energize and strengthen your body. Let a healthy way of eating inspire you to reboot for spring.

Eating a diet rich in whole ingredients has the power to shift your energy and boost your health-and your mood too. Making good food choices is about self-care and empowerment.

Cleaning your home of unhealthy processed foods doesn’t have to be a total blitz of everything you own. Start small and build good habits. Read on for some great starting points, and then try some delicious dishes that incorporate Mediterranean cooking.

EVOO spells “health.”

Extra Virgin Olive Oil is rich in antioxidants, including oleocanthal and vitamin E. These protect cells from damage caused by free radicals, reducing the risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease and cancer. I purchase a high-quality oil from Spain that is decadent and tastes like artichokes and tomato stems. I use that oil for cooking vegetables, fish, and pasta, and for drizzling on toast. Then I use a good quality, but less pricey, oil for sauteing vegetables, poultry, and stir fries. I consider that oil to be my “work-horse” oil.

Eat your vegetables.

Branch out and try new vegetables. Explore a farmer’s market and join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). Getting a subscription box of vegetables is a fun way to try new vegetables and to support local farmers. Plant a garden. When you grow your own vegetables and herbs, you will enjoy every aspect of gardening from planning to harvesting. The whole family can share in gardening tasks and a home garden is a lovely way to introduce kids to eating vegetables.

Go fish.

Try out some new fish recipes. Fish is packed with many nutrients that most people are lacking. This includes high-quality protein, iodine, vitamins, and minerals. Fatty species are sometimes considered the healthiest because fatty fish- including salmon, trout, sardines, tuna, and mackerel- are higher in fat-based nutrients including vitamin D, a fat-soluble nutrient that many are lacking. Fatty fish also boast omega-3 fatty acids, which are crucial for optimal body and brain function and strongly linked to a reduced risk of many diseases.

Put more Mediterranean into your diet.

The Mediterranean diet includes vegetables, fish, olive oil, nuts, beans, legumes, whole grains, and a moderate number of dairy products. From fresh produce to vibrant spices to dishes made with regional ingredients, this region’s cuisine is not only insanely delicious, but also great for your health. The Mediterranean diet is known for its health benefits and has been linked to reduced risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer. Eating Mediterranean cuisine is not about strict rules and lists of what you can and cannot eat; it is more of an inspired lifestyle.

Roasted Branzino with Sauce Vierge

Branzino is often seen on upscale restaurant menus and may seem daunting to make at home. But sometimes you don’t need anything special to make a restaurant quality meal at home.

Branzino is a Mediterranean Sea Bass, a white-fleshed fish native to the western and southern coasts of Europe. The light and flaky flesh has a delicate and slightly sweet flavor. Branzino is versatile and can be prepared in many ways.

Ask your fish monger for a whole scaled and cleaned branzino with head and tail on. The same way a whole roasted chicken has more flavor and juiciness, a whole branzino cooked with bones will be moister and more flavorful.

Serves 4

For the Branzino

2 whole branzino (about 1½-2 pounds), cleaned and trimmed

Sea salt

Freshly cracked black pepper

¼ cup flour (optional)

Extra virgin olive oil

1 lemon, sliced into thin rounds

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 400F

1. Pat branzino dry. Season the inside and outside with salt and pepper.

2. Heat a large sauté pan, lightly coated with EVOO, over medium-high heat.

3. Dredge fish in flour, if using, and place fish in hot pan. Allow fish to brown before turning over to brown the other side. Once both sides are browned, transfer fish to parchment line pan.

4. Place a few lemon slices inside fish and cover fish with more lemon slices. Roast fish for 7 minutes.

5. Gently flip fish over to other side and continue roasting for another 7 minutes.

For the Vierge Sauce

Sauce Vierge -meaning “virgin” or “raw”-is a southern French sauce or relish made from olive oil, citrus, and fresh green herbs. This quick sauce tastes bright and savory. You can vary the ingredients based upon what you have or what it is growing seasonally.

As with the Mediterranean diet, the rules for this recipe are about using fresh and whole ingredients, but the recipe can be customized to suit your palate, what you have on hand, and what is seasonal. If you have fresh basil or oregano, add some to the sauce. If you don’t have tomatoes, use more olives. In the winter, I make this recipe into a citrus sauce by adding sliced oranges and blood oranges.

1 shallot, finely chopped

2 green onions, finely chopped

¼ cup of chives, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, grated on a microplane

1½ cup cherry tomatoes, quartered

⅓ cup of pitted Kalamata olives, halved

2 tablespoons capers

Pinch of crushed chili flakes (optional)

½ cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley

3 tablespoons roasted pine nuts

¾ cup of extra virgin olive oil

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

Zest and juice of 1 orange

1 teaspoon sea salt

½ teaspoons freshly cracked black pepper

1. Combine shallot, green onion, chives, garlic, tomatoes, olives, capers, chili flakes if using, parsley, pine nuts, evoo, lemon zest and juice, orange zest and juice, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine.

2. Transfer cooked fish to a platter and spoon sauce over the fish. Pass additional sauce at the table.

Smashed New Potatoes with Oregano and Lemon

Surprise! Potatoes are part of the Mediterranean diet. Potatoes are a whole food and are not necessarily bad for you. Roasting potatoes using EVOO is a healthy way to enjoy potatoes. Smashed potatoes are the best way to have all the best textures a potato can offer, with both crispy edges and a creamy fluffy interior.

Serves 4

2 pounds new potatoes

EVOO

Sea salt

Freshly cracked black pepper

Several sprigs of fresh oregano, leaves stripped and chopped

1 lemon

Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

1. Toss potatoes with EVOO, salt, and pepper. Roast on lined baking sheet for 20-30 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

2. When potatoes are slightly cooled, use a heavy pan to crush the potatoes, but still keep them whole (don’t obliterate them!)

3. Heat a skillet, lightly coated with EVOO, over medium heat and crisp potatoes on each side.

4. While potatoes are cooking, sprinkle with chopped oregano and lemon zest.

Serve potatoes while hot.

Swiss Chard with Garlic and Hazelnuts

I love a pan of wilted greens. They are so versatile and can take on character from whatever you add to them. Swiss chard is closely related to beets, and has all their healthy attributes with the advantage of being cooked in a flash.

Serves 4

EVOO

1 shallot, sliced thinly

1 large bunch Swiss chard, leaves stripped off stems and chopped, stems, sliced thinly

1 clove garlic, minced

½ cup hazelnuts, chopped

Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper

1. Heat a large sauté pan, lightly coated with EVOO, over medium heat. Add shallot and Swiss chard stems. Sauté for about 5 minutes until stems are tender.

2. Add leaves, garlic, and hazelnuts. Sauté until leaves are tender (about 3 minutes). Season with salt and pepper.

Bittersweet Chocolate Truffles with Extra Virgin Olive Oil

High quality bittersweet chocolate and EVOO are absolutely part of the Mediterranean diet. There is no added sugar making this a good-for-you treat. I make a batch of these and store them in the fridge. These truffles can also be frozen for up to 1 month.

1-pound best quality 70% or high cacao content bittersweet chocolate

1/3 cup best quality EVOO

Pinch of sea salt

½ cup boiling water

2 egg yolks

2 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

½ cup best quality Dutch processed cocoa powder

1. Melt chocolate with EVOO in a bowl over boiling water until completely melted. Do not allow the bowl to touch the water.

2. Transfer chocolate and salt to the bowl of a food processor.

3. Pour water over egg yolks, and strain egg yolks into food processor. Do not scrape any solids that may have formed.

4. Pulse mixture for about 20 seconds, until a pudding texture has formed.

5. Add vanilla and pulse a few more times to incorporate.

6. Pour into lined pan and chill until solid.

7. Scoop walnut size amounts and roll to form truffles.

8. Dredge in cocoa powder.

9. Store truffles in refrigerator.

Laura Frankel–a noted kosher chef, and cookbook author–serves as Director of Culinary Operations at CJE SeniorLife-Tamarisk NorthShore. She is also a product development specialist and has worked as culinary director for a media company.