We at Cardiologist’s Kitchen are encouraged by all the positive feedback we are receiving from our patients and there have been some brilliant success stories.
These pizzettes are a delicious, super-quick meal option. Combine with a simple green side salad such as some rocket (Arugula), baby spinach and avocado with extra-virgin olive oil and lemon juice dressing for a perfect weekend lunch. As this is a Cardiologist’s Kitchen recipe there is always a specific cardiovascular health ‘hook’. In this case we want to emphasise the sofrito sauce base [not to be mistaken with soffritto (Mirepoix in French) which we have previously talked about — the combination of vegetables which forms the base of many Mediterranean dishes].
Sofrito is the basic combination of onion, garlic and tomatoes cooked gently in olive oil until the ingredients break down and combine into a ‘sauce’. The combination is perfect in the summer when these ingredients are at their best — additional ingredients we like to boost this basic version are sweet ‘bell’ peppers and mild fragrant red chillies. Sofrito is used in a number of Mediterranean dishes and there has been increased interest and speculation that sofrito specifically may be one of the elements which contributes to the protective properties of the Mediterranean diet. In fact it has been included in recent studies as an indicator of a protective diet including PREDIMED with positive associations.
Further [basic science] research have suggested that when these specific ingredients are combined in cooking they synergistically enhance the potentially protective compounds (such as Polyphenols) above and beyond eating them individually, with parallel improved bioavailability.
At this time of year with abundant tasty tomatoes you can use this versatile sauce combination with grilled fish, meat and pasta. This recipe also highlights another concept which is important to us — combine few ingredients but concentrate on the quality of the ingredients rather than the quantity. A little goes a long way — buy the best you can and let the ingredients do the work.
