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March 16, 2008
Parsley Vinegarette
It's time for the herb of the week: Italian flat leaf parsley!
I seem to be in the habit of getting a fresh herb on Saturday and using it all week in various dishes. Last week was cilantro. Week before was basil. Now we're onto one of my favorites: parsley!
I think that my lifelong love of parsley started when my mother introduced me to tabouleh at a little sandwich shop in Jacksonville, Florida called the Goalpost. Years later, as a lowfat vegan trying to find new things to do with beans, I made a white bean taboul-ish with white beans (or chickpeas), red wine vinegar, parsley, tomatoes, garlic and fresh lemon juice. No olive oil of course, I was as fat phobic as they come.
Today I don't eat many beans, and I've lost my fear of fat, and I have a bunch of parsley. So I got out the food processor and mixed a cup of red wine vinegar, a clove of garlic, some fresh pepper, and the entire bunch of parsley. It looks like a scary swamp monster's spit, but it's quite delicious. I am now going to add some fresh lemon, and use it as my salad dressing all week. I prefer to add oil by the teaspoon, it's just easier to measure, so the oil is separate for now.
Today's lunch for MR:
Chopped cauliflower, asparagus and zucchini over a bed of Quorn tenders and eggwhites, topped with parsley vinegarette, and olive oil. Dessert is a pear parfait: bosc pear over nonfat ricotta, topped with cinnamon, hazelnut oil and hazelnuts.
My lunch:
75 g collard greens, topped with 1 cup nonfat organic yogurt and parsley vinegarette. Either avocado or almonds on the side for fat.
Oh, and it's Sunday so... nice glass of red wine!
Posted by april at March 16, 2008 11:55 AM
Comments
Hi April - as I study CRON, and refine my eating, I find my meals get more and more MR-like. So I have to ask the reason for the hazelnuts and their oil rather than almonds. I know there has to be a very good reason but haven't managed to work it out for myself!
Posted by: Linda at March 16, 2008 11:16 AM
Linda - I'm assuming it's because hazelnuts are extremely equivalent to Olive oils in their mono-saturated fat percentile(heck they even have less saturated fat then olives) - omega 6 ratio, and to eat such a high fat diet as he recommands, you start to have omega-6 numbers that look like a standard American diet if you use almonds.
Which Is why I'd really love to see MR's daily Fat Breakdown, and just how many omega-6's does he think is too much. does he also balance out the omega-3's as well as april"s got it down?
Posted by: Chuck at March 16, 2008 6:05 PM
I also love herb dressings. My favorite, which I use on egg whites, curries and salads is cilantro chutney. Puree a small onion, a mild green chili, some fresh ginger, juice of a lemon, a huge bunch of cilantro, and a couple of sprigs of mint. Add a little sucrulose if too tart. Add yogurt to make a creamy sauce. Get's stronger if you leave it in the fridge overnight. Absolutely delicious, and very low calorie.
Posted by: Katerina at March 17, 2008 2:32 AM
Hello commenters!
I love you all... I'm sorry I don't always answer you in a timely fashion!
Re: hazelnuts: let me see if I have this right:
-- lower omega 6's
-- high monounsaturated fat
-- he likes them a lot
Re: cilantro chutney: wow! that sounds awesome! I will make it!
Re: kinds of clams: cheap, canned "whole fancy clams" though when I opened them they didn't seem that whole or fancy, but they got the job done.
Re: MR's "high fat" diet: it's only 30% fat. Now for those of us who are brainwashed by the no-fat nineties, that seems scandalous. But it's not, especially not if you're getting almost no saturated fat. His main sources of fat are:
flax oil (two teaspoons a day)
Olive oil: two teaspoons in breakfast, sometimes more at other times
Hazelnuts
avocado
hazelnut oil
that's about it.
My big fat sources are flax oil and almonds. I eat a lot of almonds because a)I like them, and it's hard enough to get me to eat fat b) they're a good source of Vitamin E, which seems to be otherwise lacking in my diet.
Re: B vitamins: I do use a lot of mushrooms, but I also get Bs from brewers yeast and from milk. It's a lot easier because I'm not vegan. Which is not to say that I have anything against veganism, I just found it unmanageable with CR. Others do it well.
Keep the comments coming... I'll try to be better at responding!
a
Posted by: april at March 17, 2008 6:47 AM