Great food starts with great ingredients. Any Italian mother will tell you this. When it comes to tomatoes she demands them to be plump, red and to smell......well, like tomatoes! It is surprising how many these days have no aroma at all.
Good quality tomatoes which are ripe and ready for eating are packed with goodness, not least with the vibrant red pigment lutein which remains in tact when turned into sun dried tomatoes and pasta sauces. In fact, cooking tomatoes and adding a little oil makes it easier for us to absorb this supernutrient, regular intakes of which have been linked to lower rates of heart disease in Mediterranean countries as well as having been found to potentially help protect our skin from the suns damaging rays.
Then there are onions. Onions whether white or red will be expected firm to touch. On unpeeling and slicing their treasure trove of sulphur based plant compounds spring into life. Special amino acids hiding within the onions layers mix on cutting, with sulphur based plant chemicals and together form the tear-inducing compounds. These not only add flavour, but seem to help keep our blood thin and improve the ration of good to bad cholesterol. If you want to avoid crying when cutting your onions, either cut them when they have been chilled in the fridge or hold a piece of bread in your teeth. You may look a bit odd, but the bread helps to absorb some of the fumes before they reach your eyes.
Onions do not have the monopoly on cholesterol busting attributes however. Supernutrients in garlic, another key ingredient in Mediterranean eating appears to have a similar effect while artichokes great in anti-pasta plates, have a clever phytonutrient called cynarin which helps to grab excess cholesterol in our intestines and carries it out of our digestive systems.
Tradition and innovation
Basil is another traditional mainstay in any Italian kitchen. Whether harvested in a field or a small kitchen garden, it is gathered only when the leaves are a beautiful fulsome green (or purple in the case of purple basil), and the plant is throwing off its warm, pungent aroma letting everyone know it is ready to be turned into anything from simple salad or finishing garnish to a delicious, intense pesto sauce.
But pesto does not just have to be limited to being basil based. Other herbs like coriander known for its digestive properties as well as the supernutrient packed rocket can also make innovative and excellent tasting pesto bases.
As can peppers. Fabulous when simply roasted in a plate of anti-pasta where they add vitamin C to boost both skin quality and immunity, red peppers also work beautifully in a pesto, as do aubergine, giving us the benefit of their dark purple and potentially anti-ageing antioxidant pigments as you spoon it into pasta.
Talking of which, whatever your favourite sauce happens to be whether a traditional Bolognese, one made from roasted vegetables or a tasty blob of pesto, pasta is one of the healthiest starchy carbohydrates going.