Summer is coming and with it… barbecues and parties. If you are a meat lover and you never say no to a barbecue then I advise you to accompany them with a Mediterranean Diet. The Mediterranean Diet should be well known to a readers of a blog from a Brazilian BBQ Supply company. The diet comes from the 40’s and 50’s. It has really become popular over the past twenty years in America. The diet refers to these three main concentrations:
- The principal aspects of this diet include proportionally high consumption of olive oil, legumes, unrefined cereals, fruits, and vegetables.
- Moderate to high consumption of fish.
- Moderate consumption of dairy products.
- Low consumption of non-fish meat products.
- Moderate wine consumption.
Light and fresh salads. Dressed with oily sauces or pure olive oil and vinegar. For meats, I suggest a typical Catalan homemade sauce. The sauces that are bought in stores have a lot of sugar and artificial ingredients, so it is always better to make them yourself at home. Followers of Mediterranean Diet recipes tend to stay away from these preservatives and sugars that are not very common around the Mediterranean Sea contries.
Today, I’m going to teach you how to make this typical Catalan sauce. The “all-i-oli” in its name indicates in Catalan language that it is made with garlic and olive oil, always.
Ingredients Of The Sauce:
1 pinch of salt.
Olive oil.
2 cloves of garlic.
In a mortar, put the pinch of salt and the two cloves of garlic. I remove the hearts to the garlic to avoid that the garlic is repeated. Crush well with the salt. Then comes the pouring of the oil little by little while stirring vigorously. You are aiming for making the three ingredients emulsified has a texture of a puree. While still stirring until you get to the smooth texture then it is ready to pour.
We can then enjoy a good ‘all-i-oli’ with our roasted meats and potatoes.
Now to drink with our healthy and mediterranea barbecue of meat or fish, I will teach you to make a good gazpacho. It is a typical Spanish soup, it is healthy and refreshing and its ingredients are all vegetables.
Ingredients Of The Gazpacho:
- 1 cucumber.
- 1 red pepper.
- 4 Ripe and large tomatoes.
- 1 green pepper.
- 1 clove of garlic.
- Salt to taste.
- 8 ounces of red wine vinegar.
- 12 ounces of olive oil.
- 20 ounces of cold water.
Put everything in the blender and beat until it is like a smoothie. If you want you can go through a colander and rove any chunks. Add oil, vinegar, and water. the final amount will depend on your desire for a softer flavor or something a little stronger. Gazpacho is undeniably healthy, has a lot of fiber, and has many vitamins and is very refreshing for the summer. It can work as a soup or a drink. You can find Gazpacho served all over Spain. It fits well with the traditional for Mediterranean Diet recipes.
Daniel Miller
Head Chef at Fogo De Chao