Herbs such as parsley, basil, mint and rosemary are among the most potent sources of antioxidants we can include in our daily diet. Antioxidants offer protection against heart disease and may be valuable to reduce the risk of many types of cancer.
You need to eat about a cupful of most herbs to get a benefit from its antioxidant properties. Rosemary is the only exception as the antioxidants in this herb are so potent that even a diced tablespoon of it in a dish will give you enough.
Rosemary Stanton recommends eating herbs the way people do in Mediterranean countries, as a basis for a dish rather than simply as a garnish. Tabouli has a large amount of parsley while pesto sauce can be made with basil, mint or parsley.
This refreshing parsley based salad is bursting with nutritional goodness.
Ingredients
Method
Pour boiling water over cracked wheat, cover and leave to stand for 15 minutes (the wheat will absorb the water). Combine cracked wheat with all ingredients except the tomatoes. Mix well. Just before serving, top tabouli with tomatoes. Serves 4 to 6.
The word ‘pesto’ means ‘paste’ and it can be made with basil, parsley or mint and used on pasta, lamb, toast, tomatoes or other vegetables to add flavour and herbs to your diet.
Ingredients
Method
Break stems off parsley, basil or mint and chop the herb finely in a food processor or blender. Add the garlic, pine nuts, lemon juice and olive oil and blend them in with the chopped herb. If you like, you can add some grated Parmesan cheese, especially if you’re serving it with pasta. If you are not using all the pesto immediately, store what’s left over in the refrigerator in a container of a suitable size so that the pesto fills the container. You can also freeze it.
* Note: Both nuts and olive oil contain fat, but in both cases it’s ‘good’ fat. If you want to cut down the amount of fat in your pesto there are two things you can do:
Toast the pine nuts or almonds by tossing them on a dry frying pan until they’re golden brown. This brings out the flavour so much that you don’t need to use so many nuts.
You can use more lemon juice and a bit less oil. Don’t reject all the oil because its fat helps the body absorb some of the vitamins from the herbs.
For more of Rosemary Stanton’s advice on food and nutrition consult the revised edition of Rosemary Stanton’s Complete Book of Food and Nutrition (Simon & Schuster). Recommended retail price is $29.95. Or consult the revised edition of The Good Gut Cookbook by Rosemary Stanton, (Harper Collins Publishers, 1998). Recommend retail price is $19.95.