Christina Cooks: Back to the Cutting Board

Verduras, or vegetables, as we know them in our culture, are the heart and soul of plant passionate cooking, and talk about serious commitment, vegetables give us every shred of nutrition we could ever need.

Us and them, it's a match made in heaven.

Let's fall in love with veggies today on Christina Cooks.

(upbeat theme music) (announcer) Underwriting for Christina Cooks is provided by Suzanne's Specialties, offering a full line of alternative vegan and organic sweeteners and toppings.

Suzanne's Specialties.

Sweetness the way Mother Nature intended.

Jonathan's Spoons, individually handcrafted from cherry wood, each designed with your hand and purpose in mind.

Additional funding is also provided by: Hi, I'm Christina Pirello, and this is Christina Cooks, where each week we take fresh, seasonal ingredients and whip them into amazing dishes.

Will they all be plant-based?

Yeah.

Will they all be delicious?

Yes, because that's the Macroterranean Way.

So today's topic is verdure.

Say it with me, "verdure," and that means "vegetables" in Italian.

And I read an interesting statistic the other day.

It said that reality is one in 10 Americans eats the number of servings recommended to live a healthy life of vegetables.

But if you ask Americans, 37% of them say, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, we eat vegetables every day."

What they leave out of the poll is most of their vegetables come in the form of fried potatoes.

Recently has been declared by the USDA to be a fresh vegetable, but it doesn't count.

Vegetables are vegetables, French fries are a treat.

So we're gonna talk about vegetables today and how to make them delicious so that you will eat them and your family will love them, okay?

We're gonna start with a soup, and this is gonna start with a little bit of olive oil in a soup pot that we're gonna bring to a nice temperature.

When you cook with good olive oil, you've heard me say this a million times, but I can never say it enough, don't heat the oil until you have your first ingredient in the pan.

In this case, it's whole garlic cloves.

Now you're wondering, wait a minute, isn't that gonna be like a weird mouth feel in the soup?

No.

We're gonna leave the garlic in there just long enough to flavor the oil, and then we're gonna take them out.

And the reason we're doing that is this is a sweet soup designed to help with digestion and help you to feel calm and centered.

If you leave the garlic in, it's a little too stimulating for this kind of soup.

You want to leave the garlic in, leave it in, but I kinda take it out.

I'm just flavoring the oil.

It's kind of a very Southern Italian thing to do.

While the garlic's simmering, we're gonna take a fennel.

This is a fennel, or in Italian, it's known as finocchio.

And what it is is a bulb, right, it grows on top of the soil.

These huge fronds, we tend to only use little bits of to garnish because they're very strong.

It has a strong licorice flavor, but that's a good thing.

That's what helps you to digest, and it's really refreshing flavor.

I use them raw in salad, but very often, I roast them in the oven, put them on the grill, or turn them into a soup like this.

So we're gonna cut them into small bite-size pieces like you always do for soup so that you have lots of surface area on each piece of veggie to bleed into the broth so your broth is really flavorful.

And so now my garlic is simmering, I can hear it, so now we're just gonna take it out of the oil.

Slippery little suckers.

They come out.

Okay, now we're done with these.

You can use them in something else or you can get rid of them.

And now goes in some diced red onion.

I like red onion because it's sweet, but you can use shallots, yellow onion, white onion, I don't care.

But I really like red onion because it's a nice, sweet taste.

They look beautiful in dishes, and they're very high in magnesium and potassium, which is good to keep our nerves from being frayed.

Lower the heat just a little bit.

(sizzling) And the next thing to go in is our chopped fennel.

Another tiny pinch of salt so that the onion tastes like onion and the fennel tastes like fennel, and we build a nice flavor.

Once your onions are translucent, now you get to just quickly move.

As soon as this fennel is shiny with oil, just add your tomatoes.

And these are canned diced tomatoes.

You can use fresh if you want to, but you have to chop a lot of them, 'cause tomato is really the base of the soup.

Another pinch of salt.

Now here's where you get to make a decision.

At this point of the sort of origin of this recipe, you add water to cover your veggies, bring this to a boil, and you simmer it for like 10 minutes.

Fennel gets soft really easy.

Then you buzz it with an immersion blender, make a nice, smooth soup, and you stir in your chick peas for texture.

Or you can serve this as a completely chunky soup with just the chick peas in with the other veggies.

I am not a blenderized, smooth soup person.

It's a nice thought, but it doesn't thrill me, so we're not doing it that way.

We're gonna add the chick peas, we're gonna add water, and we're gonna cook this, we're gonna add water to just cover the ingredients.

This is a really sort of thickish summer soup.

And since my chick peas are cooked, it's okay if I added a pinch of salt, but I didn't really season the soup yet, that's coming.

I'm gonna loosely cover it and that's gonna come to a boil and be ready in minutes, maybe 10 minutes, as soon as the fennel is tender, 'cause you don't want it to be mushy.

In this pan, we're gonna make our garlic toast that go with the soup.

So what we have is whole grain bread that's been sliced into long pieces, and we're gonna take garlic cloves and cut them in half.

And then you're gonna take the cut side and rub it on the bread.

And all we're doing is flavoring the bread.

And it's a very mild flavor, we want mild flavor.

Then we have a hot griddle pan, take a little olive oil, brush it to coat the bottom of the grill pan.

You can just use a skillet.

If you don't have a grill pan, don't panic.

Then you're gonna lay your bread down, reduce your heat, and let this brown until it's crunchy on the edges, then we're gonna flip it and it'll be ready.

So the bread's gonna cook for about two minutes on each side, then we're gonna flip it, and by the time the bread is ready, our soup will be ready in about 10 minutes.

Okay, so we're gonna turn the bread.

You can see how it's gotten nice and toasted on the one side.

And then we'll toast the other side.

Now, the other side's gonna go a little quicker, so pay attention, okay?

Now we're gonna come over here, the soup is down to a simmer, which is what you want, 'cause now we're gonna season it with miso, which is not only great for digestion, but it's gonna give the soup sort of a finish of Parmigiano, so it's gonna taste very Italian.

But this is really a classic case of East meets West, because miso is a Japanese product going in an Italian soup, and now we have world peace.

So you're gonna dissolve this in hot broth just so nobody bites down on salty miso, and you're gonna stir it into the soup, and it's gonna take maybe a minute, 30 seconds to a minute to activate the enzymes in the miso.

Take care not to boil it, because then you destroy that.

And while that's happening, we'll take some fresh basil.

Cut off the hard stems, give it a quick shred.

(slicing) You don't have to be fancy here.

What you want to do, though, when you make soup is garnish it with something fresh.

It kind of lifts the energy and makes you feel more balanced.

So, now we're gonna plate this up.

We're gonna take some of our toasted bread, set it on the plate.

I have no idea why we do everything in threes, but we do it in threes, so we have threes.

So now we're gonna take a ladle, make a nice, hearty bowl of soup.

This is gonna be sweet, a little spicy from the fennel, you've got the chick peas making you feel grounded and calm and happy.

You've got basil, which is not only delicious, but works as a blood purifier for us as well, and there you have it, this perfect starter course for summer.

-Can a vegetable be a fruit?

-A fruit can be a vegetable.

(boy) What?

It can be both?

(girl) What happens if you swallow the seeds?

(unintelligible) -I don't get it.

-I am so confused.

So, living a healthy life can be very confusing for people.

We try to keep people inspired, we try to give them options, we try to help, but very often, people are confused, they don't know what to do, they don't know how to start, so in this little series of segments, we decided to bring some experts in, but also people who have questions of their own that I might help to clear things up.

So today I'm with Nicole Andreola... -Hello.

-...thank you for joining me, who's a certified fitness trainer at the gym that I go to in Philadelphia, and I understand you have a question for me today.

(Nicole) I do, actually.

So it's a two-part question for you.

So when you got sick with cancer, how did the vegan lifestyle incorporate that?

That's the first part.

And second part is, what were the benefits that helped you on your road to recovery?

(Christina) Well, I have to give you the short version.

-Yeah.

-When I grew up, we grew up in a house with a garden and we ate everything fresh and we did everything that you were supposed to do, and my mother was the sort of paradox in the family, because we had to eat all the fresh vegetables from the garden, and she lived on coffee, cigarettes, and sugar, and died at 49 of colon cancer.

So I kind of left the family in a bit of a shock and went vegetarian when I was 14, because my father was a butcher and I thought, "Why not?

Let's do that."

And then at 26, I was living a vegan junk food diet, Oreos, you know, junk food, soda, and got sick, and met the man that I married who said, "Yeah, you're vegetarian, but you don't eat real food at all."

And then I discovered whole grains, beans, and vegetables, realized that studying Chinese medicine, there was more to food than food, which is why I do what I do, because people--I think if they realized that there was more to food than food, that there's an energy that happens, that it's more than nutrition, it's more than vitamins and minerals.

The food creates who we are, we are what we eat.

When that became clear to me during my illness was when it turned the corner for me and allowed me to get well.

And being sick was my greatest gift in life, because I found the reason I was supposed to be here.

I mean, I was a perfectly nice 26-year-old who didn't have any idea what I was doing on this planet.

Like, what's the point?

Yeah, I carry a canvas bag to the store, but what's my job?

Why am I here?

What's my legacy?

Even at that age, what am I doing to make a difference?

Getting cancer gave me my job that I think, I hope, makes a difference.

So the benefit for me, more than health, is that it gave me the reason to do what I do in the world.

So, for me, it's about inspiring people to find their way, to even make one happier choice.

Like I would be happy if choosy mothers would choose a real peanut butter instead of the commercial brands that have all kinds of junk in them.

My grandmother used to say, "If you read a label and you don't know whether to brush your teeth with it or eat it, you probably shouldn't eat it."

Do you know what I mean?

So I learned how to read labels, I learned how to do all of that, so yeah, so it inspired me to keep pushing forward, so that's why I do what I do.

-Amazing.

-Thanks for joining me!

(Nicole) Thank you so much!

(laughing) So that's it!

Stay inspired!

All right, so now we're gonna take some verdure, some vegetables, and mix 'em with a whole grain to create a salad.

Usually I find that if you have people in your life that don't like vegetables, if you mix them with other things, it tends to be a better sell, an easier sell.

So this grain is farro, and farro is an ancient grain that comes from Northern Italy.

Legend has it that it was Juliet's favorite food in the world, but we don't really know if Juliet and Romeo actually happened.

Yeah, there were Montagues and Capulets, but that's kinda all we know.

But either way, it's a brilliant grain.

Very high in iron, high in protein, and, as all grains, loaded with fiber.

So we're gonna use that.

We've brought it to a boil and cooked it for about 40 minutes with a pinch of salt so that it's nice and tender, and the reason I did that ahead was it needs to be cooled to make the salad.

So now we're gonna get the vegetables ready.

So on the tray, I have diced mushroom and carrot, and now we're gonna add to that some yellow summer squash.

You can use whatever mix of veggies floats your boat.

I don't care.

But I'm liking these lighter veggies with a whole grain, because it makes the whole thing feel a little bit lighter.

And since it's a salad, you don't really want it to be heavy and cumbersome, but you do want it to have some fire in the fireplace, so that's why we're gonna roast them in the oven.

And it's quick, it's 15 minutes at about 350.

So we're gonna take and add some extra virgin olive oil to the veg, just enough to do a light coating.

Like that.

Pinch of salt.

And two whole garlic cloves.

And this is gonna give the scent of garlic without being too heavily garlicky.

And I'm really liking in my cooking these days that more mild garlic flavor, so we're gonna toss these just to coat.

And these are gonna go in the oven-- we have an escapee, sorry.

These are gonna go in the oven at 350 to 375 for about 15 minutes until they're browned.

So now our veggies have been cooked and cooled, because remember, it's a salad.

So this is all gonna get mixed together.

We're gonna take our cooked and cooled farro, our cooked and cooled veggies, and now we have to season this up, and sure, the veggies are sweet, but we really want to bring this thing to life, so we're gonna add a little bit of raw veggies to it, some halved cherry tomatoes, a little bit of shredded radicchio.

Now, radicchio is a beautiful purple vegetable that has a lightly, delicately bitter taste.

It's very popular in Italy and very good for your liver and for digestion.

So that goes in.

Some fresh parsley that was coarsely chopped.

Don't chop the parsley too finely on this, you want it to have some texture.

A touch of olive oil for richness.

And then the thing that brings it to life.

Before you make this dish, throw a lemon in the freezer and freeze it till it's like rock hard.

Then take a microplane and just grate right through the skin, right through the pith, right into the flesh of the lemon, and you have two things that happen: one, you never have your lemons go bad because they're always in the freezer, and number two, you get a perfume and a flavor of lemon that is unparalleled.

So we're gonna do about two tablespoons of frozen lemon.

Now we're gonna go in here, toss it so that everything gets mixed together and everything's coated with oil, the parsley gets mixed in, the cherry tomatoes are mixed throughout.

This is a gorgeous salad.

When you're serving people food that they may not be used to, it's healthier, they're not used to veggies, you kinda want to make sure that it's beautiful and colorful so that they like them and they eat them.

Because if you make them and they don't eat them, you really haven't done them any good, have you?

So now you have an option, you can call this done or you can garnish it with a little more balsamic vinegar, but I really like to just go with the lemon.

So here we have our farro with verdure.

When we think of the Mediterranean, the world's healthiest diet, a lot of you think, "Wait a minute, isn't that the pizza/pasta diet?"

It is.

But that's only part of the picture.

Really, the Mediterranean diet is the foundation built upon whole grains, vegetables, and beans.

And whole grains are a very popular part of Mediterranean cooking, from North to South.

In the North, they use more rice, like Arborio and brown rice.

In sort of the Verona/Venice area, they're really big on farro, which is said to be Juliet's favorite grain.

Who knows?

In the South, they tend to be more barley and polenta because it's hotter and they cook a little more quickly, so they use those lighter grains.

And then in Sardinia, which is an island off Italy, where some of the longest lives are lived, it's a blue zone, their very most common grain is actually a pasta called fregola made from a whole grain.

These combinations together in our country, these whole grains among others, are the foundation upon which you will build your wellness.

Okay.

You want to get people to eat vegetables?

Put pasta with it.

People will eat anything with pasta, so we're gonna make a lasagna.

Now it's not gonna be a lasagna with fake tofu ricotta or cashew ricotta in the middle, I don't do that.

This is veggies, tomato gravy, and noodles.

So watch.

So we're gonna take a little bit of tomato gravy and line the bottom of the dish.

You always want to put gravy on the bottom of your lasagna dish so it doesn't stick or burn.

It's just a thing.

Now, you can either use gravy that you made, that you always have in the fridge like in my house, or you can use it out of a jar.

Just read the label, make sure it doesn't have too much sugar, right?

So you do that.

Then we do a base layer of noodles.

What I did with my lasagna was I cooked it 50%.

I like to do that.

You can also use the no-boil lasagna, which I don't care for, but you can.

Now, some people break or tear their lasagna at the other end if the noodles are too long, but I don't do that.

I just like to fit them in there, okay?

Now we're gonna take veggies, and your veggies have to be cut super, super, super thin so you see lots of layers.

If your knife skills aren't great, use a mandoline, carefully.

And a mandoline just will thinly slice your veggies like that.

Keep your fingers out of the way, and you get perfect, perfect, thinly sliced veg.

So we're gonna start to layer.

Okay, we're gonna take some zucchini, create a layer of zucchini.

You want to not make these layers too thick, but you want all your vegetables in the middle and you want to cover the noodles completely, okay?

Then we're gonna take some yellow squash on top of the zucchini.

This is a great thing actually to do if you have kids who are not necessarily in love with their veggies.

Once they participate, they start to be happier about eating veg.

Now we're gonna take some carrots.

There's a lot of veggies in this.

There is a lot of veggies.

But it's so beautiful when it's cut and you see all these amazing layers.

Then we're gonna take some red onion.

If you don't like red onion, leave it out.

Leave it out!

And I don't care what order in which you layer your veg, it doesn't matter.

Then we're gonna take some eggplant.

If you don't like eggplant, leave it out.

To me, it has to be there.

Then we're gonna take some more noodles, make another layer.

And then on top of this layer, after we put some gravy, we're going to put some bread crumbs.

And what the bread crumbs will do is create a little bit of crunch in the middle of your lasagna, but also create some air so that it doesn't become like this compressed, dense dish.

So there we've got your-- and be abundant with your gravy.

Please don't be skimpy here, okay?

I'm gonna do this.

We're gonna make one more layer.

So we're gonna take zucchini.

You don't have to be super neat here, just do it as it floats your boat.

That's why it's great to have kids help you do this, because it's one of those dishes that doesn't have to be perfect going into the pan.

We'll take some red onion.

And this is gonna make our last layer.

Some eggplant.

And this dish, once you have your veggies prepped, this dish comes together fast, and then it's just baking time.

That one's a little too fat.

Like this, okay.

Now we're gonna put some more noodles.

This will be our top layer.

And then bread crumbs will be the last layer on the very top to give you some crunch after it bakes.

Like that.

The last amount of your gravy, and be generous here, too, because you don't want the top of the lasagna to be dry.

There's nothing worse, in my opinion, than when the lasagna noodles are crunchy and dry on the edges.

I mean, crunch is nice, but ay-yi-yi.

So that goes on, one last bit, one last bit of bread crumbs.

Consider this your cheese on top without being cheese.

Then we're gonna take and drizzle the whole thing with a little extra virgin olive oil.

And this is gonna go in the oven at 350 until it's bubbling and the noodles are browned a little bit at the edges, and everything seems tender.

About 35 to 40 minutes, and then you'll see.

Okay.

Now, the lasagna's been baked and cooled.

Once it's cooled-- once it comes out of the oven, rather, you really have to let it cool before you cut it or it'll fall apart.

So...

I like a hearty serving, just so you know.

We're gonna go in here and we're gonna hope-- speriamo, as we say, "we hope," that it comes out and then it goes onto your dish.

Oh, my goodness, this looks so good.

Look at this, look at this, look at all these beautiful layers of veg, and it's almost creamy inside, because the vegetables got nice and tender and perfect and juicy.

It's amazing.

So, as I often say, what are you waiting for?

Let's get back to the cutting board, and I'll see you next time on Christina Cooks.

(announcer) Underwriting for Christina Cooks is provided by Suzanne's Specialties, offering a full line of alternative vegan and organic sweeteners and toppings.

Suzanne's Specialties.

Sweetness the way Mother Nature intended.

Jonathan's Spoons, individually handcrafted from cherry wood, each designed with your hand and purpose in mind.

Additional funding is also provided by: You can find today's recipes and learn more by visiting our website at: And by following Christina on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

The companion cookbook, "The Macroterranean Way," combines the Mediterranean diet with the ancient wisdom of Chinese medicine, allowing us to understand how food affects us so we can cook deliciously while creating the wellness we want.

To order your copy for $14.95 plus handling, call: Add "Back to the Cutting Board" and Christina's iconic "Cooking the Whole Foods Way," and get all three books for $49.95 plus handling, call: