Switch a green salad for a bean salad, beet salad or hundreds of other options. (photo © Sarsmis | iStock Photo).

Leafy greens make up only one of seven categories in Chef Joyce Goldstein’s book, Mediterranean Fresh: A Compendium of One-Plate Salad Meals and Mix-and-Match Dressings.

In the Mediterranean, “salad” includes everything from tabbouleh to white beans and prawns in a lemon dressing, to small plates of mezze, antipasti, and tapas.

Other salad categories are based on beans, fruits, grains, and proteins, such as meat, poultry, seafood (and although not part of Mediterranean cuisine or this book, tofu).

Vegetables need not be green: Think of these two recipes in the book:

 
Alternative dressings change the nature of the dish. Substitute walnut vinaigrette with the beet salad and it goes from Greek to French. Substitute tahini dressing and it becomes Middle Eastern.

Here’s Chef Goldstein’s recipe for a mint vinaigrette. Toss it with matchstick-sliced zucchini and carrots; use it with asparagus, bean salad, beet salad, carrot salad, citrus salad, grain salad (bulghur or quinoa, for example), seafood salad, and spinach salad.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE lemon juice and chopped mint in a small saucepan. Bring up to a boil and remove from heat. Let steep for about 10 minutes. Strain into a mixing bowl. You will have about 1/4 cup.

2. ADD the remaining ingredients and whisk them together. Toss with salad ingredients and serve.

More about Chef Joyce Goldstein.
 
 

UNSATURATED FATS: GOOD

Essential Fat
Essential fats such as Omega 3 are found in nuts and seeds. The body does not produce these fats but they are essential to health. They can be found in good quantity in dark-fleshed fish, nuts (walnuts have the most alpha linolenic acid, an important Omega3 )and seeds (flaxseed, hempseed).

Monounsaturated Fat
The healthiest type of fat, monounsaturated fat is actually beneficial fat. It promotes heart health and might help prevent cancer and a slew of other ailments. It’s best known for lowering “bad” LDL cholesterol levels without negatively affecting the “good,” artery-clearing HDL cholesterol. Avocado oil, canola oil, olive oil and peanut oil are rich in monounsaturated fat. Whatever fats you’re using now (other oils, butter, lard): switch over as much as you can to monounsaturated fat.

Polyunsaturated Fat
A moderately healthy fat, polyunsaturated fat lowers LDL cholesterol but also reduces levels of HDL cholesterol. Polyunsaturated fat is the predominant type of fat in corn oil, safflower oil and soybean oil, among other vegetable oils. If you use these oils, trade up to a monounsaturated fat.

SATURATED FATS: BAD

Saturated Fat
This is unhealthy fat and should be consumed in moderation. The body converts it into artery-clogging cholesterol, which greases the path to heart disease. Saturated fat is mostly found in animal products and is solid at room temperature. It is the white fat you see along the edge or marbled throughout a piece of meat and is the fat in the skin of poultry. So when you look at that beautiful marbled steak, recall that beauty is more than just skin deep—in this case, it can go deep enough to kill you. Saturated fat is also in “healthy” animal products like milk (except for 0% fat milk) and foods made from milk (cheese, ice cream), as well as in tropical oils such as coconut oil. One should limit one’s intake of saturated fat from animal sources. Unfortunately, the American diet is full of it. The saturated fat from plant sources, such as coconut, are more benign.

Trans Fat
Is there anyone who hasn’t heard that trans fat is the worst type of fat? A problem created by Big Manufacturing (and now being corrected by food manufacturers, in response to consumer demand and local government mandate), most trans fat is produced by forcing hydrogen into liquid polyunsaturated fat (the process is called hydrogenation). Margarine was traditionally made this way. The process gives the fats a longer shelf life and helps stabilize their flavors. When hydrogenated, the benign polyunsaturated fat is turned into trans fat, which is recognized by the body as a saturated fat. The body then converts the trans fat to cholesterol, which raises LDL levels and lowers HDL levels. What’s worse, researchers have discovered that unlike regular saturated fat, trans fat disrupts cell membranes, upsetting the flow of nutrients and waste products into and out of the cell, and may be linked to reduced immune function and possibly cancer. Trans fats do occur naturally in small amount in meat and dairy, but the primary source to worry about is in highly processed/artificial foods.

 
YOUR CHOICE

Your health goal should be to make dietary fat choices from the monounsaturated fat group (avocado oil, canola oil, olive oil and/or peanut oil).

Just be aware that fat calories add up quicker. Fat is very energy dense when compared to carbohydrate and protein. It contains more than twice the calories per gram (fat has 9 calories/gram, carbs and protein 4 calories/gram). Thus, if you consume the same amount (in weight) of fat as protein or carbs, your calorie intake will be more than doubled.

Here are guidelines from the Harvard School Of Public Health:

 
Of the 30% of your daily calories that come from fat, no more than 10% should come from saturated fats. Thus, on the 2,000-calorie diet, consume no more than :

 
It’s pretty easy math; and it puts you on the road to enjoying healthy, good-for-you fats.

Bison is an incredible red meat: sweet, juicy, and very low in fat/cholesterol (lower, in fact, than skinless chicken breast and many fish—see bison nutrition information).

Bison meat is available in just about every cut that beef is. After all, cattle and bison are relatives with similar builds.

But it’s precisely because there’s so little fat that bison needs to be enjoyed medium rare. If cooked further, there’s not enough fat to keep the meat moist.

Whether you’re looking for a bright new taste or want to continue to enjoy red meat without high cholesterol, bison can be your new food buddy.

This video shows how easy it is to cook a bison burger, bison filet mignon (with broiled, balsamic-glazed peaches) and bison strip steak (with caramelized onions).

Let us know how your bison turns out!

FOOD TRIVIA: There is no “American buffalo.” The animal erroneously called buffalo in the U.S.—the one that appears on the nickel—is the bison. Here’s the difference between bison and buffalo.

Season and cook steaks and chops like
the experts. Photo courtesy Allen Brothers.

Most people season their meat prior to cooking, for flavor and to get a surface crust.

Use this technique, from the experts at Allen Brothers, providers of fine meats to Morton’s The Steakhouse, Emeril Lagasse, Art Smith, Charlie Trotter and other chefs of renown:

How To Season Steak Like The Experts: Salt, Pepper & Olive Oil Mix

Steaks and chops can be broiled or grilled:

Sear & Roast
This popular restaurant technique sears the meat on the stove top, then finishes it in the oven:

 
Let the meat rest for 10-15 minutes when it comes off the fire. This allows the natural juices that seep to the center during cooking to redistribute throughout the cut, making the meat moister and juicier.

Use a cooking thermometer*. Since food continues to cook after it is removed from the heat, use the guide below but remove the meat when the thermometer reaches 5° below the desire internal temperature.

*We use this instant-read thermometer. It’s top-of-the-line; you can find a typical instant-read for $10-$20. But we love this one. It’s a great gift for a serious cook.

Cooking Temperatures

 
How To Grill Steaks & Chops

 
How To Broil Steaks & Chops

 
Find more about beef plus recipes in our Gourmet Beef section.
  

A few months ago, we tasked our Test Kitchen chef, Eric Dantis, with creating a recipe for the Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Recipe Challenge. Here is his entry.

With summmer corn and tomatoes only weeks away, here’s the recipe. This is a dish to make if you are looking to impress your guests:

TOMATO WELLINGTON OVER A SALAD OF DUCK CONFIT

Ingredients

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Heat the vinegar, salt and sugar in a 1-quart saucepan over medium-high heat to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove the saucepan from the heat and let cool to room temperature. Stir in the apple and let stand for 30 minutes.
3. Place the tomatoes, cut-side down, onto a baking sheet. Sprinkle with the garlic. Arrange the thyme over the tomatoes. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons oil.
4. Bake for 45 minutes. Let the tomatoes cool on the baking sheet on a wire rack.
5. Increase the oven temperature to 400°F. Unfold the pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface. Roll the pastry sheet to remove the fold marks. Cut the pastry sheet in quarters.
6. Place 2 tomato halves in the center of each pastry quarter. Brush the edges of the pastries with the egg. Roll the pastries around the tomatoes. Press the seam and pinch the ends to seal. Brush the filled pastries with the egg. Place the pastries onto a lightly greased baking sheet.
7. Bake for 15 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown. Let the pastries cool on the baking sheet on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Cut the pastries in half crosswise on the diagonal.
8. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the duck leg confit and cook until well browned on all sides and heated through. Remove the duck leg confit to a cutting board. Using 2 forks, shred the meat. Discard the bone.
9. Remove the apple from the vinegar mixture with a slotted spoon. Using a sharp knife, cut the corn from the cob.
10. Place the apple, arugula, and duck leg confit into a large bowl. Season with the black pepper. Drizzle with the remaining oil and toss to coat. Divide the apple mixture among 4 plates. Top each with 2 pastry halves, cut-side up, and sprinkle with the corn. Enjoy!