10 Bad Cooking Habits

(Courtesy of Hilary Meyer, Associate Food Editor, EatingWell Magazine)

Some habits can be tough to break. When it comes to cooking, you may have some bad habits that you’re not even aware of. Some may be keeping your meal just short of reaching perfection while others may actually be hazardous to your health. Below are 10 common bad cooking habits that you should break:

1. Heating Oil Until It Smokes–Most recipes start with heating oil in a pan. It usually takes a little time for the stove to warm up, so we pour the oil and then turn our backs on the pan to do something else while it heats. Before you know it, you see wisps of smoke, which means the pan is hot and ready for cooking, right? Wrong! Not only do many oils taste bad once they have been heated to or past their smoke point, but when oils are heated to their smoke point or reheated repeatedly, they start to break down, destroying the oil’s beneficial antioxidants and forming harmful compounds. However, an oil’s smoke point is really a temperature range (olive oil’s is between 365° and 420°F), not an absolute number, because many factors affect the chemical properties of oil. You can safely and healthfully cook with any oil by not ­heating it until it’s smoking—to get your oil hot enough to cook with, just heat it until it shimmers.

2. Stirring Your Food Too Much–It’s tempting to stir your food constantly to prevent burning, but stirring too much can be a bad thing. It prevents browning—a flavor booster you get by letting your food sit on a hot surface—and it breaks food apart, making your meal mushy. Resist the urge to stir constantly unless the recipe specifically tells you to do so.

3. Overfilling Your Pan–Sometimes cooking requires a little patience. It may be faster to fill your pan to the brim with ingredients, but doing that can actually slow cooking and give you a big pile of mush at the end. If you want to sauté, filling your pan too full will cause your food to steam and not give you the crispy results you are looking for. The same goes for cooking meat. Shoving too much meat in the pan lowers the temperature of the pan too quickly, which can cause sticking and a whole host of other problems. Your best bet is to cook in batches. The extra time you put into it will make your meal much better.

4. You Don’t Let Your Meat Rest–You’re hungry and you want to dig into that steak you just pulled off the grill. Wait! Let your meat rest before you cut into it. By resting, the juices redistribute through the meat and you’ll get juicier results. Cut it too soon, and all the juice runs out on your cutting board and doesn’t end up in your meat. Rest smaller cuts of meat for shorter times (say 5 to 10 minutes or so) and rest larger roasts for longer (up to 20 minutes for a whole turkey, for example).

5. You Rinse Meat Before Cooking–Rinsing meat off in your sink may get rid of the slime factor, but it contaminates your sink with bacteria that could potentially cause foodborne illness. Pat your meat with a paper towel instead to remove any unwanted residue.

6. Using Nonstick Pans on High Heat–Turn down the heat when using nonstick pans. High temperatures can cause the nonstick lining to release PFCs (perfluorocarbons) in the form of fumes. PFCs are linked to liver damage and developmental problems. Check with your pan manufacturer to see what temperatures they recommend.

7. Using Metal Utensils on Nonstick Pans—Using metal utensils in a nonstick pan is not a good idea. You can inadvertently scratch the surface of the pan, which could lead you to ingest the PFCs in the nonstick lining. Use wooden or heat-safe rubber utensils when using nonstick pans.

8. Blending Hot Liquids (Without Removing the Stopper)–You only have to blend hot liquids and have them explode all over you and your kitchen once, because the aftermath is fairly memorable. Most blenders come with a removable stopper on the top. If you’ve ever been assaulted by hot liquids from your blender, it’s probably because you didn’t remove the stopper before you blended. Steam from the hot liquid creates pressure that literally blasts off the lid if the stopper is in place. To ease the pressure, remove the stopper and cover the hole with a folded towel to prevent a mess before blending.

9. Put Pyrex Dishes Under the Broiler—Pyrex pans are great for making casseroles, but use a metal pan if your recipe requires broiling—even for a short amount of time. Pyrex pans are not designed to withstand the heat from a broiler. If they get too hot, they shatter, and you’ll have to start the recipe from scratch and have a big mess to clean up in your oven.

10. Over-mixing Batter–When you’re making batter for baking (or anything with large amounts of flour) you want everything to be well combined. And to combine, you mix. But too much mixing isn’t good. The mechanical action of the mixing causes gluten to form in the flour, making baked goods tough. So gently mix until the batter is uniform, then put down your mixer.

 Try and work around these cooking pitfalls for better cooking technique, for better food...stay healthy people!

Organic Foods - To buy or not to buy

WASHINGTON — If you're concerned about food safety, you probably already look for organic produce at the supermarket. But if you can't always buy organic, you can still dramatically lower your family's exposure to chemical pesticides by choosing the least pesticide-contaminated fruits and vegetables with the Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce.

The Shopper's Guide is a handy, wallet-size card that lists the "Dirty Dozen" most contaminated fruits and vegetables, as well as the 12 most "Consistently Clean" items. It's available for free download at www.foodnews.org. The newest edition of the Guide comes in both English and Spanish versions for the first time.

The Shopper's Guide was developed by Environmental Working Group (EWG), based on the results of nearly 43,000 tests for pesticides on produce by the Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration between 2000 and 2004. EWG's computer analysis found that consumers could cut their pesticide exposure by almost 90 percent by avoiding the most contaminated fruits and vegetables and eating the least contaminated instead.

Eating the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables will expose a person to about 15 pesticides a day, on average. Eating the 12 least contaminated will expose a person to fewer than two pesticides a day.

So, without further to do, here are the  least contaminated and the most contaminated fruits and veggies:

Least Contaminated (OK to eat non-organic varieties)

1. Onions
2. Avocado
3. Sweet Corn
4. Pineapple
5. Mango
6. Sweet Peas
7. Asparagus
8. Kiwi
9. Cabbage
10. Eggplant
11. Cantaloupe
12. Watermelon
13. Grapefruit
14. Sweet Potato
15. Honeydew Melon

Most Contaminated (Better off eating organic varieties)

1. Celery
2. Peaches
3. Strawberries
4. Apples
5. Blueberries
6. Nectarines
7. Bell Peppers
8. Spinach
9. Kale
10. Cherries
11. Potatoes
12. Grapes (imported)

Stay healthy people!

Greek Pasta Primavera

This Greek pasta dish features zucchini, bell pepper, peas, spinach, feta, cherry tomatoes and Kalamata olives…yummy!

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients (For 6-8 servings)

• 2 tablespoons plus 1 reserved tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 bell pepper (color of choice), sliced thin
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon ground sea salt
• 1 13oz box, whole-grain penne pasta (or favorite pasta)
• 1 1/2 cups baby peas, (if frozen, rinse under warm water and drain)
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes 
• 2 cups Kalamata olives
• Handful of fresh spinach
• 4oz feta cheese, crumbled
• 2 Tablespoons Herbs de Provence (a blend of  savory, fennel, basil, thyme, and lavender flowers) Yeh, I know it's not Greek...but it's good :)

Preparation

1. Put a large pot of water on to boil.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
3. Add bell pepper and sauté until beginning to tender…3-4 minutes.
4. Add onion, garlic and sauté until the onion is beginning to brown, 2-3 minutes.
5. Add zucchini and cook, stirring, until all the vegetables are semi-tender, 3 minutes.
6. Stir in wine and simmer until most of the wine has evaporated, 3-4 minutes.
7. Add salt and pepper.
8. Meanwhile, cook pasta in the boiling water according to the package directions, until al dente.
9. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid in the pot. Return the pasta to the pot.
10. Stir the vegetables into the pasta along with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, peas, tomatoes, olives, spinach, feta and Herbs de Provence.

Serve immediately or chill for a delicious cold pasta salad.

Nutrition

Per serving: 305 calories; 6 g fat ( 3 g sat , 3 g mono ); 13 mg cholesterol; 51 g carbohydrates; 10 g protein; 8 g fiber; 326 mg sodium; 236 mg potassium.

Pizza Margherita

I LOVE pizza…always have. The problem with pizza in general is three-fold: The type of dough used, the fat content and the salt content. Any of the pizzas here at the HSG will be made using whole-grain wheat pizza dough (no bleached, enriched or processed ingredients), rolled out as thin as possible for that delicious, extra-crispy texture…and reduced calories. The fat and salt content will be reduced as much as possible by using as little low-fat cheese as possible coupled with no canned sauce (or anything else for that matter). Instead, I use fresh tomato and as many fresh ingredients as possible.  Also, I won’t be using fatty meats like pepperoni...hold the phone, no pepperoni?? Yeh, yeh, I know what you’re thinking…but you have got to try this pizza before you judge it…lest ye be judged…er…and besides, I bet you like it :) This is the mother of all pizzas or, as they say in Italy, "madre di tutte le pizze".  This is pizza in its purest form, the original – the classic Margherita!

 

Ingredients (4 Servings)

• 2 medium Italian (plum) tomatoes, sliced thin
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 8 oz low-fat mozzarella cheese, shredded
• Fresh basil leaves to garnish
• 1-2 tablespoons, Herbs de Provence, to taste
• 8 oz whole-grain pizza dough (Recipe HERE )

Preparation

·        Pre-heat oven as high as it will go (500 degrees plus). This step is VERY important so crank it up!

·        Roll the dough out as thin as you can get it…I mean go for paper thin!

·         Add the mozzarella to cover entire pizza surface, leaving ½ inch outside border

·         Add the tomato to cover, leaving 1/2 inch outside border

·         Add the fresh garlic, spreading evenly

·         Bake pizza for 5-6 minutes, turning so that it browns evenly and cheese is bubbling! Careful not to burn it!

·         Immediately add the Herbs de Provence and Basil. Let rest for 2-3 minutes.

Slice into 8 slices and enjoy!

Sauces

 Everyone loves sauces…from the classic mayo to ketchup (catsup?) to tomato sauce, mustard, hot pepper sauce, guacamole, hollandaise, white wine…the list goes on and on for every taste, palate and culture…but how did we ever get into sauces in the first place? 

A Brief History of Sauces

The word "sauce" is a French word that means a relish to make our food more appetizing.  Basically, a Sauce is a liquid or semi-liquid food devised to make other foods look, smell, and taste better.  Because of the lack of refrigeration in the early days of cooking, meat, poultry, fish, and seafood didn't last long.  Sauces and gravies were originally used to mask the flavor and, ugh, smell of tainted foods.

200 A.D. - The Romans used sauces to disguise the taste of the food, most likely to conceal doubtful freshness. The main course, or primae mensai varied both in the number and elaboration of dishes. Roast and boiled meat, poultry, game or other meat delicacies would be served. No dish was complete without its highly flavored and seasoned sauce. Sometimes so many ingredients were used in a sauce it was impossible to single out any one flavor.  

Marcus Gavius Apicius, a famous Roman gourmet and one of the first recorded cookbook authors, wrote at the end of one of his recipes for a particularly flavorful sauce, 'No one at table will know what he is eating'. These sauces were usually thickened with wheat flour or crumbled pastry. Honey was often incorporated into a sweet dish or sauce.

Highly flavored sauces often containing as many as a dozen ingredients, the most common of which was something called ‘liquamen’, a sauce with anchovies as its main ingredient. This sauce was so popular that it was actually mass produced in many towns in the Roman empire for centuries.

1651 - A little heard of sauce today, but very popular in the 17th century was Sauce Robert. It is similar to the present day Espagnole Sauce, basically a brown roux or a combination of fat and flour to create a thickening agent.

In Le Grand Cuisinier from 1583, there is a mention of a sauce Barbe Robert consisting of fried onions, vinegar and mustard for roasted rabbit, fry fish and fry egg. That actually sounds pretty good.

In Le Quart-Livre, François Rabelais mentions sauce Robert as being “indispensable for roast, rabbits, duck, pork, poached eggs..."

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 The Mother Sauces

With such an endless variety of sauces and sauce ingredients, there are but five foundation sauces or basic sauces, in French these are known as the ‘grandes sauce’s or ‘sayces meres’. We in present day simply refer to these five basic sauces as The Mother Sauces.

Antonin Careme, founding father of French "grande cuisine," came up with the methodology in the early 1800's by which hundreds of sauces would be categorized under five Mother Sauces, and there are infinite possibilities for variations, since the sauces are all based on a few basic formulas. Sauces are one of the fundamentals of cooking. Know the basics and you'll be able to prepare a multitude of recipes like a professional. The trick is then making those sauces into healthy versions, like you’ll find on this blog. Learn how to make the basic five sauces and their most common derivatives.

The five Mother Sauces are:

Bechamel Sauce (white)
Veloute Sauce (blond)
Brown (demi-glace) or Espagnole Sauce
Hollandaise Sauce (butter)
Tomato Sauce (red)

These five sauces still provide the basis for making of many modern sauces, but no longer of most of them. One of these sauces have a record of two hundred years, the béchamel has lasted so long, not only because it is very good, but also because it is are so adaptable and provide a fine basis for a considerable number of other sauces like the béchamel derivative, mayonnaise.

Below are some sauces and the mother sauce (or derivative) they come from, along with how these sauces got started.

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Aioli (eye-YO-lee) - (French) The French word for garlic is "ail." Sometimes called the "butter of Provence." Aioli is garlic-flavored mayonnaise made from pounded cloves of garlic, egg yolks, oil, and seasoning. Just before it is served, lemon juice and a little cold water are added. It is served as a sauce for a variety of garnishes and main courses.

History: It is believed to have originated in Provence, France. As the landscape of the Provence area is not suited for cows as other areas of France, more for sheep, goats, and olive trees, butter is not a common ingredient in Provencal food. See "mayonnaise."

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Béarnaise sauce (bair-naz) - It is a variation of hollandaise sauce. White wine or vinegar, diced shallots, tarragon, and peppercorns are cooked together and reduced and sieved and then added to hollandaise sauce. The spice tarragon is what gives it a distinctive taste. The sauce is served with beef and some shellfish.

History: Chef Jules Colette at the Paris restaurant called Le Pavillon Henri IV in the 19th century invented Béarnaise sauce in Paris, France. It was named Béarnaise in Henry's honor as he was born in Bearn, France (a region in the Pyreness mountain range in southwest France). It is said that every chef at the restaurant tried to claim the recipe as his own.

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Béchamel Sauce (bay-shah-mel) - As the housewife in the 17th Century did not have the luxury of modern refrigeration, they were wary of using milk in their recipes. Peddlers were known to sell watered down or rancid produce. Basically, only the rich or royalty could use milk in their sauces.

In France, it is one of the four basic sauces called "meres" or "mother sauces" from which all other sauces derive. It is also know as "white sauce." It is a smooth, white sauce made from a roux made with flour, boiled milk, and butter. It is usually served with white meats, eggs, and vegetables. It forms the basis of many other sauces.

History: There are four theories on the origin of Béchamel Sauce:

The Italian version of who created this sauce is that it was created in the 14th century and was introduced by the Italian chefs of Catherine de Medici (1519-1589), the Italian-born Queen of France. In 1533, as part of an Italian-French dynastic alliance, Catherine was married to Henri, Duke of Orleans (the future King Henri II of France. It is because of the Italian cooks and pastry makers who followed her to France that the French came to know the taste of Italian cooking that they introduced to the French court. Antonin Carème(1784-1833), celebrated chef and author, wrote in 1822: "The cooks of the second half of the 1700’s came to know the taste of Italian cooking that Catherine de’Medici introduced to the French court."

Béchamel Sauce was invented by Duke Philippe De Mornay (1549-1623), Governor of Saumur, and Lord of the Plessis Marly in the 1600s. Béchamel Sauce is a variation of the basic white sauce of Mornay. He is also credited with being the creator of Mornay Sauce, Sauce Chasseur, Sauce Lyonnaise, and Sauce Porto.

Marquis Louis de Béchamel (1603–1703), a 17th century financier who held the honorary post of chief steward of King Louis XIV's (1643-1715) household, is also said to have invented Béchamel Sauce when trying to come up with a new way of serving and eating dried cod. There are no historical records to verify that he was a gourmet, a cook, or the inventor of Béchamel Sauce. The 17th century Duke d'Escars supposedly is credited with stating:
"That fellow Béchameil has all the luck! I was serving breast of chicken a la crème more than 20 years before he was born, but I have never had the chance of giving my name to even the most modest sauce."

It is more likely that Chef Francois Pierre de la Varenne (1615-1678) created Béchamel Sauce. He was a court chef during King Louis XIV's (1643-1715) reign, during the same time that Béchamel was there. He is often cited as being the founder of haute cuisine (which would define classic French cuisine). La Varenne wrote Le Cuisinier Francois (The True French Cook), which included Béchamel Sauce. It is thought that he dedicated it to Béchamel as a compliment. La Varenne recipes used roux made from flour and butter (or other animal fat) instead of using bread as a thickener for sauces. 

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Chasseur Sauce - Chasseur is French for hunter. It is a hunter-style brown sauce consisting of mushrooms, shallots, and white wine (sometimes tomatoes and parsley). It is most often served with game and other meats. Chasseur, or "Hunter Style" was meant for badly shot game or tough old birds. The birds were always cut up to remove lead shot or torn parts, and often cooked all day on the back of the range if they were old or tough. Originally the veggies used were ones hunters would find while they hunted. This can be scaled up.

History: It is thought that Chasseur sauce was invented by Duke Philippe De Mornay (1549-1623), Governor of Saumur, and Lord of the Plessis Marly in the 1600s. He was a great protestant writer and called the protestant pope. It is said that he also invented Mornay Sauce, Sauce Béchamel, Sauce Lyonnaise, and Sauce Porto.

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Coulis (koo-LEE) -
(1) A French culinary term. It is a type of a sauce, usually a thick one, which derives it body (either entirely or in part), from pureed fruits or vegetables. A sauce of cooked down tomatoes can be a tomato coulis as can a puree of strained blackberries.
(2) Today coulis also means a thick soup made with crayfish, lobster, prawns, and other crustaceans - the word being used where bisque has formerly been used.

History: In old English cookbooks, the world "cullis" is found but this has fallen into disuse and "coulis" has taken its place. At one time, coulis were sauces and also the juices which flowed from roasting meat. Some cooks called liquids purees coulis, but only those prepared with chicken, game, fish, crustaceans, and some vegetables.

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Hollandaise Sauce (HOL-uhn-dayz) - Hollandaise mean Holland-style or from Holland. Uses butter and egg yolks as binding. It is served hot with vegetables, fish, and eggs (like egg benedict). It will be a pale lemon color, opaque, but with a luster not appearing oily. The basic sauce and its variations should have a buttery-smooth texture, almost frothy, and an aroma of good butter. Making this emulsified sauce requires a good deal of practice — it is not for the faint of heart. Béarnaise sauce, which is "related" to hollandaise sauce, is most often served with steak.

History - Most historians agree that it was originally called Sauce Isigny after a town in Normandy, Isigny-sur-Mer, known for its butter. Today, Normandy is called the cream capital of France. During World War I, butter production came to a halt in France and had to be imported from Holland. The name was changed to hollandaise to indicate the source of the butter and was never changed back.

17th Century - Sauce Hollandaise, as we now know it, is the modern descendant of earlier forms of a sauce believed to have been brought to France by the Heugenots. It appears to have actually been a Flemish or Dutch sauce thickened with eggs, like a savory custard, with a little butter beaten in to smooth the texture.

1651 - Francois Pierre de La Varenne (1618-1678), in his cookbook, Le cuisine françois (The True French Cook) has a recipe for a similar sauce in his recipe for Asparagus in Fragrant Sauce:
"Choose the largest, scrape the bottoms and wash, then cook in water, salt well, and don't let them cook too much. When cooked, put them to drain, make a sauce with good fresh butter, a little vinegar, salt, and nutmeg, and an egg yolk to bind the sauce; take care that it doesn't curdle; and serve the asparagus garnished as you like."

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Marinara (mah-ree-NAH-rah) - Means "sailor" in Italian (sailor style of tomato sauce). A spicy, quickly cooked pasta sauce of Italian origins but far more popular in American restaurants featuring southern Italian cuisines than in most of Italy

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Mayonnaise (MAY-uh-nayz) - Mayonnaise is an emulsion consisting of oil, egg, vinegar, condiments, and spices.

History: When first invented, it was called Mahonnaise.  According to the Oxford English Dictionary,  the sauce got its present name of mayonnaise purely by accident through a printing error in an early 1841 cookbook. There are many conflicting stories on the origin of mayonnaise:

Mayonnaise may have remained unnamed until after the Battle of Arques in 1589. It may then have been christened "Mayennaise" in 'honor' of Charles de Lorraine, duc de Mayenne (1554-1611), supposedly because he took the time to finish his meal of chicken with cold sauce before being defeated in battle by Henri IV (1553-1610).

Other historians claim it received its name from the Old French words "moyeunaise" or "moyeu," meaning, "egg yok."

Nevertheless, in 1910, Nina Hellman, a German immigrant from New York City, made a dressing that her husband, Richard Hellman, used on the sandwiches and salads he served in his New York delicatessen. He started selling the spread in "wooden boats" that were used for weighing butter. Initially he sold two versions of the recipe, and to differentiate between the two, he put a blue ribbon around one. In 1912, there was such a great demand for the  "ribbon" version, that Hellmann designed a "Blue Ribbon" label, which he placed on larger glass jars. He did so well that he started a distribution business, purchased a fleet of trucks, and in 1912 built a manufacturing plant. Also Best Foods, Inc. in California did the same. Hellman and Best Foods later merged and account for about 45% of all bottled mayonnaise sole in the United States
 

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Newburg Sauce - An American sauce that was created at the famous Delmonico Restaurant in New York City by their French chef, M. Pascal. This elegant sauce is composed of butter, cream, egg yolks, sherry, and seasonings. It is usually served over buttered toast points. The sauce is also used with other foods, in which case the dish is usually given the name "Newburg."

History: The sauce was originally named after a Mr. Wenburg, a frequent guest at the Delmonico restaurant. Mr. Wenburg and the boss of the Delmoico had an argument, thus causing Wenburg to insist that the sauce be renamed. The first three letters were changed to "New" instead of "Wen" to create the name "Newberg."

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Remoulade (ray-muh-LAHD) – A chilled flavored mayonnaise used in French cuisine. It includes mayonnaise, anchovies or anchovy paste, mustard, capers, and chopped pickles that are served as a dressing for cold meats, poultry or seafood.

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Veloute Sauce (veh-loo-TAY) - Also called sauce blanche grasse or fat white sauce, rich white sauce. One of the five "mother sauces." It is a stock-based white sauce that can be made from chicken, veal, or fish stock thickened with white roux.

Allemande Sauce - Veal veloute with egg yolk and cream liaison.

Supreme Sauce - Chicken veloute reduced with heavy cream

Vin Blanc Sauce - Fish veloute with shallots, butter, and fines herbs.

 So, there you have your lesson on sauces, the history of sauces and the basic ingredients of classic French sauce cuisine. Once you get accustomed to eating healthy, use your imagination to create healthier versions of some of these classics…start with my healthy version of the most common of all sauces, Mayonnaise, by reading HERE  If you take the lesson of eliminating unhealthy or not-so-healthy ingredients from the classic and replacing them with healthier, workable ingredients, you’ll have created a sauce that you can live with…literally.

Stay healthy people…and keep praising God for his bountiful greatness, salvation and mercy!

Steak with Blackberry-Vinaigrette Sauce

You'll notice that I don't have much in the way of beef on this blog. In fact this will be the third in nine months of blogging here...but sometimes even I like a nice piece of meat. Use any lean cut of meat, from London Broil to New York Strip. Use any steak leftovers on top of a salad or in a sandwich with fresh spinach leaves.

Total Time: 50 minutes (Including minimum marinade time)

Ingredients (4 servings )

• 1/3 cup dry red wine
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons blackberry preserves
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground sea salt
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 1 1/2 pounds steak (favorite cut), trimmed of fat
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped shallot
• 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons butter

Preparation

1. Whisk wine, vinegar, blackberry preserves, garlic, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Place meat in a shallow glass dish. Pour the marinade over the meat and turn to coat. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator, turning several times, for at least 20 minutes or up to 8 hours.
2. Remove the meat from the marinade. Pour the marinade into a small saucepan; add shallot and set aside.
3. Brush a ridged grill pan, heavy skillet or outside grill grates with oil; heat over medium-high heat. Add the meat and cook for 10 to 12 minutes per side for medium-rare, depending on thickness, or until it reaches desired doneness. (It may appear that the meat is burning but don't worry, it will form a pleasant crust.) Transfer the meat to a cutting board; let rest for 5 minutes.
4. While the meat is cooking, bring the marinade to a boil; cook over medium-high heat for 5 to 7 minutes, or until it is reduced to about 1/2 cup. Remove from the heat; add butter and whisk until melted.
5. Slice the meat thinly against the grain. Add any juices on the cutting board to the sauce. Serve the meat with the sauce.

Nutrition

Per serving: 216 calories; 8 g fat ( 3g sat , 3g mono ); 41 mg cholesterol; 7 g carbohydrates; 4 g added sugars; 25 g protein; 0 g fiber; 260 mg sodium; 429 mg potassium.

The Health Benefits of Chocolate

No matter how determined we are to stick to a strict diet, it is hard to resist the siren call of chocolate. Chocolate is practically a national pastime, with nearly half of all Americans indulging at least twice a week. The good news is that this once taboo food has been pardoned by health food Nazi’s in recent years, as evidence of its health benefits have emerged. Thanks to choco-friendly doctors and scientists, we now know that dark chocolate is a very good source of antioxidants. Antioxidants occur naturally in foods and  help to protect our arteries against cholesterol buildup. We have also discovered that chocolate may reduce the risk of blood clots by making blood platelets less gunky - and may even help our blood vessels relax, which lowers blood pressure.

In 2010, two large scale studies reported on the effects of chocolate on blood pressure, heart attack risk, and congestive heart failure. Dr. Brian Buijsse, of the German Institute of Human Nutrition, evaluated the health and diets of nearly 20,000 people between the ages of 35 and 65, and studied them for about ten years. The studies findings were reported in The European Heart Journal.  The outcome? Chocolate lovers had about 25 percent fewer heart attacks and neatly 50 percent less strokes than those who hardly ever touched the stuff.  This is not to say that we should all run out and eat a chocolate bar every day: The amount of chocolate eaten each day by the high consumers was on the average only about a quarter of an ounce. Eating more than that can add extra calories and saturated fat, both of which we know to be detrimental to heart health. This study, along with other studies have scientifically proven that dark chocolate offers the greatest amount of heart healthy nutrients.

Another study, performed by Harvard researcher Elizabeth Mostofsky, evaluated over 30,000 Swedish women for nine years. In those women whose diet included somewhere between one ounce of chocolate per month to three ounces of chocolate each week, there was a substantial reduction in heart failure risk. More than that actually increased the risk! This is probably because of excess calories and fats. Since milk chocolate is the most popular variety of chocolate in Sweden, the researchers speculated that their study may have underestimated the benefits of dark chocolate.

The overall message? Dark chocolate in very small amounts (about a quarter of one once daily) is a heart-healthy treat. As long as you take the calories and fat into account, and don’t think of it as a nutritional freebie, this is a little luxury that you can feel good about. 

10 Proven Benefits of Chocolate

·       

  High in Antioxidants
Cocoa contains flavanols, a type of flavanoid that is only found in cocoa and chocolate. Flavanoids are naturally-occurring compounds that occur in plant foods that act as antioxidants and help counteract free radicals in the body.

·         Blood Pressure Benefits
Dark chocolate has been shown in studies to lower blood pressure in people with elevated blood pressure.

·         Lower LDL Cholesterol
Eating dark chocolate on a regular basis has been shown to reduce LDL cholesterol by as much as 10 percent.

·         Natural Anti-Depressant
Chocolate contains serotonin, a natural anti-depressant. Chocolate also stimulates endorphin production, which creates feelings of happiness and pleasure. In fact, one study found that melting chocolate in the mouth produced feelings of pleasure longer than passionate kissing. This may explain why many people naturally reach for chocolate when they're depressed.

·         Cancer Fighter
Several studies have found chocolate to be one of the best cancer-fighting foods along with foods like red wine, blueberries, garlic, and tea. Two ways that chocolate works as a cancer fighter is by inhibiting cell division and reducing inflammation, though research is ongoing and will probably find additional ways in which chocolate fights cancer.

·         Prevents Tooth Decay
Research has found that the theobromine in chocolate prevents tooth decay by eliminating streptococcus mutans, a bacteria found in the oral cavity that contributes to tooth decay.

·         Longer Life and Less Disease
One Dutch study followed 200 men over 20 years and found that those who consumed large amounts of chocolate, both milk chocolate and dark, lived longer and had lower overall disease rates than men who ate little or no chocolate.

·         A Harvard study on the Kuna tribe of Panama resulted in similar findings. The Kuna consumed large amounts of raw cacao every day and the study found them to have lower overall disease rates and longer life expectancy than neighboring tribes who did not consume as much raw cacao.

·         To further strengthen the case for dark chocolate as a life extender, the world's longest-lived person, Jeanne Louise Calment, lived to the age of 122 and many ascribed her longevity in part to her consumption of 2.5 pounds of dark chocolate a week.

·         High in Magnesium

Cacao is higher in magnesium than any other plant. Magnesium is an important mineral that helps in the regulation of the digestive, neurological, and cardiovascular systems. Since many people are magnesium deficient, adding magnesium-rich dark chocolate to the diet can improve overall health.

·         Artery Cleanup

Studies have shown that the antioxidants in cacao work like brooms in sweeping plaque out of the arteries.

·         Brain Health

Many studies have shown that dark chocolate is good for the brain. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University found that it can protect the brain after a stroke by shielding the nerve cells from further damage. Dark chocolate has also been found to improve memory. Researchers at California's Salk Institute found that a chemical in chocolate called epicatechin improved the memory of mice.

Research from other sources:

• A 2008 study found that people who ate a small amount of dark chocolate a day (about 6.7 grams) had lower levels of a protein that is associated with inflammation in their blood.
• Other recent studies have found that blood platelets clump together more slowly in chocolate eaters. Clumping platelets can lead to the formation of blood clots, which in turn can cause a heart attack. Chocolate consumption may lower blood pressure, help prevent formation of artery plaques and improve blood flow, according to other research.
• Eating chocolate may even help with math, or at least counting. A study reported in 2009 showed that people did a better job of counting backwards in groups of three after they had consumed a hot cocoa drink containing large amounts of a compound found in chocolate. These compounds, called flavonoids, which we'll get to later, may increase blood flow to the brain.
• Chocolate may also have anti-cancer benefits because flavonoids may help reduce the cell damage that can spur tumor growth.   

So, go ahead…indulge yourself in a bit of chocolaty goodness but like everything else…don’t over do it. Stay healthy people!