Marsala-Bleu Cheese Fingerling Potatoes

By David Grotto, RDN

I wish I could eat my blog. I’m not sure if creating the recipes, taste testing them, taking the photos or writing about the ingredients and their health benefits is more enjoyable than the other. Yeah, right. Eating is the most enjoyable – who are we trying to kid here?

So Sharon (the wife) brought home some fingerlings to accompany some of her wonderful homemade chicken soup. I decided to pick out all of the purple ones and create a side dish that was rich in heart-healthy polyphenols. In fact, anthocyanins, the group of polyphenol plant chemicals that give these featured peruvian purple taters their color, are also responsible for giving red fruit, such as strawberries and cherries, their rich red color, too.

Research has shown that anthocyanins possess a wide range of biological functions including anti-inflammatory, germ fighting and even anti-cancer activity. Besides, they also help protect blood vessels and regulate blood components that lead to plaque formation and increase the risk of heart disease. But enough already with the healthy reason of why you should eat these taters – more importantly, they taste GREAT! So let’s get cooking!

If you can’t find the purple Peruvian variety, regular fingerlings will do. Both are pictured above. Let the fun begin!

Servings: 4

Prep and cooking time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

1 pound fingerling potatoes, washed, sliced width-wise, 1/4 inch-thick
1/4 cup Marsala wine
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon coarse black pepper
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated
3 tablespoons Bleu cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a 9×12 casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray and set aside. In a medium mixing bowl, place olive oil, pepper, salt, garlic, marsala wine and potatoes together and mix well. Remove and line the casserole dish with the potato slices. Sprinkle parmesan cheese over the top of the slices. Place in the oven. Bake for about 10-15 minutes, until slightly browned. Remove from oven and flip over potato slices. Sprinkle bleu cheese crumbles evenly over the slices and return to the over until well-browned and the cheese has melted – about 10-15 more minutes. Serve and enjoy!

Hit me up in the comment section and let me know what you think!

A Cherry Good Thing To Do…

Photo and recipe courtesy of choosecherries.com

By David Grotto, RDN, LDN
I’m thrilled to be working with ChooseCherries.com this year in promoting the nutrition and health benefits of tart cherries. Many of my patients who I recommend tart cherries to were not aware that there is a difference between tart and sweet cherries. So I thought I would write a post to recap the difference and highlight the nutrition and health benefits of tart cherries.

Cherry interesting…
This isn’t your average drupe (fruit that contains a pit). All cherry varieties are proud members of the rose family. They either fall into one of two categories: sweet or tart. Examples of sweet cherries are the ever popular Bing and Ranier. The Montmorency cherry is one of the most popular tart varieties and is the one most often used in making cherry pie. The bulk of cherry research has been done on the tart cherry and in fact, there are now over 50 studies on the health benefits of tart cherries.

Nutrition: A one-cup serving of cherries is a good source of fiber and vitamins A and C. Cherries contain a host of other nutrients such as boron and quercetin which can help build strong bones and may play a role in maintaining heart health. Amygdalin and perillyl alcohol are two plant nutrients that function as cancer-fighting antioxidants that may have antitumor activity. Melatonin is a hormone found both in the human body and in tart cherries that can help regulate sleep. Tart cherries are one of the richest fruits in a group of plant antioxidants called anthocyanins which also may help promote sleep and put a serious hurt on pain. Tart cherries also contain many phenolic compounds, such as gallic acid, p-coumaric acid, kaempferol, and quercetin, all of which are potent antioxidants. Speaking of antioxidants, tart cherries rank 14th in the top 50 foods for providing highest antioxidant content per serving size.

Heart (and every other part) Health: It is believed that the plant nutrients that give cherries their bright red color, anthocyanins, are responsible for extinguishing the flames of inflammation but not of desire. In fact, cherries may help stimulate nitric oxide production in arteries allowing more blood flow to all the right places (wink, wink).
Arthritis Pain: There’s a good chunk of scientific literature that supports cherries role in helping to relieve painful inflammatory conditions such as gouty arthritis. Anthocyanins, in tart cherries, help suppress cox-2 enzymes that are responsible for causing pain and inflammation. In a study of women who ate two servings (280 grams) of tart cherries after an overnight fast, there was a 15 percent reduction in uric acid levels and the inflammatory marker C-reactive protein, which are both associated with gouty arthritis.
Sleep: Three separate studies have looked at the melatonin content of tart cherries and have established that cherries as one of the top melatonin containing foods that may prove beneficial in improving sleep quality and duration.
Bad breath: Many phytonutrients in cherries help remove the odor of methyl mercaptan, the colorless gas released in decaying food particles in the mouth and from garlic. Yum!
Exercise recovery: The anthocyanins in tart cherries are known to decrease muscle soreness. In fact, red tart cherry juice has been shown to reduce muscle damage and soreness caused by intense strength workouts and running. Cherries have been found to have similar pain-reducing effects as anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin. A recent study published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition found that consuming tart cherry juice before long distance running can reduce post-run muscle pain.

Here’s a great recipe that pulls all of the nutrition and health benefits of tart cherries into a delicious meal. You must try this – it’s the “cherry bomb”!

Warm Salmon, Cherry, Arugula Salad
Serves 4. 
Prep time: 20 minutes 
Cook time: 15 minutes 



Ingredients:

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 

1 teaspoon ground turmeric 

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided 

Salt and pepper 

6 cups loosely packed arugula (about 3 ounces) 

1/2 small head radicchio, cored and shredded 

4 salmon fillets, about 3/4-inch thick 

3 shallots, sliced 

1/2 large jalapeno (halved lengthwise), seeded and thinly sliced 

1 1/2 cups thawed frozen tart cherries 

1 1/2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger 

1/4 cup tart cherry juice

Directions:

In a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, turmeric, and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Add the arugula and radicchio and toss. Add salt and pepper to taste and divide mixture among serving plates. Set aside. 

Season the salmon with salt and pepper. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, warm the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the salmon and cook until barely opaque throughout, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Arrange the salmon on top of the salads. 

Return the skillet to medium heat, add the shallots and chile, and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the cherries and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through. Add the cherry juice, increase the heat to medium-high, and cook, scraping up any browned bits in the skillet, until the juice is almost entirely evaporated, 2 to 3 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Spoon the cherry mixture over the salmon and serve. 



References:
Martin KR, Wooden A. Tart cherry juice induces differential dose-dependent
effects on apoptosis, but not cellular proliferation, in mcf-7 human breast
cancer cells. J Med Food. 2012 Nov;15(11):945-54.

Jacob RA, Spinozzi GM, Simon VA, Kelly DS, Prior RL, Hess-Pierce B, Kader AA. Consumption of cherries lowers plasma urate in healthy women. J Nutr 2003;133:1826-1829

Howatson G, Bell PG, Tallent J, Middleton B, McHugh MP, Ellis J. Effect of
tart cherry juice (Prunus cerasus) on melatonin levels and enhanced sleep
quality. Eur J Nutr. 2012 Dec;51(8):909-16.

Kuehl KS, Perrier ET, Elliot DL, Chesnutt JC. Efficacy of tart cherry juice in
reducing muscle pain during running: a randomized controlled trial. J Int Soc
Sports Nutr. 2010 May 7;7:17.