These tasty bites can be a luscious lunch or a tempting appetizer. Choose the sweetest variety of cherry tomatoes, red or yellow, available.
Ingredients
Extra virgin olive oil
About 28 cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon fresh oregano, chopped
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 sheet frozen puff pastry dough, preferably Dufour, defrosted according to package directions
1 small egg
1 tablespoon water
4 mini burrata
1/2 cup shredded basil
Balsamic vinegar of Modena, for drizzling
Directions
Step 1
Line a rimmed sheet pan with heat-safe parchment paper and drizzle the surface with olive oil.
Step 2
Slice the tomatoes in half horizontally and sprinkle them with the oregano, salt, and pepper. Arrange them, cut side down, on the parchment in 8 “flowers” by surrounding one cherry tomato half with six other halves.
Step 3
Gently unfold the pastry dough on a lightly floured surface and, using a floured rolling pin, roll it out to a roughly 16” by 10” rectangle slightly more than 1/8-inch in thickness. Use a 3-1/2” cookie cutter or glass tumbler of that width to make 8 dough circles.
Step 4
Drizzle the tomato flowers lightly with olive oil, then top with a disc of puff pastry, stretching it out gently to fully cover the tomatoes. Press the edges into the pan with the tines of a salad fork. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Preheat your oven to 400°F.
Step 5
When ready to bake, whisk the egg with the water and brush over each puff. Bake until the pastry puffs and browns, about 30 minutes.
Step 6
Use a wide spatula to flip the tarts tomato-side up onto a platter.
Step 7
Top each one with half a mini burrata, a sprinkle of basil, and a drizzle of balsamic and olive oil.
JuanJo’s Farm Pistachio Pesto and Roasted Tomatoes Recipe, Spotlight on Goat Cheese, Pesto Equipment, Coffee Benefits Explained, Exercise Rewires the Heart
During my last trip to Chile for the olive harvest, I got into the kitchen with Juanjo Alonso, who oversees his family’s extraordinary olive farm, and watched him work his magic with our delicious fresh-pressed olive oil. Here is his recipe for pistachio pesto with goat cheese, which can be enjoyed in so many ways. I’m also sharing insights into coffee’s health benefits and how exercise works its magic on the body.
JuanJo’s Farm Pistachio Pesto and Roasted Tomatoes
For his pesto, JuanJo used semi-matured goat cheese rather than Parmigiano-Romano (see more in the Healthy Ingredient Spotlightin Newsletter). It was simple, fast, and stunning. He dolloped it on just-roasted tomatoes, and it’s equally delicious on bruschetta, as a sandwich spread, tossed with hot pasta and a splash of pasta water, served with grilled fish or chicken, and stirred into warm white beans.
Ingredients
For the tomatoes:
4 ripe tomatoes, about 8 ounces each
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
2 ounces semi-matured or hard goat cheese, finely grated
For the pesto:
1 cup shelled pistachios, raw and unsalted
2 garlic cloves
2 cups fresh basil leaves, loosely packed
Zest and juice of 1 lemon, plus more to taste
1/3 cup finely grated semi-matured or hard goat cheese, plus more to taste
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more as needed
Coarse sea salt to taste
Directions
Step 1
Preheat your oven to 400°F.
Step 2
Halve the tomatoes horizontally and place them, cut side up, in a shallow casserole dish. Sprinkle on the salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Roast for 25 to 30 minutes, until they soften and begin to brown. Then top each half with equal amounts of the cheese and roast for another 10 minutes until the cheese is melted and lightly golden on top.
Step 3
While the tomatoes are roasting, make the pesto. Warm the pistachios in a hot, dry skillet for 2 to 3 minutes, just enough time to wake up their natural oils but not to color them. This keeps the pesto a vivid green.
Step 4
Pulse the pistachios and garlic in a food processor until coarsely chopped. Add the basil, lemon zest, and juice and pulse a few more times. Add the cheese and pulse briefly to combine.
Step 5
With the processor running, drizzle in the olive oil until the pesto becomes a spoonable consistency. If too thick, add more olive oil, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse. Taste and season with salt if needed. If desired, add more lemon for brightness, more olive oil for body, and/or more cheese for richness.
Step 6
Plate two tomato halves on each of four plates and spoon generous amounts of the pesto over each one.
Yields 4 servings
Healthy Ingredient Spotlight
Goat Cheese
Semi-matured or hard goat cheese is what gives this pesto its character and, because of its firm texture, it grates neatly. The flavor is more complex as well. Some to try are Midnight Moon by Cypress Grove, Vermont Creamery Coupole, Sierra Nevada Cheese Company Capra Bianca Aged Goat Cheddar, and Central Coast Creamery Goat Gouda.
Quick Kitchen Nugget
Pesto Equipment
JuanJo used a blender to create his pesto, but this recipe uses a food processor, which allows you to better control consistency when you use the pulse function—the texture is a touch more rustic, which better suits pesto. Either machine can be used, but I give the food processor the nod.
For Your Best Health
Coffee Benefits Explained
Texas A&M University scientists may have uncovered one reason coffee is repeatedly associated with healthier aging and lower disease risk. Compounds in coffee appear to activate NR4A1, a receptor that helps protect cells from stress, inflammation, and damage. These protective effects disappeared when the receptor was removed, strengthening the connection. Surprisingly, plant-based compounds such as caffeic acid seemed far more active than caffeine itself. The research, published in the journal Nutrients, offers one of the first direct links between coffee compounds and NR4A1.
“Coffee has well-known health-promoting properties,” said Dr. Stephen Safe, Distinguished Professor of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology, and Toxicology at Texas A&M. “What we’ve shown is that some of those effects may be linked to how coffee compounds interact with this receptor, which is involved in protecting the body from stress-induced damage.”
NR4A1 is part of a group of nuclear receptors that help control gene activity when the body is exposed to stress or tissue damage. In earlier research, Dr. Safe and his collaborators described NR4A1 as a “nutrient sensor,” meaning that it can respond to dietary compounds and contribute to the body’s ability to remain healthy with age. “If you damage almost any tissue, NR4A1 responds to bring that damage down,” he explained. “If you take that receptor away, the damage is worse.”
Studies have connected NR4A1 with inflammation, metabolism, and tissue repair. Each of these processes is closely involved in age-related conditions, including cancer, neurodegenerative disease, and metabolic disorders.
Large observational studies have linked coffee consumption with a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and metabolic disease. However, those studies have generally shown associations rather than explaining exactly how coffee might produce protective effects. Dr. Safe and his team proposed that NR4A1 could be one part of that explanation.
The project involved researchers from across Texas A&M, including Dr. Robert Chapkin, Dr. Roger Norton, Dr. James Cai, and Dr. Shoshana Eitan. Their work helped show coffee’s protective effects in neurological models. The researchers found that several compounds in coffee can bind to NR4A1 and alter its activity. The most active included polyhydroxy and polyphenolic compounds such as caffeic acid. “What we’re saying is that at least part of coffee’s health benefits may come through binding and activating this receptor,” Dr. Safe said.
In laboratory models, these compounds also changed cell behavior in ways associated with disease protection. They reduced cellular damage and slowed the growth of cancer cells. When the researchers removed NR4A1 from the cells, those protective effects disappeared. That result provided additional evidence that the receptor helps mediate at least some of coffee’s biological effects.
Dr.Safe cautioned that coffee is chemically complex and probably affects the body through multiple biological routes. “There are many receptors and many mechanisms involved,” he said.
“What we’re showing is that this could be one of the important pathways.”
The study was designed to investigate biological mechanisms. It does not establish direct cause and effect in people or prove that drinking coffee prevents disease. “There’s still a lot of work to be done,” Dr. Safe added. “We’ve made the connection, but we need to better understand how important that connection is.”
Fitness Flash
Exercise Rewires the Heart
In an animal study, researchers from the University of Bristol in the UK found, for the first time, that regular aerobic training changes the heart’s controlling nerves differently on the left and right sides of the body. The study, published in Autonomic Neuroscience, uncovered a striking left-right difference that may one day improve treatment strategies for irregular heartbeats, chest pain such as angina, and stress-induced broken-heart syndrome.
“The discovery points to a previously hidden left-right pattern in the body’s ‘autopilot’ system that helps run the heart,” said study lead author Dr. Augusto Coppi, Senior Lecturer in Veterinary Anatomy at the University of Bristol. “These nerve clusters act like the heart’s dimmer switch, and we’ve shown that regular, moderate exercise remodels that switch in a side-specific way. This could help explain why some treatments work better on one side than the other and, in the future, help doctors target therapies more precisely and effectively.”
The project was carried out in collaboration with University College London in the UK and Brazil’s University of São Paulo and the Federal University of São Paulo. Using advanced three-dimensional imaging techniques known as stereology, the team examined how exercise changed nerve clusters that help regulate heart function.
After 10 weeks of training, rats that exercised had about four times as many neurons in the cardiovascular nerve cluster on the right side of the body compared with the left, relative to untrained animals. At the same time, neurons on the left side nearly doubled in size, while those on the right became slightly smaller. These findings suggest that exercise remodels the heart’s nerve network in different ways on each side.
“Irregular heart rhythms, known as arrhythmias, stress-induced broken-heart syndrome, and certain types of chest pain are often treated by dialing down overactive stellate ganglia—the paired small nerve hubs in the lower neck/upper chest area that send ‘go faster’ signals to the heart,” explained Dr. Coppi. “By mapping how exercise changes these ganglia on each side, the study offers clues that could one day fine-tune procedures like nerve blocks or denervation to the side most likely to help. The findings are early-stage and in rats, so clinical studies would need to follow. Our next step is to test how these structural changes map onto function and whether similar patterns appear in larger animals and humans.”
For his pesto, JuanJo used semi-matured goat cheese rather than Parmigiano-Romano (see more in the Healthy Ingredient Spotlightin Newsletter). It was simple, fast, and stunning. He dolloped it on just-roasted tomatoes, and it’s equally delicious on bruschetta, as a sandwich spread, tossed with hot pasta and a splash of pasta water, served with grilled fish or chicken, and stirred into warm white beans.
Ingredients
For the tomatoes:
4 ripe tomatoes, about 8 ounces each
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
2 ounces semi-matured or hard goat cheese, finely grated
For the pesto:
1 cup shelled pistachios, raw and unsalted
2 garlic cloves
2 cups fresh basil leaves, loosely packed
Zest and juice of 1 lemon, plus more to taste
1/3 cup finely grated semi-matured or hard goat cheese, plus more to taste
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more as needed
Coarse sea salt to taste
Directions
Step 1
Preheat your oven to 400°F.
Step 2
Halve the tomatoes horizontally and place them, cut side up, in a shallow casserole dish. Sprinkle on the salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Roast for 25 to 30 minutes, until they soften and begin to brown. Then top each half with equal amounts of the cheese and roast for another 10 minutes until the cheese is melted and lightly golden on top.
Step 3
While the tomatoes are roasting, make the pesto. Warm the pistachios in a hot, dry skillet for 2 to 3 minutes, just enough time to wake up their natural oils but not to color them. This keeps the pesto a vivid green.
Step 4
Pulse the pistachios and garlic in a food processor until coarsely chopped. Add the basil, lemon zest, and juice and pulse a few more times. Add the cheese and pulse briefly to combine.
Step 5
With the processor running, drizzle in the olive oil until the pesto becomes a spoonable consistency. If too thick, add more olive oil, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse. Taste and season with salt if needed. If desired, add more lemon for brightness, more olive oil for body, and/or more cheese for richness.
Step 6
Plate two tomato halves on each of four plates and spoon generous amounts of the pesto over each one.
Frosty Summer Shake Recipe, Spotlight on Bananas, Storing Bananas, Another Look at Intermittent Fasting, plus More Benefits of the Mediterranean Diet
Few recipes are as simple as smoothies—add ingredients to your blender and whirr! At the height of summer, I like to load up on seasonal fruits…and use frozen bananas to add richness. Feel free to add whatever catches your eye at the farmers’ market. My ingredients fit neatly into the Mediterranean diet, perfectly fitting for the two studies I’m sharing. Both center on this diet, offering more evidence of the powerful benefits of this way of eating.
In the heat of summer, you want a breakfast that’s not only nourishing but also refreshing. This shake delivers on both counts.
Ingredients
1/2 ripe avocado, peeled and pitted
3 ounces plain low-fat yogurt or skyr
3 ounces frozen banana slices
4 ounces fresh blueberries
1 peach, halved and pitted
1/2 cup your choice of milk
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon freshly ground flax seeds
Directions
Step 1
Place all the ingredients in a high-powered blender and process until smooth.
Step 2
Serve in two glasses and enjoy.
Yields 2 servings
Healthy Ingredient Spotlight
Bananas
Bananas often get a bad rap for being high in carbohydrates, but they’re high in many nutrients and can be part of most people’s diets, according to the American Heart Association. One medium banana has 375 milligrams of potassium, a mineral essential for heart health. For men, that’s about 11% of the RDA, and for women, 16%. You’ll also get magnesium and 5 grams of fiber, along with beneficial phytochemicals and antioxidants.
There are some differences between slightly unripe (green) bananas and fully ripe (yellow) bananas. Unripe bananas have resistant starch, a prebiotic fiber that feeds good-for-you probiotics, those beneficial gut bacteria needed for digestion. As bananas ripen, that resistant starch is broken down into natural sugars, making them sweeter.
Quick Kitchen Nugget
Storing Bananas
Keep unripe bananas on a counter out of direct sunlight. Once fully yellow, if you’re not going to eat them right away, put them, unwrapped, in the produce drawer of your fridge—the skins will eventually turn brown, but the fruit will stay firm for up to a week. You can also slice ripe bananas, freeze on a tray, and then transfer to a freezer-safe container to have them on hand for smoothies and shakes.
For Your Best Health
Another Look at Intermittent Fasting
According to a new study done in Spain and published in the journal Clinical Nutrition, intermittent fasting, or time-restricted eating, may be practical in the short term while also producing effects that continue well beyond the initial program.
The study followed 99 adults who were overweight or obese. During the first 12 weeks, all participants received education about following a Mediterranean diet. They were then placed into four groups: The control group continued its usual daily eating window of 12 hours or longer. The early fasting group followed an 8-hour window beginning before 10 a.m. The late fasting group used an 8-hour window beginning after 1 p.m. Participants in the self-selected group chose their own 8-hour schedule.
Researchers measured body weight, fat mass, and fat-free mass before and after the intervention. They assessed the same measurements again one year after the program had concluded. At that point, both the early and late fasting groups had maintained significantly more weight loss than participants who continued eating across 12 hours or more each day. Those assigned to the early schedule also preserved a larger reduction in fat mass.
The study’s first author, Dr. Alba Camacho Cardeñosa, a researcher at the University Joint Institute for Sport and Health at the University of Granada and a postdoctoral fellow, explained, “To date, although we knew that intermittent fasting promotes modest weight loss in the short term, it was unclear whether its effects were sustained over time. By evaluating the participants 12 months after the intervention ended, we demonstrated that the changes in body weight persist.”
The researchers also said that the routine may be manageable outside a controlled study, stating that one in three people decided to continue practicing intermittent fasting on their own during that year of follow-up. This suggests that it’s a relatively easy habit to integrate into daily life.
The results also suggest that even a 12-week period of intermittent fasting could provide an effective medium-term option for weight management among adults who are overweight or obese. Because both early and late eating windows produced lasting benefits, patients may be able to choose the schedule that fits their routines most comfortably. That flexibility could make the approach easier to follow and potentially improve its usefulness in obesity treatment.
Fitness Flash
More benefits of the Mediterranean Diet
A Mediterranean-style diet may influence aging through an unexpected biological pathway involving tiny proteins produced inside mitochondria, according to a new study led by researchers at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. Mitochondria are best known as the structures that generate energy inside cells, but scientists increasingly recognize that they also release chemical signals that affect metabolism, inflammation, stress responses, and aging.
The researchers found that older adults who followed a Mediterranean diet most closely had higher blood levels of two mitochondrial microproteins, humanin and SHMOOSE. Both have previously been associated with protection against cardiovascular disease and neurodegeneration, the gradual loss of nerve cell function seen in conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.
The study was led by Roberto Vicinanza, MD, PhD, an instructional associate professor of gerontology at the Davis School. “These microproteins may act as molecular messengers that translate what we eat into how our cells function and age,” Dr. Vicinanza said. “It’s a new biological pathway that helps explain why the Mediterranean diet is so powerful.”
The Mediterranean diet emphasizes olive oil, fish, legumes, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and other minimally processed foods. It generally limits refined carbohydrates, heavily processed products, and foods high in added sugar. Decades of research have linked this eating pattern to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, cognitive decline, and premature death. However, scientists are still working to identify the cellular processes that may produce those benefits.
For the new study, the research team examined blood samples from older adults who followed the Mediterranean diet to different degrees. Participants with the strongest adherence had significantly higher concentrations of humanin and SHMOOSE. They also had lower indicators of oxidative stress—that’s a form of cellular damage caused when unstable molecules known as reactive oxygen species overwhelm the body’s protective systems. Persistent oxidative stress can injure proteins, fats, and DNA and has been associated with aging and many chronic diseases.
The findings suggest that individual parts of the Mediterranean diet may contribute differently to mitochondrial health. Higher consumption of olive oil, fish, and legumes was associated with increased levels of humanin. Olive oil and a lower intake of refined carbohydrates were linked to higher levels of SHMOOSE.
“These findings suggest that specific components of the Mediterranean diet may directly influence mitochondrial biology,” said Pinchas Cohen, MD, USC Distinguished Professor and the study’s senior author. “Humanin and SHMOOSE could serve as biomarkers for adherence to the Mediterranean diet and have clinical significance.” A biomarker is a measurable biological sign that can provide information about health, disease, or how the body is responding to a behavior or treatment. In this case, the two microproteins could potentially help researchers measure how strongly a person’s body is responding to a Mediterranean eating pattern.
The study builds on more than 20 years of research led by Dr. Cohen, who helped pioneer the discovery of peptides produced by mitochondria. Most familiar human proteins are made from instructions contained in the DNA inside the cell nucleus. Mitochondria, however, carry a small amount of their own genetic material, inherited separately from nuclear DNA.
Humanin and SHMOOSE come from short sections of the mitochondrial genome known as small open reading frames. These regions were once thought to have little or no function, but researchers now know that some of them produce biologically active microproteins. Humanin is among the most extensively studied of these molecules. Dr. Cohen and his colleagues first identified it in 2003. Subsequent research has connected it to improved insulin sensitivity, cardiovascular protection, longer life span, and the preservation of cognitive function.
Dr. Cohen’s laboratory later discovered SHMOOSE (Small Human Mitochondrial ORF Over SErine tRNA), which has been linked to brain health. One genetic variant of SHMOOSE has been associated with a greater risk of Alzheimer’s disease, while the normal form appears to help shield neurons from damage related to amyloid, a protein that can accumulate abnormally in the brain and form plaques, one of the major biological features associated with Alzheimer’s.
“These peptides are emerging as key regulators of aging biology,” Dr. Cohen said. “They connect mitochondrial function to diseases like Alzheimer’s and heart disease and now, potentially, to nutrition.”
The researchers also identified a possible connection between humanin and Nox2, an enzyme involved in producing reactive oxygen species. Although reactive oxygen species play useful roles in normal cell signaling and immune defenses, excessive production can damage tissues and increase oxidative stress. Higher humanin levels were associated with lower Nox2 activity. This relationship suggests that humanin could help limit oxidative damage and provide added protection for the heart and blood vessels.
The researchers propose that the Mediterranean diet may protect the cardiovascular system in two complementary ways. It may directly reduce oxidative stress while also increasing mitochondrial microproteins that help restrain damaging cellular pathways. “This could represent a new cardioprotective mechanism of the Mediterranean diet,” Dr. Vicinanza said.
Dr.Vicinanza has also worked to promote the Mediterranean diet beyond the laboratory, presenting it as a model not only for health, but also for culture and environmental sustainability.
He has collaborated with the Municipality of Pollica in Italy, a UNESCO Mediterranean Diet emblematic community, to support the creation of the International Day of the Mediterranean Diet at the United Nations, an observance that will take place each year on November 16. Its goal is to increase awareness of the Mediterranean diet’s health, cultural, and environmental importance around the world.
Dr. Vicinanza said that mission reflects the broader implications of the new findings. “We’re connecting centuries-old dietary traditions with cutting-edge molecular biology,” he said. “It supports the idea that healthy eating patterns with little to no ultra-processed foods reflect how humans have eaten over long periods and may create conditions to which mitochondria—ancient cellular organelles—are likely adapted.”
The study was relatively small and observational. That means it identified associations between diet and microprotein levels but could not prove that following the Mediterranean diet directly caused those biological changes. Other factors, including physical activity, overall health, medication use, genetics, and lifestyle, could also have influenced the findings. Even with those limitations, the results point toward a developing field known as precision nutrition. This approach aims to use biological measurements, genetics, metabolism, and other personal characteristics to design dietary recommendations that are more individualized than standard nutrition advice.
Humanin, SHMOOSE, and related mitochondrial microproteins could eventually help scientists determine which dietary patterns are producing beneficial cellular effects in a particular person.
Future studies will test whether changing a person’s diet can directly raise levels of these peptides and whether those increases result in a measurable reduction in disease risk. “Our goal is to move from observing associations to understanding causality,” Dr. Vicinanza said. “If we can harness these pathways, we may be able to design nutritional strategies that promote healthy aging at the molecular level.”
