Key facts
- Chef Francesco Mattana grew up in Sardinia, a "Blue Zone" with a high population of healthy older people.
- Mattana's new cookbook, "Eat Like A Sardinian: Live to 100," shares recipes based on the Mediterranean Diet.
- The Mediterranean Diet is linked to health benefits such as a lower risk of type two diabetes and early death.
- Three recipes are provided: minestrone soup, roast chicken with rosemary potatoes, and tuna steaks in tomato sauce.
- The recipes focus on fresh, seasonal, and locally sourced ingredients.
Francesco Mattana, an Italian chef raised in Sardinia, has shared three recipes from his new cookbook, "Eat Like A Sardinian: Live to 100." Sardinia is known as a "Blue Zone," an area with a high concentration of healthy centenarians, and its diet is a variation of the Mediterranean Diet. Mattana's upbringing, influenced by his fisherman and farmer grandparents, provided him with access to fresh, local ingredients, which form the basis of his cooking philosophy.
The recipes shared are a "Live to 100" minestrone soup, roast chicken with rosemary potatoes, and tuna steaks in tomato sauce. The minestrone soup features dried borlotti beans, chickpeas, vegetables like onion, celery, carrot, potato, and cabbage, seasoned with garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, basil, parsley, and pecorino cheese. The roast chicken dish includes chicken drumsticks and thighs marinated with rosemary, bay leaves, onion, white wine, olive oil, salt, and pepper, served alongside potatoes roasted with garlic, rosemary, oregano, olive oil, salt, and pepper. The tuna steak recipe involves searing tuna steaks, then cooking them in a sauce made with anchovies, shallot, garlic, chili, baby plum tomatoes, white wine, parsley, and olives.