Can the danger of seasonal ills be averted by strengthening the immune system and trying to stem influenza viruses even at the table? The answer is yes absolutely: just fill up on vitamin C, flavonoids and various other substances beneficial for our well-being, contained in different ingredients to be combined with each other like the four recipes we are suggesting to strengthen the immune system. Without compromising the taste of course.
Tomato and turmeric soup
It begins by finely chopping an onion which has well-known antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and above all antibacterial properties, and then sweat it in a saucepan together with a clove of garlic and extra virgin olive oil. When the onion becomes transparent, remove the garlic and add half a kilo of tomatoes cut in half together with four teaspoons of turmeric powder. Mix everything together and blend with a dash of apple vinegar. Then add the tomato puree and a couple of ladles of vegetable stock and cook everything until the tomatoes become tender. Finally, add salt and pepper, add a basil torn into pieces with your hands and complete the dish with some toasted linseed, a few sliced almonds and some bread croutons.
Chicory and broccoli soup
Chicory roots help the spleen to produce antibodies while broccoli contains significant amounts of vitamin C. Using them for a regenerating soup that strengthens the immune system is highly recommended. For this recipe, you should first start by preparing a liter of vegetable broth together with a carrot, a celery stalk, a potato and two small onions. In the meantime, clean and boil a kilo of chicory in salted water, doing the same with a medium- sized broccoli, cutting the tops and removing the core and leaves. The important thing is to boil the chicory and broccoli separately, so they don’t lose their properties. Slice another onion and sweat it over low heat in a pan with oil and a piece of sliced ginger (a real healing agent in situations like this, not only in the form of a decoction). When the chicory is ready put it into the pan with the onion, adding two ladles of vegetable broth. Add the broccoli stems and continue to cook everything adding more broth if necessary. Finally, all that remains is to pour the soup into soup plates, perhaps accompanying it with toasted bread and a drizzle of oil.
Veal in ginger
In addition to the classic soups there are many other recipes suitable for preventing the flu. For the ginger veal you first have to finely chop a 400 gram fillet, slice two fennels and three carrots and then peel and cut three radishes into slices. At this point, peel a fresh ginger and chop it finely, then put it in a bowl together with four tablespoons of oil, the juice of half a lemon, a pinch of salt and the chopped green fennel. Mix until you obtain a vinaigrette, to be used to season the meat and vegetables. An easy and tasty idea to keep the flu at bay.
Scallops with orange and avocado sauce
First of all, it’s necessary to eliminate the corals of six scallops, rich in potassium, magnesium and phosphorus, and slice its nut part. Then you have to beat them slightly between two sheets of baking paper and season them with lemon juice and salt. After leaving the scallops to marinate in the fridge for two hours, peel a ripe avocado and crush it with lemon juice, salt, pepper, a tuft of chopped parsley, oil and three slices of shallot. At this point all that remains is to compile the dish with the marinated scallops, a few slices of red radicchio (which contains the right fibers to regulate intestinal balance) and a diced orange.