Blender

This recipe was created for my friend Bill, who told me he couldn’t get his daughter to eat fruit. I asked him what her favorite food was and the response was “ice cream.” (Well, what would you say?) These pops are mostly fruit, with just a little bit of “ice cream” made from low-fat Greek yogurt and sugar substitute. But when the pureed fruit was mixed with it, she couldn’t tell the difference. At just about 60 calories a pop, you can eat these all summer long.

This aromatic puree is designed to be a base ingredient and is a great way to build flavor and texture without adding fat. It eliminates the need to add a lot of butter and cream to Macaroni and Cheese with a Crusty Crunch (page 174), for instance. You can stir it into just about any sauce or soup for a fat-free flavor punch.

Most gravies are made from meat juices and a thickener called “roux,” a 50/50 combination of pure fat—like lard or butter—and white flour. This flourless, butterless gravy can be used as a stand-alone sauce for almost any roast meat or poultry—and even some fish like cod and salmon. Play around with it: add low-fat bacon pieces, chopped olives, parsley, tarragon, basil, roasted pearl onions, diced cooked sweet potatoes, lemon zest, crushed peppercorns—whatever you can think of that fits into your caloric budget.

Considering that this dish is the Holy Grail of Mama’s cooking, I truly debated whether or not to mess with it. It took six attempts to make over this dish, but I finally figured the low-cal version out—and Mama loved it!

This recipe calls for lean boneless pork loin, and to avoid added sugar, we use fresh apples instead of applesauce. Tart Granny Smiths contribute great texture and flavor—as does a grainy Dijon mustard.

A great green salad has always been a staple on my restaurant menus and on my table at home. The combination of Dijon mustard, good-quality vinegar, and olive oil gives tender green leaves their raison d’être. There is no olive oil in this dressing and it still tastes great. I kept the Dijon mustard in the mix because it’s very low in fat—and because few ingredients can pack a punch like Dijon mustard. Yogurt, lemon juice, and aromatics like tarragon and fennel round out the dressing. You’ll never again eat a green dressed with artificial-tasting, gloppy, low-fat dressing.

The highest form of “cream of” soup starts out with cooked, pureed vegetables and pure, fresh cream. The second-best incarnation of that same soup winds up being pastier, with cornstarch as a thickener and the fresh cream replaced with cheaper fats, like vegetable oils. There’s one more way to make cream soup, though—a way in which you get the freshest, purest, least diluted taste of the vegetables. There’s no cream in this recipe—and no cornstarch, either. You still get a great creamy texture by using a lot of mushrooms and chicken broth. The key is to not let the mushroom liquor (the juice expressed by the mushrooms as they cook) evaporate, and to use a good blender to create a luxurious puree.

This beautiful green soup features broccoli two ways—pureed for body and in chunks for texture. The cheese in this rendition of broccoli-cheese soup is a whisper of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. The real creaminess comes from yogurt.

Blush-colored lobster bisque made from flavorful lobster stock has historically suggested the height of elegance. Save this recipe for a leisurely weekend.

Black beans are a very good source of cholesterol-lowering fiber and have many healthy properties that make them a good go-to ingredient. The best thing about black beans is their rich, meaty flavor. They lend themselves to many preparations, are great hot or cold, and the best news is that you don’t ever have to cook them if you don’t have the time or inclination. When purchasing, watch out for sodium levels, and buy organic if you can.

Make this delicious soup in the summer, when you can use corn that was picked that morning. Corn is loaded with sugars and carbs, but that’s why we like it so much. I incorporated cauliflower in this soup to reduce the carb count and to add body, without adding the starch and calories of potatoes.

At almost 1,200 calories and 33 grams of fat (for an appetizer!), the original version of this favorite starter is incredibly naughty—and, admittedly, incredibly tasty. With apologies to Monty Python, these coconut shrimp have lost their naughty bits but are none the worse for having done so.

Most crab cakes are made of breadcrumbs and crab-flavored mayonnaise. And while I agree that mayonnaise is damn good, I just wish it wasn’t so fattening. By broiling instead of pan frying, and using low-fat mayo with some green veggies, this very lean version of crab cakes is a new kind of good.

I have a very beautiful friend, Mariel Hemingway. She eats all organic foods, only fish, no meat, and she includes no carbs whatsoever in her diet. She makes a double dinner every night: one for her, one for the fam. However, when she makes this one really crazy blender sauce, it gets passed to everyone. (Mariel makes half of her food for each day in a blender.) The sauce is awesome with chicken, pork, meat, or fish. This is my version of her specialty. I call it Mariel’s Sauce for “Mish”—meat or fish.

If you are completely exhausted, substitute the salmon steaks with canned salmon. Buy one large can (18 ounces), drain, and arrange the chunks atop the salad. Buy hard-boiled eggs from the salad bar at the market, or boil your own (see Tidbit, page 90).

This recipe requires no cooking and is served cold, so it makes a perfect low-carb on-the-go lunch, or a picnic for the park as well! Pack the dressing with an ice pack to keep it chilled out. If you think you don’t like anchovies, try them in this dressing. They just taste salty and yummy!