No-Cook

Cherry peppers are plump, round peppers that are usually sold pickled in vinegar. They range in color from bright red to dull green, and in spiciness from mild to hot. Good in salads and as part of an antipasto tray, they add a kick to cooked dishes, too, like the Chicken Scarpariello on page 262.These stuffed cherry peppers will look very nice and go a long way to dressing up an antipasto table if you use both red and green peppers. Sometimes you will see these already stuffed hot peppers marinating in oil and vinegar. You can do the same by packing the stuffed peppers into a clean jar and pouring the liquid from the jar of cherry peppers and some olive oil over them. Store them in the refrigerator for up to a few days like that, but be sure to drain them well before you serve them, or they will be messy to eat.

If you can buy fresh mozzarella “hot off the press,” before it’s been refrigerated, it will be easier to cut and fill. There are a lot of different fillings you can use in place of the prosciutto—olives, salami, fresh basil leaves, or pesto. Choose a thin-bladed knife with a blade long enough for you to see what the blade is doing as it cuts through the cheese.

This was one of the first dishes that brought the taste of contemporary Italy to the Italian-American restaurant scene. It came into vogue in the early seventies when red radicchio and arugula became available in the States. While the Italians will toss any vegetable in their salads, I think the addition of endive was a play on the color of the red, green, and white Italian flag. This salad is a great base for additions, from walnuts and pine nuts to different cheeses and cold cuts, such as salami or turkey, and even fish such as tuna, shrimp, or poached whitefish.

To top baked fish fillets, scallops, shrimp, or chicken breasts

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.

Tiramisù is a high-calorie dessert if there ever was one. I started the makeover process thinking the lighter version should include from-scratch sugar-free ladyfingers—homemade génoise piped in perfect finger shapes and baked. Then I got my head screwed on straight and realized that no one would make this dessert if it meant making your own génoise. The fat-laden original was transformed into something even an Italian grandma would love.

This slightly spicy horseradish-tomato concoction makes a one-note boiled shrimp sing like a tenor. The typical ingredients are mostly healthy except for the sugar load—usually in the form of high-fructose corn syrup. This recipe calls for reduced-sugar ketchup and all the usual suspects, including prepared horseradish. Don’t mess with grating fresh horseradish—believe it or not, it’s not as strong as the jarred stuff.

When you think about adding flavor to foods in the most healthful way possible, you think about the most intense flavor vehicles you can find. That’s why this recipe calls for vanilla bean. The tiny seeds inside pack a wallop of this most delicate and beloved taste. If you can’t find good strawberries, try whole raspberries or small slices of ripe peach.

Typical pesto can be more than 50 percent pure fat, and even though a little goes a long way, that’s just too many calories. This is a re-invention of the classic pesto alla genovese. The garlic, pine nuts, basil, and Parmigiano-Reggiano are all still there, but low-fat sour cream stands in for the olive oil. It may not be 100 percent authentic, but you’ll love what it does for your dress size.

The original Russian dressing was actually made with yogurt. Early in the 20th century, some chef in Chicago replaced the yogurt with mayonnaise—and that’s when it became one of the most popular salad dressings in the country. That little tweak also made it one of the most caloric and unhealthy salad dressings around. In this version, the best of both Russian and Thousand Island dressing, the fat has been reduced from 16 grams to less than 1 gram per serving. It’s perfect for salads, charcuterie—and, of course, the classic Reuben sandwich.

Ranch dressing has been the top-selling dressing in this country since 1992, when it overtook Italian. Given that the bottled stuff has 19 grams of fat and 180 calories per serving, something had to be done! We may want many things like our mamas’—but not the fat-laden version of this dressing.

Believe it or not, it wasn’t so long ago that most people thought blue cheese was a bit exotic—a stinky, strange cheese with (heaven forbid!) mold in its veins. But blue has gained traction because its rich, creamy texture and tangy taste are fabulous—whether eaten out of hand, crumbled over a salad, or stirred into a dressing. But this is no lean cheese, my friends. Thankfully, a little goes a long way, and there are great-tasting low-fat blue cheeses available in most major supermarkets today.

Real mayonnaise is made with egg yolks and oil—which might explain the 10 grams of fat per tablespoon. You can very easily wind up slathering at least a tablespoon or two on a sandwich. This very good approximation uses Greek yogurt as a base, rather than oil.

Coleslaw goes with so many things. You’ll rarely see a cookout without it. The crunchy shredded raw cabbage and the sweet-and-sour flavor make it a wonderfully piquant counterpoint to the grilled meats and BBQ sauce-slathered main dishes that make up America’s favorite backyard menus.

Never trust a skinny chef—or one who serves you an 800- to 1,400-calorie chef’s salad! If you think you’re being good when you order this dish, think again. Given the exceedingly large quantity of deli meats, the Russian dressing, and the boiled eggs, you might as well eat a Big Mac. This version, however, really is a skinny salad. It calls for egg whites only, reduced-fat cheddar, and a reduced-fat full-flavor Russian dressing of my own creation.

Cobb Salad gets its name from Robert Cobb, owner of the Brown Derby restaurant in Los Angeles and first cousin of baseball great Ty Cobb. The story goes that he was browsing through the refrigerator late one night, looking for a snack, and could only find bits and pieces of leftovers—which he chopped up and turned into a salad. The rest is history. Here’s a version of Cobb Salad that was put together with a little more thought—and a lot fewer calories.

The Italian name for this salad is insalata caprese, and it’s a shining example of the brilliance of Italian cuisine: a few fresh, simple ingredients at the peak of their season combined to produce exceptionally complex flavors. It hails from Capri, a small island off the coast of Naples in the region of Campagna, where my family comes from. Buy only the best mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, and olive oil you can find to make this salad. It may be naturally fresh and healthful, but I have kept fat and calories to a minimum by keeping the olive oil to a minimum—only 1 tablespoon for 4 servings.

I remember the first time I had “Chinese” chicken salad. It was at a trendy West Hollywood spot on Sunset Boulevard, and it could have been/should have been a lot better than it was. Fried noodles only do not a Chinese chicken salad make. In this recipe, textured vegetable protein, or TVP, replaces the noodles for crunch and bite. TVP is made from defatted soy flour, a by-product of making soybean oil. It’s high in protein and low in fat. TVP flakes are available in the health-food aisle of most major supermarkets.