Healthy 1-2-3: The Ultimate Three-Ingredient Cookbook, Fat-Free, Low Fat, Low Calorie [Hardcover]

Rozanne Gold (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2001

Two hundred delicious but simple recipes offering reduced calorie and low fat dishes for the health-conscious home cook. Rozanne Gold maximises the flavour in her recipes by removing superfluous ingredients and reducing calories and fat. The secret lies in simplicity: each recipe in Healthy 1-2-3 uses only three ingredients!

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Simplicity as an art form creates the intrigue and attraction of Healthy 1-2-3, a nutritional cookbook that utilizes only three ingredients per recipe. Award-winning chef and author Rozanne Gold continues her 1-2-3 series with this "Healthy" entry, made with the calorie-conscious cook or host in mind.

Though three ingredients quickly can be construed as a restriction, Gold cleverly maneuvers around her own concept, all the while abetting her healthy cause. If, for example, she has a recipe featuring a particular vegetable, she uses that vegetable's own broth to create the sauce for the dish. The Roasted Asparagus and Orange Salad with Asparagus "Fettuccine" uses a fresh orange vinaigrette (tossed with roasted asparagus) and a fettuccine that is not pasta, but rather actually shaved asparagus stocks.

Gold also gives nutrition lessons throughout--teaching that all foods groups have an important place in a balanced, nutritional diet. Even foods that are high in fat and calories, such as Brie cheese, contain important nutrients that the body needs, even though they've been stricken from many diet plans.

The recipe selection addresses the full range of potential users, from the average hungry guest to the most assiduous, observant vegan. For example, the beverage combination of watermelon, pineapple juice, and fresh mint for a Watermelon Splash is simple in both preparation and the expectation of the pallet, while Immune Tea, made of kombu, shiitake mushrooms, and fresh cilantro, will probably be a stretch for the average American tastes. The quality of food photography and bold colors of this book add an extra flair to the healthy recipes. --Teresa Simanton

From Publishers Weekly

Gold has made her culinary mark with sophisticated dishes that use only three ingredients (Recipes 1-2-3, Entertaining 1-2-3). In her latest book, she combines the 1-2-3 principle with a more nutrition-conscious approach. Readers should be under no illusions: 1-2-3 isn't fast and easy; despite the abbreviated ingredient list (salt, pepper and water don't count), many of the ingredients, such as candied violets, Japanese kombu and pomegranate molasses, aren't exactly standard cupboard fare, and few of the recipes can be made inexpensively. Gold's technique does offer concentrated, balanced flavors, elegant in their restraint. But how healthy are these tasty new trios? According to Gold (who details her own struggles to lose weight), olive oil, butter, cheese, eggs, sugar and even chocolate can all be eaten "as part of" an overall balanced diet. For example, a dish like the silken Carrot Soup with Ginger Essence might use heavy cream, but only one-third cup, divided among six servings. All of which sounds perfectly sensible, but Gold's most eye-catching recipes like Smoked Salmon with Wasabi Cream, Potted Leeks and Corned Beef in Riesling, Scalloped Cheese Potatoes, and Cinnamon-chocolate Ciambella aren't slimming by any measure. (Apr.)Forecast: Gold's devotees will likely snap this book up instantaneously. However, while bookstore browsers unfamiliar with the author may be lured by the book's title, upon opening it they may find it less inspiring than they had hoped, dampening prospective sales.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Stewart, Tabori and Chang (February 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584790407
• ISBN-13: 978-1584790402
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #213,879 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rozanne Gold, renowned chef, author and international food and restaurant consultant, began her career at age 23 as first chef to New York Mayor Ed Koch. Considered one of the most prominent women in the food world, she is a four-time winner of the prestigious James Beard Award and winner of the IACP/Julia Child Cookbook Award.

As Chef-Director of the restaurant consulting group, the Joseph Baum & Michael Whiteman Co., she helped re-create New York's magical Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Center (where she was co-owner and consulting chef for 15 years), the legendary Windows on the World, and three of New York's three-star restaurants.

The author of 12 acclaimed cookbooks, Ms. Gold has been the entertaining columnist for Bon Appetit magazine where her "Entertaining Made Easy" column was read by five million fans. She has written and produced stories for The New York Times (her work can be found on the Op-Ed page, the Dining Section, and Sunday Magazine), and has written for Oprah, Gourmet, Cooking Light, More, FoodArts, Modern Maturity and The Montessori Magazine.

As Chef to Mayor Koch, Ms. Gold cooked for President Jimmy Carter, Prime Minister Menachem Begin and dignitaries from all walks of life. Business Week named her a "Mover and Shaker"; Cooking Light magazine named her one of "America's Top 5 Enlightened Chefs"; Chef magazine nominated her "Innovator of the Year"; the Food & Beverage Association of America honored her as 'Hospitality Professional of the Year" and Drexel University deemed her Distinguished Visiting Professor.

Known as the "diva of simplicity", she has set the Gold Standard for a style of cooking that has inspired professional chefs and home cooks alike to "keep it simple" with: Little Meals: A Great New Way to Eat and Cook (1994), Recipes 1-2-3: Fabulous Food Using Only Three Ingredients (1996), published in four languages; Recipes 1-2-3 Menu Cookbook (1998), Entertaining 1-2-3 (1999) and Healthy 1-2-3 (2001). Desserts 1-2-3 (2002) landed on the L.A. Times "Hot List" and was chosen one of the year's best cookbooks by Food & Wine Magazine. Cooking 1-2-3 (2003) was chosen as one of the year's best 10 books on NBC's Today Show.

Gold's books have garnered starred reviews from Publisher's Weekly and chosen as Editor's Selections in the New York Times Book Review. Her seminal book, Healthy 1-2-3 won the coveted IACP award, was nominated for a James Beard award, and chosen as "one of the year's best books" by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Known as a food-trends pundit, Ms. Gold invents concepts that give restaurants and food companies their competitive edge. An early proponent of American regional cooking, she helped create American Spoon Foods, the first specialty food company to focus on regional ingredients. She invented Hudson River Cuisine, turning the idea into a three-star restaurant, the Hudson River Club; and was responsible for developing New York's first pan-Mediterranean restaurant (Café Greco), featuring "Med-Rim Cuisine".

Ms. Gold is a frequent guest on national television, including four recent appearances on the Today Show and is a regular guest on National Public Radio. A recent appearance on WNYC's "Leonard Lopate Show" won her a fourth James Beard Award.

A graduate of Tufts University with honors in psychology and education, Ms. Gold studied cooking in Italy and France. She is past President of Les Dames d'Escoffier, New York, and is a trustee of Arts Horizons, a nonprofit organization that brings the arts to city schools. She is a major proponent of the movement to help teens eat more healthfully and has just published her 11th book -- "Eat Fresh Food: Awesome Recipes for Teen Chefs" (Bloomsbury USA, October 2009.) Gold lives with her husband and teenage daughter in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Her son Jeremy Whiteman lives in Silicon Valley.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Flavorful simplicity, March 12, 2001

By 

Amy (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Healthy 1-2-3: The Ultimate Three-Ingredient Cookbook, Fat-Free, Low Fat, Low Calorie (Hardcover)

I bought this book because I hate shopping from long lists of ingredients. Some of the ingedients may be hard to find at a regular grocery store(ie tandoori paste or certain fresh herbs). I made the roasted onions with carrot puree, which was delicious. Although the ingredients are few, the preparation may be extensive. This is not a "quick and easy" cookbook. I liked the menu suggestions, complete with fat and caloric information. It would've been nice to have the nutritional information on the same page as the recipes instead of near the index, but that's a minor point. I know I'm going to use this cookbook a lot.

49 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Culmination Of A Culinary Style, August 1, 2001

By 

disco75 "disco75" (State College, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Healthy 1-2-3: The Ultimate Three-Ingredient Cookbook, Fat-Free, Low Fat, Low Calorie (Hardcover)

This book represents Gold's masterwork. It takes the simplicity concept to its best application, namely a cuisine that is sustainable across every night of the week. By simplicity, I mean singularity of taste, not ease of preparation. The majority of dishes here are probably more suited to people who like to spend time in the kitchen and enjoy new challenges, although many recipes are not difficult. Gold does not present a "one pot" style of cooking, but the results are worth it. Her palate is sophisticated and her books have educated my own taste buds and appreciation of food stuffs.

These dishes are healthy but not restricted in ingredient types. Cheeses and oils are frequently found, satisfying the diner but not overwhelming the meals in fats or calories. To eat from this cookbook is to enjoy a wide range of foods, including hints of rich ones, but to be health conscious and to adhere to smart consumption guidelines. Gold presents produce-plentiful dishes, gorgeously photographed and presented. She also provides her most personal, intimate writing, abandoning any connoirseurship of the well-connected New York chef in favor of telling her private motivations for writing this book. She gives us a most interesting point of view in the crowded cookbook arena.

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I've had fun with this., September 27, 2001

By 

Amanda Peck "amanda931" (Waynesboro) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Healthy 1-2-3: The Ultimate Three-Ingredient Cookbook, Fat-Free, Low Fat, Low Calorie (Hardcover)

I found it in an upscale furniture store, set out as a coffee table book. The dissonance was enough that I had to buy it.

I'll vouch for garlic mashed potatoes (p.132), and the pickled beets (p.109). The latter is simple enough that I've told lots of people in grocery store lines (what are you going to do with those beets?) about it. Some aren't nearly as simple, like the pasta cooked with broccoli florets, with a broccoli-butter sauce.

If you make any of these for a pot-luck, which is my usual experimentation mode, double them.