Amazon.com Review
The chefs at the French Culinary Institute believe that people have switched to Italian cooking because they do not realize French food can be just as light, fresh, and healthy. Jacques Pepin and his cohorts, Alain Sailhac, Jacques Torres, and Andre Soltner, are out to prove that French cooking really can be deliciously low in fat in
The French Culinary Institute's Salute to Healthy Cooking. At the stove, Pepin and company offer 40 low-fat menus, all luscious three-course meals made with fresh, seasonal ingredients. Dishes are prepared using familiar classic French techniques like poaching, braising, and roasting. First courses range from a light Watercress, Chicory and Radish in Beet Vinaigrette salad to elegant Leek and Roasted Pepper Tartlets. Main courses feature meat, poultry, or seafood. Desserts are for the most part fruit-based, although chocolate gets its due in a soufflé and a rich flourless torte.
Few people will make the entire menu for a week-night dinner, but even a singular dish, like salmon cooked in its own juice with broccoli florets, would be fine served with your own green salad and fruit for dessert. Even when you bring home roast chicken or plain grilled fish, adding the earthy Mushroom Sauce or zesty Tomato Vinaigrette will add immeasurably to your meal. --Dana Jacobi
From Publishers Weekly
Culinary authority doesn't come much higher than these four chefs associated with the New York school founded in 1984, who offer 150 seasonally arranged recipes offered in three-course menus for health-conscious home cooks. In general, their collective approach calls for less saturated fat, less meat and more fruits and vegetables. Key techniques include cooking in nonstick pans with a minimum of fat (11/2 pounds of meat are sauteed in one teaspoon of olive oil for Lamb Stew with Glazed Turnips and Pearl Onions, serving four); making use of vegetable essences?water in which a flavoring agent is simmered for 45 minutes and then often reduced (Breast of Chicken with Fennel essence); using nonfat dairy products (Low-Fat Caramel Cream made with 1% milk). Large flavors also disguise the decrease of fat in such dishes as Baked Cod with Tomatoes, Capers and Turmeric on Sauteed Spinach and Roasted Chicken with Grapefruit and Pink Peppercorn Sauce. Sauces are another focus, as with the almost fat-free Spinach and Watercress Sauce, with chicken stock thickened with potato. Phyllo dough replaces the traditional pate brisee (e.g., Apricot Tart). When Basic Pastry is a necessity, the solution is one made with a tablespoon of canola oil and 1/4 cup of low-fat cottage cheese. These are generally easily rendered recipes that retain a French air even though calories and fat grams are listed. Photos by Maria Robledo.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
by Judith Choate
by André Soltner
by The Culinary Institute of America (CIA)
