Fewer Calories, More Taste: Low-Cal Cooking for Pleasure

Beautiful and delicious might not be two qualities you’d expect in a book for the health-conscious, but that’s exactly what you get here.

Unlike so many other books of this genre, this one doesn’t ooze with detailed information on every aspect of nutrition and well-being. There are no charts. No tables. No advice for special diets, lowering blood cholesterol or losing weight.

In fact, this magnificent book will make you forget about all those things. From cover to cover there is splendid-looking food that simply makes the mouth water. It proves that food that is good for you can both taste and look good.

But don’t be misled: This isn’t skinny food. Schneider, who writes for an array of national magazines including Weight Watchers, Food and Wine and Self and has spent years experimenting in the kitchen, manages here to revise classic French and Italian recipes for health watchers. But her love of rich food predominates.

Schneider admits that her recipe for cassoulet, for instance, is diet “heresy” since it contains pork rind for richness and body. But she uses duck and pork fat, which are strong in flavor, so that a smaller amount is needed for good taste. As a result, her cassoulet has less than a third the original’s calories.

While 272 calories for creme brulee may sound less than reasonable for dieters, it is well below the 570 calories of the original recipe. Or, consider the chocolate truffle. Most chocoholics consider anything other than the traditional French confection of butter, egg yolks, cream, sugar and chocolate pure lunacy: Why tamper with anything so indulgent?

Perhaps, the best reason, says Schneider, is the whopping 85 calories each French truffle provides. She whittles the calories down to just 35 using chestnuts and milk as the basis of her version.

Generally, the thrust of this book is one of moderation, not elimination. Fats and sugars, including butter and honey, are used sparingly, just to the point of preserving flavor. She doesn’t use artificial sweeteners; vanilla flavors desserts. And, though some substitutions are here--wine stands in for olive oil, egg whites replace egg yolks--there is no mention of ground turkey as a replacement for ground meat.

“My approach to creating low-calorie recipes is more about cooking creatively than it is about dieting, more about pleasure than denial,” Schneider says. “I have endured the same austere, unsatisfying diet fare everyone else has, food that asks us to pretend the experience rather than have it; yogurt as a substitute for cream and crackers for corn bread. The food may make great sense on paper but not on our palates and in our hearts.”

CASSOULET

2 (5-pound) whole ducks

1 1/2 pounds lean pork shoulder, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes

1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 cups dry white beans

1/2 pound fresh pork rind

1 large onion, peeled

5 whole cloves

18 cloves garlic

4 medium carrots, peeled and sliced

4 sprigs thyme

4 sprigs parsley

2 bay leaves

1 medium onion, coarsely chopped

1 cup dry white wine

1 (14-ounce) can Italian peeled tomatoes, seeded, undrained

1 cup fresh bread crumbs

Separate duck breasts and legs, leaving bones intact. (Refrigerate or freeze 1 whole breast for other use. You should have 2 1/4 pounds duck remaining.) Remove skin from remaining bird parts. Cut 1/2 pound skin into 1-inch pieces and reserve. Separate drumsticks and thighs and slice breast crosswise in half. Cut carcasses into 4-inch sections.

Combine pork shoulder cubes and duck breast and legs in shallow casserole. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon coarse salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cover and refrigerate 6 hours or overnight.

Place beans in bowl with cold water to cover by 2 inches and set aside to soak at least 6 hours or overnight. (Or, bring large heavy saucepan of water to boil. Add beans and cook 1 minute. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, 1 hour.)

Place reserved duck skin in small heavy saucepan with 1/4 cup water. Bring to boil over high heat, then reduce heat and simmer until fat is rendered and water has evaporated, about 10 to 15 minutes. Strain fat into bowl and let cool. Discard skin.

Using sharp knife, remove any white fat left on pork rind. Place rind in medium saucepan with enough cold water to cover. Bring to boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer until softened, about 4 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold running water. Cut rind into 1/2-inch-square pieces.

Drain beans and transfer to large, heavy saucepan or heat-proof casserole. Add enough cold water to cover by 1 inch. Cover and bring to boil. Drain beans again and return to saucepan. Add duck carcasses and pork rind pieces. Stud whole onion with cloves and add to pot along with 2 cloves garlic, 2 carrots, 2 sprigs thyme, 2 sprigs parsley, 1 bay leaf, enough cold water to cover and 2 teaspoons salt.

Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer, skimming occasionally, until beans are tender, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Drain into colander set over large bowl and reserve cooking liquid. Discard duck bones, onion and herbs.

Heat 2 teaspoons reserved duck fat in large heat-proof casserole over medium heat. Add chopped onion, remaining 2 carrots and cook until lightly browned, about 12 minutes. Transfer vegetables to bowl.

Add 2 more teaspoons duck fat to casserole and heat over medium-high heat. Add duck pieces and cook, turning, until lightly browned, about 4 minutes on each side. Transfer to platter. Add 2 more teaspoons duck fat and pork cubes to casserole and cook, tossing until browned all over, about 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to platter with duck.

Carefully blot any excess fat from pan with paper towels. Add wine to casserole and bring to boil, scraping up any browned bits from bottom of pan. Add tomatoes and liquid, 8 cloves garlic, remaining thyme, parsley and bay leaf, cooked duck, pork and vegetables. Pour reserved bean liquid over meat. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, skimming occasionally, until duck and vegetables are tender, about 1 1/2 hours.

Drain meat and vegetables into large colander set over large bowl to catch stock. Pour stock into large saucepan and bring to boil over high heat. Boil until reduced. (Liquid should measure 4 1/2 cups. If not, add water.) Stir in 1/4 teaspoon pepper and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Cut 1 clove garlic in half and rub over bottom and sides of large casserole. Leave garlic in pot. Add 1/3 bean mixture and season with 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Arrange duck and vegetables over beans and cover with 1/3 more beans, remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper and remaining 7 garlic cloves.

Layer pork over beans and cover with remaining 1/3 beans. Ladle duck stock over cassoulet until liquid just covers beans. Sprinkle evenly with bread crumbs.

Bake at 275 degrees 1 hour. Gently break bread crumb crust with large spoon and drizzle some of bean juices over crumbs. Continue to bake until cassoulet is hot throughout and top is golden, about 1 hour longer. Makes 10 servings.

Note: If fresh pork rind is not available, substitute rind from fatback (10 ounces of fatback yields 2 ounces of skin). Rinse salt from fatback and cut rind away with thick, sharp knife. Be sure to remove every trace of fat. Proceed with blanching and cutting as directed.