Taste: Pure and Simple: Irresistible Recipes for Good Food and Good Health by Michel Nischan, Minh Wass (Photographer), Ngoc Minh (Photographer)

Product Details

Synopsis

As seen on Oprah!

Acclaimed chef Michel Nischan knows that eating well is all about balance, and his beautiful cookbook proves that robust meals can be both healthy and flavorful. Avoiding the high-fat dairy products prevalent in so many cookbooks, he uses vegetable juices and olive oil to achieve the same luscious flavors. Who knew that sweet potatoes make a rich sauce that's fabulous drizzled over oriander-seasoned duck? Or that creamy white bean dip spread on crusty bread could make you forget about butter? And after eating a healthful dinner, it's okay to indulge in a dessert like Flourless Hazelnut Cake. A chapter on basics provides a solid foundation of stocks and sauces, while the glossary describes how to find and use unusual ingredients. For the good home cook who craves something new and delicious and particularly those who want to eat well while maintaining a heart-healthy diet, it's simply a matter of Taste Pure and Simple.

Publishers Weekly

This is a classic culinary redemption narrative that's sure to find its way into a home kitchen: a French-trained chef endures a family health crisis, then rethinks cooking. Nischan, whose young son has type 1 diabetes, revamped his cooking style from top to bottom. Except in his very short, fruit-oriented dessert section, Nischan uses nary a speck of butter, relying instead on canola and grapeseed oil for cooking fats. For flavor, he calls on a battery of rich stocks and reductions: golden beet syrup, rutabaga syrup, roasted garlic stock, rich mushroom stock, chicken "glaze." In addition to coaxing the most intense possible flavor out of generally mild ingredients, Nischan goes for the culinary jugular with the pantry's flavor giants, as in Pan-roasted Quail with Peach and Porcini Mushroom Hash and Rack of Lamb with Pomegranate-Date Chutney. Though the vegetarian entrees seem less than inspired, sides and soups are twisted and tweaked into intriguing forms: Green Tomato Soup with Heirloom Tomatoes and Vidalia Onion Garnish, Tamari Pecans, even "Marshmallow" Corn, pre-soaked in vanilla and milk. This volume is beautifully photographed and elegantly designed, and Nischan's narrative is hard to resist, especially as he caramelizes, roasts and glazes his way to low-fat nirvana. (Sept.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Biography

Michel Nischan pioneered his full-flavored, healthy cuisine at Heartbeat in New York. He can be seen on David Rosengarten's In Food Today and Sara Moulton's Cooking Live.

Mary Goodbody is the original editor-in-chief of Cooks magazine, She is a Connecticut-based food writer and a contributing editor to Chocolatier and has collaborated on and co-written a number of cookbooks.

Minh + Wass (Ngoc Minh and Julian Wass) is a husband-and-wife photography team who specialize in food and lifestyle shots for books and magazines. After 10 years in New York, they recently relocated to Paris.

Minh + Wass (Ngoc Minh and Julian Wass) is a husband-and-wife photography team who specialize in food and lifestyle shots for books and magazines. After 10 years in New York, they recently relocated to Paris.