Today, as Earth Day celebrants pledge environmental awareness,chef Carl Jerome hopes the efforts include new ways of cooking andeating.
"We have to think of our connectedness to the Earth; we have toconnect human ecology to environmental ecology," said Jerome, ateacher at the Culinary and Hospitality Institute of Chicago whocreated culinary guidelines for a new Earth in his new book, Cookingfor a New Earth (Henry Holt, $25).
He urges combining environmental issues, such as buying organicfoods made without pesticides and shopping for fruits and vegetablesin season, with health concerns: reducing fat and sodium in the dietand increasing carbohydrates. The result, Jerome says, is aspiritually and physically healthier life.
For Jerome, who came of age in the '60s, these changes are anatural progression from the communes, back-to-the-farm movement andbrown rice diets of that era.
"The '90s movement (toward healthful, yet delicious food)started with people remembering the '60s and rethinking how to usefood to nurture. Being healthy and celebrating healthy food is notjust the '60s revisited," he said.
Hardly.
Those who spent their youth in the '60s eating counterculturecuisine faced a diet of tofu, brown rice, lots of cheese and otherdairy products and very heavy bread.
Instead, Jerome touts an extremely low-fat diet emphasizingfruits, vegetables, rice and pasta. He urges cooks to turn theirtables into a palette of vegetable colors. Meals consist of morethan one vegetable course, such as marinated, roasted red peppers,plus curried cauliflower and asparagus with sun-dried tomato sauce.
Instead of using classic recipes and reducing fat, he createsfoods that don't depend on fat for flavor.
"If we're going to succeed in a low-fat diet, we have to startfrom scratch," Jerome said. "I make believe there's no fat in theworld when I cook. It has the lowest priority in my recipes.
"If you assume there isn't fat, rather than cutting back, you'llbe more creative."
Jerome doesn't make sauces with butter and flour, but insteaduses vegetable purees. Onions aren't browned in oil; they'resweated, that is, cooked over low heat in a skillet sprayed withvegetable oil spray until they are limp.
"I don't dump oil on everything. That's why I don't have saladsin my book; it's an excuse to dump on salad dressing."
He takes advantage of products that weren't readily available inthe '60s, such as sun-dried tomatoes, or vegetables like baby carrotsor haricots verts (thin green beans). No one should be at a loss forvegetable recipes after leafing through Jerome's book.
What the author proposes may be radical for some.
"People have to be willing to accept that low-fat cooking isgoing to taste different. We're going to put back aroma but remove"crisp" from our cooking vocabulary. We're going to remove "rich,"which means fatty.
"Vegetable-based meals don't have an entree. People won't sitdown to a slab of meat and side dishes," he said. "I don't advocatesix cups of broccoli and a sauce as an entree. Instead, people willeat several dishes at a time (he does use meat in his cookbook, butit's not the focus of any recipes). I'd suggest people cook onweekends and double or triple recipes and freeze the leftovers."
But anyone into cooking denial will be at a loss.
One of his guidelines is eating two slices of bread with everymeal - and homemade bread is best. All of those vegetable dishesdon't come from the Green Giant. And Jerome admits he doesn't gomore than two days without grocery shopping.
"There is a time trade-off in cooking. I believe people whowant to take care of themselves will be willing to give up an hour aday and do more cooking," he said.
Here are three of Jerome's recipes, which he suggests serving atone meal. All are intensely flavored and low in fat. CURRIED CAULIFLOWER
Vegetable oil spray 1 large onion, finely chopped1 (1-inch) piece gingerroot, peeled and minced 1 large garlicclove, minced Juice of 1/2 large lemon 1/4 cupchicken broth 1 tablespoon curry powder 1/2 teaspooneach: ground cumin, coriander and cardamom 1 medium headcauliflower, cored and cut into small florets Place a largenonstick saute pan over medium heat. When hot, mist with vegetableoil spray. Add onion, ginger and garlic; mist again, tossing theonion, ginger and garlic well and misting again if necessary sovegetables are lightly coated with oil.
Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring frequently, for 10minutes without browning onion.
In a small bowl stir together lemon juice, broth, curry powder,cumin, coriander and cardamom. Pour into saute pan and swirl aroundto mix well. Add cauliflower and toss until evenly yellow colored.Reduce heat to low, cover and cook until cauliflower is tender, about6 to 8 minutes, shaking pan or stirring occasionally.
Makes 6 servings. STEAMED ASPARAGUS WITH SUN-DRIED TOMATO SAUCE
1 pound asparagus, washed and lower halves peeled if stalksare thick and woody
Sun-dried tomato sauce (recipe follows) Place 2inches of hot water in the bottom of a steamer; insert steamingbasket. Cover and bring to a boil. When steamer is filled withsteam, add asparagus, cover, reduce heat to medium and steam justuntil tender, about 6 to 8 minutes.
Stack asparagus neatly on serving plates and spoon warmsun-dried tomato sauce over them. Serve immediately.
Makes 4 servings. Sun-dried tomato sauce
1 1/4 cups beef, chicken or vegetable broth 12sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil) 1 tablespoon balsamicor sherry vinegar 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil or cilantro
Freshly ground black pepper In a small saucepan set overhigh heat, bring broth to a boil. Add tomatoes and set aside for 10minutes, until tomatoes rehydrate and become very soft.
Pour tomatoes and broth into a blender. Add vinegar. Holdingthe cover securely in place to prevent the sauce from erupting allover the kitchen, puree to form a thick, slightly chunky sauce.
Transfer sauce to a bowl, stir in basil and season generouslywith pepper. SWEET RED PEPPER RAGOUT
2 garlic cloves, minced 1 large red onion, thinlysliced Vegetable oil spray 1 tablespoon sweet Hungarianpaprika 3 pounds large red bell peppers, washed, cored and cut into1/4-inch-wide strips Juice of 1 lemon Freshlyground black pepper to taste Combine garlic and onion in a large,heavy pot set over medium heat. Spray lightly with vegetable oilspray and mix well. Cover and cook, stirring once or twice, untilvegetables are wilted, about 5 minutes.
Add paprika and mix well. Cover and cook for 1 minute. Addpeppers and lemon juice. Stir to break up any clumps of onion.Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender and wilted downto half of the original volume, about 15 to 20 minutes.
Season with black pepper. Cook, uncovered, stirringoccasionally, until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 15minutes.
Makes 6 servings.
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