‘The Best of Gourmet’
In the latest edition of “The Best of Gourmet, Featuring the Flavors of Rome” (Random House, 2004, $35), Gourmet magazine’s editors offer an elegantly balanced combination of culinary travel and recipes, visualized in fine color photography.
The book’s opening section conducts a gastronomic tour of Rome; it includes detailed recipes for a “master feast” whose main dish is Mortadella-Stuffed Pork Loin with Rosemary Roast Potatoes. There are other recipes for some of the good, simple things, such as green beans with lemon and oil, and gnocchi (with a panel of how-to photos to guide you through the making of them).
The Roman section is followed by a wide-ranging selection of general menus and recipes, rounding out the book’s total of about 325 recipes from the magazine’s 2003 issues.
Menus for a variety of special-occasion meals include suppers and a seder, brunch, grills, “flavors of the American heartland,” dinner for parties and dinner for one — and low-fat options that do not sound in the least Spartan.
The following recipes for Turkey Meatloaf with Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Sauce (or ketchup, if preferred) and Apricot-Pear Parfaits would fit nicely into a healthy, low-fat meal plan, whether served together or in other combinations.
Turkey Meatloaf
From “The Best of Gourmet, Featuring the Flavors of Rome” (Random House, 2004, $35)
1 1/2 cups finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 medium carrot, cut into 1/8 -inch dice
3/4 pound cremini mushrooms, trimmed and very finely chopped in a food processor
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon ketchup
1 cup fine fresh bread crumbs (from 2 slices firm white sandwich bread)
1/3 cup 1 percent milk
1 whole large egg, lightly beaten
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
1 1/4 pound ground turkey (mix of dark and light meat)
Special equipment: an instant-read thermometer
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly oil a 13-by-2-inch metal baking pan.
Cook onion and garlic in oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderate heat, stirring, until onion is softened, about 2 minutes. Add carrot and cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add mushrooms, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid mushrooms give off is evaporated and mushrooms are very tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in Worcestershire sauce, parsley and 3 tablespoons ketchup, then transfer all vegetables to a large bowl and cool.
Stir together bread crumbs and milk in a small bowl and let stand 5 minutes. Stir in whole egg and egg white, then add to vegetables. Add turkey, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper to vegetable mixture and mix well with your hands. (Mixture will be very moist.)
Form into a 9-by-5-inch oval loaf in baking pan and brush meatloaf evenly with remaining 2 tablespoons ketchup. Bake until thermometer inserted into meatloaf registers 170 degrees, 50 to 55 minutes.
Let meatloaf stand 5 minutes before serving with roasted red pepper tomato sauce or ketchup. Suggested side dishes: lemony noodles and a green salad with buttermilk dressing.
Yield: 6 servings
Nutrition information per serving without sauce: About 230 calories, 9 grams fat (2 grams saturated, 35 percent fat calories), 21.7 grams protein, 22 grams carbohydrate, 110 milligrams cholesterol, 1.7 grams dietary fiber, 786 milligrams sodium.
Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Sauce
1 small head garlic (2 inches in diameter)
1/2 pound plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise
1 large red bell pepper ( 1/2 pound)
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar, or to taste
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 13-by-9-by-2-inch metal baking pan with foil.
Cut off and discard top quarter of garlic head and wrap remainder in foil. Arrange tomatoes, cut sides up, in baking pan and season lightly with salt. Add whole bell pepper and garlic (in foil) to pan and roast vegetables 1 hour.
Transfer bell pepper to a bowl and cover bowl with plastic wrap, then let stand about 20 minutes. When cool enough to handle, peel pepper, discarding stem and seeds, and transfer to a food processor or blender along with tomatoes.
Unwrap garlic and squeeze roasted cloves from skins into food processor. Add remaining ingredients and salt and black pepper to taste, then puree sauce until smooth.
Cooks’ note: Sauce can be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.
Yield: About 3/4 cup.
Nutrition information per 2-tablespoon serving: About 30 calories, 1 gram fat (30 percent fat calories).
Apricot Ginger Pear Parfaits
6 firm-ripe pears (3 pounds)
5 ounces dried apricots (preferably Californian; 1 heaping cup)
4 teaspoons finely grated peeled fresh ginger
1/2 cup water
2 to 3 tablespoons sugar
Four 4-by-1-inch strips fresh lemon zest
3-inch piece cinnamon stick
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
8-ounce container nonfat vanilla yogurt
Garnish: fresh diced pear and dried apricot slivers
Special equipment: food mill fitted with medium disk
Peel 4 pears (2 pounds) and coarsely chop (including cores), then transfer to a 3- to 4-quart heavy saucepan. Add apricots, ginger, water, 2 tablespoons sugar, zest, cinnamon stick and 1 tablespoon lemon juice and simmer, covered, until pears are very tender, about 20 minutes. Discard cinnamon stick and force mixture through food mill into a bowl. If desired, stir in up to 1 tablespoon additional sugar. Cool sauce.
While sauce cools, peel, core and finely dice ( 1/3 inch) remaining 2 pears (1 pound), then toss with remaining 1 tablespoon lemon juice in a bowl.
Spoon 1/4 cup sauce into each of six 8-ounce glasses and top each serving with 2 tablespoons diced pear. Then spread 2 tablespoons yogurt in each glass and top with 2 more tablespoons diced pear and 1/4 cup sauce.
Cooks’ note: Sauce can be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.
Yield: 6 servings
Nutrition information per serving: About 230 calories, 1 gram fat, (.2 grams saturated, 4 percent fat calories), 2.6 grams protein, 61.5 grams carbohydrate, less than 1 milligram cholesterol, 5 grams dietary fiber, 13.5 milligrams sodium.