Meal Prep

Believe it or not, it wasn’t so long ago that most people thought blue cheese was a bit exotic—a stinky, strange cheese with (heaven forbid!) mold in its veins. But blue has gained traction because its rich, creamy texture and tangy taste are fabulous—whether eaten out of hand, crumbled over a salad, or stirred into a dressing. But this is no lean cheese, my friends. Thankfully, a little goes a long way, and there are great-tasting low-fat blue cheeses available in most major supermarkets today.

I learned that sweet potatoes are the single healthiest vegetable. They’re loaded with carotenoids, vitamin C, potassium, and fiber. You can dress them up a bunch of different ways, but this simple puree is ideal.

Gnocchi are small dumplings made with cooked potatoes and just enough flour to hold them together. I swapped the traditional white potatoes for far-more-healthful sweet potatoes and paired the gnocchi with broccoli. The color combo is fabulous and so is the flavor, thanks to a sprinkling of Parmigiano-Reggiano. And while many gnocchi recipes include a cream- or butter-based sauce for tossing, these are served in a garlicky broth stirred together with a bit of Greek yogurt instead. They take a little while to make, but given the great taste and the powerhouse nutritional value of sweet potatoes—and just under 350 calories per serving—they’re more than worth the trouble.

There is much debate over whether chili should have beans in it. Some folks think beans make chili cheap—in the same way, they say, that breadcrumbs do to meatloaf. Actually, in both cases, those interloping ingredients contribute substantially to the dish. Breadcrumbs make meatloaf tender, while beans add texture and additional meatiness to chili—and lots of fiber and antioxidants, too.

If you love thin-crust pizza (I am one of you), after you taste this version, you will never buy premade crusts again. Once baked, these crusts hold well at room temperature for several days if lightly covered with a tea towel—and hold very well in the refrigerator, covered with plastic wrap, for up to a week. Make a batch on Saturday for later in the week. Please note: This is a very generous portion—you might be full after eating just half of one personal-size pie.

Because quiche is a custard, by definition it requires that a protein (egg) and fat (cream) mixture set up during baking but remain soft and silky when served at room temperature. Here, the cream has been eliminated completely, making a portion that is just over 200 calories. The flavor comes from caramelized onions, a little bit of bacon, and a small dose of an assertive cheese, such as Gruyère.

I have a very beautiful friend, Mariel Hemingway. She eats all organic foods, only fish, no meat, and she includes no carbs whatsoever in her diet. She makes a double dinner every night: one for her, one for the fam. However, when she makes this one really crazy blender sauce, it gets passed to everyone. (Mariel makes half of her food for each day in a blender.) The sauce is awesome with chicken, pork, meat, or fish. This is my version of her specialty. I call it Mariel’s Sauce for “Mish”—meat or fish.

This makes a gorgeous whipped topping that is fabulous on margaritas or strawberry lemonade. We’ve also been known to use it for garnishing fresh berries and various dessert preparations. It’s a nice introduction to using Methocel and xanthan gum together to create foaming action. Unlike whipped toppings made with other products, such as Versawhip, these preparations can tolerate heat and moderate amounts of fat in the mixture simply because Methocel is such a good emulsifier. In this recipe we are able to shear the Methocel directly into the base because we are working with an entirely liquid medium. For this recipe we use 1 percent Methocel F50 and 0.15 percent xantham gum.

These white chocolate sheets are a wonderful example of the synergy between agar and locust bean gum. They are delicate and flexible, with a rich flavor. They can be draped across fruits, cheeses, or desserts. If you prefer, you can also let the chocolate set in one piece and slice it for serving as custard, or puree it for something softer and more pudding like. The sheets are best served cold, although they will hold their shape at room temperature.

This recipe demonstrates the way that xanthan gum and Versawhip combine to form elegant and flavorful foams. Versawhip is an enzymatically treated soy protein that creates stable foam structures that can tolerate small amounts of acid but no fat. The whipped cherry juice is great over lime seltzer for a play on a lime rickey. It also works well sprinkled with chopped marcona almonds on top of marinated fish. The light, ethereal texture adds volume to dishes and the intense cherry melts on the palate, lingering so as to present more cherry than is actually there. The ratio of 0.15 percent xanthan gum and 1.5 percent Versawhip may be applied to many other liquid mediums.

This micro stock makes a great base for tomato soup, either hot or cold. It can also be used for soaking or finishing pasta, poaching fish or vegetables, or making Bloody Marys. The hoisin and hibiscus flowers (available from tea companies and gourmet supermarkets in the specialty tea section) round out the natural flavors of the tomatoes and give the stock that little something extra that makes the difference between good and great.

Mushrooms are well known for their meaty flavor. They are rich in natural umami elements and we enhance that here with the addition of soy sauce and sherry. The finished stock has a rich flavor that can be used for vegetarian soups and sauces or to enhance meat dishes. You can easily turn this into a rich mushroom soup with the addition of some sautéed mushrooms and a touch of cream.

This preparation takes fresh strawberries to another level. Paired with whipped or sweet cream, these berries are pure indulgence. They can be served over pancakes, waffles, or French toast for brunch, spooned over pound cake, or paired with biscuits for shortcake. They can even make a relatively healthy dessert spooned over nonfat Greek yogurt with a grating of fresh cinnamon or nutmeg to liven things up.

One of the benefits of finding a great container of yogurt is that you can save some of it to make more of your own batch. You can bump the action of natural yogurt cultures and increase the thickness of the finished product by adding powdered milk in the ratio of 1/3 cup (26.6 grams) powdered milk per quart (1,040 grams) of milk. Some cultured yogurt recipes call for the addition of gelatin, pectin, or carrageenan to thicken the finished yogurt. You can substitute powdered milk there as well, starting with 1 tablespoon (5 grams) per quart (1,040 grams) of milk and gradually increasing the ratio to reach a thickness you like. The yogurt will keep for up to two weeks in the refrigerator.

We love the complex flavors of this puree. We like to serve it with the Twice-Cooked Scallops (page 25). It also goes well with salmon, turkey, corned beef, and the Root Beer–Braised Short Ribs (page 226). The smokiness gives the mixture a rich meaty taste and enhances the sweetness of the dried fruits. Rest assured, though—even if you don’t have smoked fruits, you can use the regular dried version and still enjoy something special.

This typical Alsatian mustard sauce is served with pickled or smoked tongue or pickel-fleisch; it has been eaten with fresh and salted meat or fresh and dried fish for centuries by the northern Jewish communities in France.

After a recent trip to France, I told chef Daniel Boulud that I wanted to learn more about charcuterie. He suggested that I spend a day with Sylvain Gasdon, the charcutier at his newly opened Bar Boulud in New York. It turned out that some of the trends I had been noticing in French restaurants were the foundation of the menu at Bar Boulud, featuring charcuterie and lighter terrines. I asked Sylvain, who came from Paris to help Daniel, if he would teach me how to make a terrine, one for those who eschew pork. This is it!

Preserved lemons are in indispensable item in my pantry cupboard. I use them all the time and believe they are best made at home. Although I have tasted lemons preserved in water or an equal mix of lemon juice and water, I much prefer them preserved in pure lemon juice. Many people scrape out and discard the pulp when using the lemons, but I often include the preserved pulp. I blend a preserved lemon in with my hummus, sprinkle the rind on grilled fish, and stuff my chicken with a whole lemon, and I dice preserved lemons and mix them into salads, rice dishes, and vegetables. In addition to regular lemons, you can also use Meyer lemons or, as Irene Weil does, even kumquats.

According to the Talmud and the French sage Rashi, beets, fish, and cloves of garlic are essential foods to honor the Sabbath. French Jews also use horseradish, sliced as a root or ground into a sauce, and served at Passover to symbolize the bitterness of slavery. It was probably in Alsace or southern Germany that the horseradish root replaced the bitter greens of more southerly climes as the bitter herbs at Passover dinner. For hundreds of years, local farmers would dig up horseradish roots and peel and grate them outdoors, by their kitchens, making sure to protect their eyes from the sting. Then they would mix the root with a little sugar and vinegar and sometimes grated beets, keeping it for their own personal use or selling it at local farmers’ markets. In 1956, Raifalsa, an Alsace-based company, began grating horseradish grown by the area’s farmers in the corner of a farm in Mietesheim, near the Vosges Mountains. A few years ago, Raifalsa, still the only manufacturer of prepared horseradish in France, agreed to produce a batch of kosher horseradish. They had the rabbi of Strasbourg come to the factory to supervise the operation, which resulted in the production of six thousand 7-ounce pots, all stamped with a certification from the Grand Rabbinat de Strasbourg. Before grating the horseradish, just remember to open a window and put on a pair of goggles.

At a recent Kiddush after a Bat Mitzvah service in France, the wine was French, unlike the sweet wine usually served at American synagogues. The food was elegantly prepared, as only the French can do it: spread out on a large table were thin slices of smoked salmon on toast, eggplant rolled and filled with goat cheese, a North African sautéed-pepper salad, squash soup served in tiny cups, and celery-root rémoulade. If you have never eaten celery-root salad, then start now! And if you’ve never made mayonnaise before, it’s an exhilarating and rewarding experience that I highly recommend. Any leftover mayonnaise can be kept in a jar in the refrigerator for a few days.