My favorite food and nutrition magazine, EatingWell, published a wonderful special report called "Retrain Your Tastebuds" last year. In my family, we've made a successful transition to healthier foods over the past several years including migration to whole wheat pasta, brown rice, natural peanut butter and skim milk. It took some time and an open mind (particularly with the oldest "kid" in my house), but it's been a positive thing for all of us (my husband now comes home to tell me proudly that he chose the whole wheat tortilla for his lunch burrito at work, or the pizza with the whole wheat crust!)
When I tell friends about this, often they tell me that they or their kids simply can't do it -- but still I believe it's possible. A good example was a dinner I catered last night for my husband and a dozen colleagues. I wanted the comfort-food theme of a fall gratin, using the deep flavors of Italian pork sausage along with the cheeses that are essential to a gratin. But as always I added the challenge of how to make this dish healthier -- in this case lighter on the fats, particularly saturated fats.
So I decided to try swapping 3/4ths of the pork sausage for chicken sausage, and focused on adding extra flavor through the tomatoes, spices, and herbs in this dish (and sparingly using cheeses with the strongest complementary flavors). The meal was a huge success, and when polled afterwards everyone remarked on the intense and varied flavors of this dish, and no one guessed that it was mostly chicken! (Although, who knows, all of the wine these oenophiles brought along to accompany the meal may have contributed too...) A few guests even asked for the recipe, so here it is: Zucchini, Fennel and Italian Sausage Gratin.
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