Healthy Meat and Potatoes

According to cooking-show host Knight and his son, there’s no need to give up old favorites in pursuit of healthy eating if cooks use these simple, healthful recipes.

Using novel cooking techniques and ingredient tweaks, the Knights adapt traditional favorites to contemporary dietary trends (less fat and salt), putting rich fare—such as chicken cordon bleu, Peking duck, bourbon-stuffed filet mignon, roast stuffed veal, chili, etc.—back on the healthy table. Knight explains how to make a low-sodium stock from fresh vegetables and meat and how to create a roux that can thicken other sauces. Though many recipes employ the waterless cookware that Knight started his career by selling, experienced cooks should be able to adapt regular stovetop cookware (cast iron, etc.) so as to avoid investing in new pots and pans. Under Knight’s careful guidance, even beginners should soon feel confident, especially after he offers insight into how kitchen mistakes can happen. He warns, for example, that in making the lobster bisque, readers should “please read the entire recipe before beginning” and “keep your face away from the flames.” As the title suggests, meat and potatoes get star treatment—including over a dozen tuber recipes—but other vegetables get loving treatment as well: pesto, Italian-style spinach, mustard greens, squash, etc. The six-recipe dessert section offers treats such as amaretto fruit cake (using a commercially available cake mix) and bread pudding “baked” on the stovetop. Short explanations about why and how good food is created, a detailed index, a metric conversion chart and a detailed list of calories—including where they come from: fat, protein, carbohydrates, cholesterol, sodium, etc.—after every recipe help make this cookbook a lifesaver, perhaps literally.

Underserved by its title, this cookbook will be a game-changer for cooks hungry for quick, easy ways to create practical, healthful and inspired fare.