Food should be about more than calories and fat grams and color combinations, according to Michel Stroot, who has been executive chef at the renowned Golden Door spa in Southern California for 30 years. It should be a "nurturing experience."
And when guests like Oprah, Streisand and Barbara Bush are paying over $6,000 a week to be exercised and pampered, the "nurturing experience" called mealtime had better be good. Spa cuisine calls for creative cooking, since you can't pump up the flavor with a lot of butter, sugar, salt and heavy sauces.
But you can eat healthfully without going hungry, said Stroot, who shared his cooking secrets in a class at Sur La Table two weeks ago. Starvation diets are out.
"People used to be obsessed with calories, really it's the wrong thing to do," he told the class. "Your body is a machine, it needs to burn calories. If you are already exercising a lot at the Door — jogging and swimming, and so on, you need more nutrition."
Stroot demonstrated recipes from his just-released cookbook, "The Golden Door Cooks Light & Easy" ($29.95 published by Gibbs Smith of Layton).
"I am really proud of this cookbook," he said. "We are not trying to make spa food sound like boiled chicken and a piece of asparagus."
Since its founding in 1958, the Golden Door has built a reputation as a spa of the stars. It uses a staff of 140 to care for 40 guests, who all get personal trainers, and daily massages and facials. It's the perfect place to showcase California's bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables, seafood and ethnic cuisines, said Stroot. He and Golden Door owner Deborah Szekely wanted the menus to "have all the beauty and flavor of classical cuisine but would be innovative and light, composed in accordance with the most advanced nutritional principles — and above all, it would be delicious."
Stroot keeps the nutrition high and calories low, so you can have your quesadilla and eat it, too. Or broiled lamb chops, or Butternut Squash and Smoked Chicken Ravioli. He's even got cookies (or a reasonable facsimile of what we know as cookies) that weigh in at only 29 calories each.
The Golden Door follows a "Smart Plate" philosophy, he said. If you visually divided your meal plate into fourths, one quarter of it would consist of protein, one quarter of complex carbohydrates such as a yam, beans, lentils, brown rice or quinoa. Vegetables take up the other half of the plate. Fat is limited to 20-25 percent. Stroot has a computer program to calculate all the fat, calories and nutrients of each recipe.
"No plate at the Door is dull," he said.
The spa has a 3-acre organic garden where Stroot gets artichokes for his artichoke dip, or vine-ripened tomatoes for his Golden Gazpacho. "You don't have to use golden tomatoes, you can use heirloom tomatoes or tomatoes from the farmer's market; that's OK. I have even used watermelon, and it's very good. If you don't have one item, use another item. That's the art of cooking."
Some of his tips:
— Use a spray bottle filled with a mixture of canola and olive oil. (He doesn't like the propellant used in commercial non-stick sprays.) "We mist the pan with a little oil and saute vegetables, because I hate vegetables that taste watery."
— When making desserts such as sorbet, use fruit that is really ripe, "So you get the natural sugar from the fruit and you don't have to add any other type of sugar." Always include a banana in the sorbet to give it creaminess without fat.
— Foods aren't salted excessively at the Door, but the Golden Gazpacho calls for a little salt to extract the juices of the vegetables.
— Make quesadillas by sprinkling a whole-wheat tortilla with feta cheese, chili peppers, onions and slices of grilled chicken breast. Top it with another whole-wheat tortilla and gently press it down. "You can make these ahead and leave them in the refrigerator until guests come. Then grill them until the cheese is melted."
— The worst thing you can do in spa cooking is to serve the food dry, said Stroot. "Always have vegetable broth or chicken broth on hand, because you can't use butter. If you're cooking fish and someone calls on the phone and you can't serve it right away, use lemon juice or vegetable broth over the fish and put a lid on it to keep it moist."
— Add herbs and spices to zip up the flavor. His artichoke dip, which uses cottage cheese instead of mayo, is fragrant with basil. "The more basil you put in there, the better it is." For a deeper flavor, toast nuts and spices such as cumin.
— Yogurt cheese, sweetened with a little powdered sugar, makes a velvety dessert or a fat-free alternative to cream cheese. Line a sieve or colander with two layers of cheesecloth and place it in a slightly larger pot. To a quart of plain nonfat yogurt, add 3 tablespoons sifted powdered sugar and 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract and mix well. Pour the mixture in the colander and let it sit in the refrigerator for three to four hours. The yogurt will drain quite a bit of liquid, Stroot said. The resulting "cheese" can be flavored with fruit or herbs and spices.
Here is a recipe from "The Golden Door Cooks Light & Easy" by chef Michel Stroot:
GOLDEN GAZPACHO
Note: Yellow tomatoes and corn kernels shaved from the cob give this soup its golden hue. To save time, use canned vegetable broth and let your food processor chop the vegetables — but keep them chunky.
2 ears fresh corn, shucked and rinsed
4 yellow tomatoes, seeded and cut into small dice
1 small red onion, minced
1 large yellow bell pepper, stem removed, seeded and finely diced
1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded and finely diced
1/4 cup chicken stock or vegetable broth
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Fresh parsley sprigs for garnish
1/4 cup sliced almonds, lightly toasted for garnish
Cut the kernels off the corn cob by holding it vertically on a cutting board and cutting downward with a sharp knife until all the kernels are removed. In a large bowl, combine tomato, corn kernels, red onion, yellow bell pepper, cucumber, broth, chopped parsley, olive oil, salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate 1-2 hours (to allow salt to draw out the juices of the vegetables.) Serve cold in chilled bowls. Garnish with parsley sprigs and toasted almonds.
Here are more recipes from "The Golden Door Cooks Light & Easy" by chef Michel Stroot.
ARTICHOKE & BASIL DIP
Traditionally laden with mayonnaise, this slimmed-down version of artichoke dip gets its rich texture from cottage cheese. (You can also use low-fat cream cheese.) Artichokes tend to oxidize and turn brown when trimmed; to avoid this, rub them with lemon juice.
4 artichokes
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon minced shallots
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 bay leaf
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 cup water
1 cup low-fat cottage cheese
1/4 cup very thinly sliced fresh basil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Remove the tough outer leaves of the artichoke to reveal the tender inner leaves. Trim the stem and cut off the top third of the artichoke. Trim around the base and remove any remaining tough, dark green spots. Quarter the artichoke and remove the fuzzy choke with a melon ball scoop. Slice thinly. Rub with lemon juice to prevent browning. Repeat with remaining artichokes. Pour the olive oil into a nonstick pan set over medium heat. Add shallots and garlic; saute, stirring for 3 minutes. Add artichokes, bay leaf, thyme and water; simmer for 15 minutes, or until the artichokes are tender. Remove the bay leaf and thyme sprigs from the water. Drain the artichokes and transfer with the shallots and garlic to a blender or food processor fitted with a metal blade. Add the cottage cheese; process until smooth. Transfer to a mixing bowl, stir in the basil and season with salt and refrigerate, covered, for 1 day. Serve with Golden Door Chips or commercially made baked tortilla chips.
GOLDEN DOOR CHIPS
Note: These chips can be seasoned with whatever dried herbs and spices you like. Serve with dips or as a garnish . Use either wheat or corn tortillas . Corn tortillas tend to get crispier than whole-wheat tortillas. Make a sweet version for garnishing sorbets and puddings by sprinkling a cinnamon-sugar mixture on the warm chips.
Vegetable oil in a spray bottle, or 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
2 teaspoons cumin powder
4 soft corn tortillas, or 4 whole-wheat tortillas, or 4 whole-wheat pita bread
1 egg white, lightly beaten with 2 teaspoons water
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray or grease a baking sheet with vegetable oil. Pour cumin powder into a dry frying pan set over medium heat; toast, shaking the pan frequently, for 2-3 minutes, or until the cumin is fragrant. Be careful; cumin smokes and burns easily. Brush tortillas on both sides with the egg white and cut each into 8 segments. Place segments on the prepared baking sheet; bake 10-15 minutes, or until chips are golden brown and crisp. Turn the chips once during baking. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with cumin and cayenne; let cool.
BROILED LAMB CHOPS WITH WHOLE-GRAIN MUSTARD AND BELGIAN ROOT VEGETABLE MASH
Note: Michel Stroot says where he grew up in Belgium, his family always stored root vegetables in the cellar. So he grew up eating dishes like this — full of sweet flavor and packed with nutrients.
Vegetable Mash:
2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large leek, washed well, trimmed and diced
2 medium carrots, diced
1 parsnip, diced
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1/4 cup light sour cream
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Lamb chops:
4 lamb chops, double ribbed, trimmed and fat removed
2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
To prepare Vegetable Mash, preheat a grill, stovetop grill or broiler. Place the potatoes, leek, carrots, celery and parsnip into a pot. Add enough water to barely cover the vegetables; then add the bay leaves and thyme, cover and bring to a boil. Remove the lid and cook, uncovered, over medium-high heat for 10-15 minutes, or until almost all the water has been absorbed. Using a wire whisk or potato masher, mash the vegetables with the sour cream until the mixture takes on the consistency of a coarse puree. Season with salt and black pepper and keep warm.
Coat each lamb chop with mustard and sprinkle with rosemary. Heat a broiler. Set the chops on a broiler pan and place it about 4 inches below the heating element. Broil for 3-4 minutes on each side, until browned. The lamb should be pink in the center. Remove from oven and keep warm.
To serve, mound equal portions of root vegetable mash on warm plates and place a chop next to each. Serves 4.
ALMOND-LACE COOKIES
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup corn syrup or pure maple syrup
1/2 cup firmly packed dark-brown sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Toast the almonds in a hot, dry skillet set over medium-high heat, stirring once or twice, 3-4 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Combine flour, oats and toasted almonds in a small bowl and set aside. Combine the corn syrup or maple syrup, brown sugar, butter and oil in a non-stick saucepan set over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until the mixture comes to a boil. Remove from the heat. Stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture and blend thoroughly. Drop by tablespoons onto the baking sheets, leaving at least 2 inches between cookies. Bake 8-9 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool completely. Peel carefully from parchment paper.
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