DEER VALLEY — We can all eat like movie stars, says Akasha Richmond, author of a new cookbook, "Hollywood Dish: More Than 150 Delicious, Healthy Recipes From Hollywood's Chef to the Stars" (Avery/Penguin Group, January 2006).
Having catered past parties during the Sundance Film Festival, Richmond chose this year's festival as a launching pad for her book. After doing a satellite press conference in the wee hours last Thursday morning at The Chateaux in Deer Valley, Richmond sat down for a one-on-one interview.
She said she's been dishing up meals to celebrities for more than 20 years, specializing in the natural and organic cooking. She was a private chef for Barbra Streisand, Alana Stewart and Carrie Fisher. Her vegetarian meal service included such clients as Michael J. Fox, Dana Delany, Judith Light and James Cameron. She uses spelt flour and soy products when she cooks for Billy Bob Thornton, who is allergic to wheat, dairy and seafood. She's also worked for Pierce and Keeley Brosnan, and she said that Keeley Brosnan is an expert organic gardener.
She's catered parties for MTV, the Academy Awards and the Emmys, and she said that the Sundance Film Festival is her favorite event to cater.
"I have a recipe that I call Sundance Chocolate Torte, and make it every year when I come here, because it's not affected by the altitude," she said. "I based it on a lot of egg whites for leavening rather than baking powder."
Hollywood may not have invented diets, but it has glamorized them ever since the early years of the movie industry. Richmond points out that in 1929, the popular 18-Hour Diet was renamed the Hollywood Diet and featured on the cover of Motion Picture magazine.
"A lot of the diets that people are on today are not that much different from 50 or even 80 years ago. The high-protein diet that we know as Atkins — Marilyn Monroe used to go on a high-protein diet when she needed to lose weight. Everyone thinks raw foods just started, but in 1917, the first raw food restaurant opened in Los Angeles. Juice fasting was popular in the 1920s and '30s. Protein drinks became popular back in the 1940s when blenders first came out."
But the difference is, the so-called "health food" ingredients were not nearly as good or good-tasting back then, Richmond said. Organic and natural foods weren't widely available. Now they're in supermarkets across the country, so anyone can buy them.
"Giving soy milk as an example, it didn't taste very good," said Richmond, who is a spokesman for Silk soy milk. "But now it's so good, it's mainstream. Soccer moms drink it, not just people shopping in health food stores."
While there's still a lot of dieting going on, the emphasis nowadays is more about using organic fruits and vegetables, "and everything being really fresh," she said. "I think the really big low-carb craziness is over
because all those products aren't selling in the stores as much. But there are some people still following it."
Richmond's book emphasizes the natural and organic foods trend in Hollywood. But while macrobiotic diets and personal trainers are trendy with the A-list, there's also plenty of publicity about the stints in alcohol and drug rehab, and bouts with anorexia and bulimia — certainly not the epitome of healthful living.
When asked about this contradiction, Richmond said, "I'm sure the percentage of celebrities that have those kind of problems are the same as the general population, but it's just that if a celebrity does anything it becomes headline news. And, there are celebrities and then there are actors. Acting is a really hard job, where you may have to be on a set at three in the morning and work 15-hour days. These parties may seem glamorous, but it's work for them. They are expected to be there and maybe they'd rather be home reading a book. So, many of them have gravitated toward healthy eating because you feel better."
But do young Hollywood stars worry as much about their diets as do older stars who want to retain their youthful looks?
"Toby McGuire is young, and he's a really healthy eater," she said. "I've seen Adrian Brody shopping in natural food stores. Joaquin Phoenix is vegan. I've catered a lot of parties for young actresses, and they love to eat healthy. But sometimes the older you get, the better you do eat, because you have a lot of energy when you're young and don't notice the aches and pains as much."
Some celebrities require that staffers sign a confidentiality contract, so Richmond didn't discuss them in her book. "But people like Billy Bob Thornton and Pierce and Keeley Brosnan, I consider my friends. They have recipes in the book and gave me quotes for the book jacket. But they also know that I don't gossip about them and their personal lives. I've been doing this for over 20 years, and I'm pretty well-trusted."
Besides writing from personal experience, Richmond scoured the The Los Angeles Central Library's historical culinary collection and researched the archives of Los Angeles-area magazines and newspapers.
Although Streisand has a prickly reputation, Richmond said she was great to work for. "She loved really delicious healthy food, which made it fun to cook for her. She has a big organic vegetable garden and that inspired my creativity."
CINNAMON FRENCH TOAST WITH POMEGRANATE-CHERRY COMPOTE
Compote:
1 cup pomegranate juice
1/3 cup dried pitted cherries
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
6 small apples (about 2 1/4 pounds) peeled and chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
Heat the pomegranate juice in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until it boils. Turn off the heat, add cherries, and let sit for 15 minutes. Heat a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Melt the butter in the pan and add the chopped apples. Cook apples until they begin to soften but still hold their shape, 5-6 minutes. Add maple syrup to apples, along with pomegranate juice and cherries. Simmer until juice reduces to a syrup, 5-10 minutes.
French toast:
3 large eggs
3/4 cup eggnog-flavored or spice-flavored soy milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
6 1-inch-thick slices cinnamon swirl or challah bread (about 1/2 loaf)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Sifted powdered sugar for topping
To make French toast, preheat the oven to 200 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, soy milk, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. Place the bread slices in a flat casserole dish and cover with the egg mixture. Let soak for 5-10 minutes.
Heat a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in the pan. Add 3 slices of the soaked bread to the pan and cook until golden brown, about 4 minutes per side. Remove from the pan, place on a baking sheet, and keep warm in the oven. Melt the remaining tablespoon butter in the pan and cook the remaining bread slices.
Top the French toast with the compote and sprinkle with the powdered sugar before serving. — "Hollywood Dish," by Akasha Richmond
PIMENTO CHEESE BITES WITH CREAM OF TOMATO DIP
When Akasha Richmond catered Billy Bob Thornton's Christmas party one year, he whipped up some of his special soy-based pimento cheese sandwiches for those who were cooking in the kitchen. The following summer when she catered his birthday, she made the sandwiches as an appetizer and served them with a cream of tomato dip. Any leftover dip can be thinned out a bit with more soy milk and served as soup.
Pimento Cheese Bites:
1 cup grated soy cheddar cheese, or cheese of your choice
2 tablespoons vegan or light mayonnaise
2 tablespoons chopped green onion
1/4 cup diced pimentos, drained
1 tablespoon chopped green olives
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon hot red pepper sauce
6 slices spelt bread, whole wheat, or sliced sourdough bread
Canola cooking spray, olive oil or 1 tablespoon non-hydrogenated soy spread
Mix the cheese, mayonnaise, green onion, pimento, olives, salt, pepper and red pepper sauce in a small bowl. Divide equally among 3 slices of the bread and top with the remaining bread slices. Heat a 10- or 12-inch non-stick saute pan over medium heat.
Spray with the cooking spray. If you're not watching your fat grams, add a tablespoon of the non-hydrogenated soy spread to the pan. Cook the sandwiches on each side until browned and cheese has melted. Add more spray or soy spread as you go along. Cut into quarters and serve with Cream of Tomato Dip. Serves 6 as an appetizer.
Cream Of Tomato Dip:
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup diced onion
1 large shallot, minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes in juice, chopped (retain juice)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves or 1 teaspoon fresh
2 tablespoons white rice flour
1 cup plain soy milk
1/4 cup smokily creamer
1 teaspoon sugar, optional
Heat olive oil over medium-low heat in a 4-quart soup pot. Add the onions and shallots, and saute until softened, and clear, about 8 minutes. Add the salt, tomatoes, tomato juice, tomato paste, broth, bay leaf, basil and thyme. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, and cook for 30 minutes. Mix the rice flour with the soy milk and the soy creamer. Whisk into the tomato mixture and simmer 5 minutes more. Remove the bay leaf. Puree the dip in 2 batches in a blender until smooth and creamy. At this point, taste the soup, if you think it needs to be sweeter, add the sugar, then season to taste with freshly ground pepper. — "Hollywood Dish," by Akasha Richmond
SUNDANCE CHOCOLATE TORTE
When Richmond catered her first events at the Sundance Film Festival in 2003, "I took this recipe along, knowing the altitude wouldn't really affect the texture. It was a huge hit at all of the parties, and I have been serving it every year."
1/3 cup chopped hazelnuts or almonds
3 tablespoons spelt or barley flour
2 1/2 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/3 cup Dutch process cocoa
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup plain soy milk
1 tablespoon rum or Kahlua
1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 egg whites or 1/2 cup liquid egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Chocolate Glaze:
4 ounces good quality semisweet chocolate, chopped into 1-inch pieces (about 2/3 cup)
3 tablespoons soy milk creamer
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8-inch round springform pan or removable-bottom cake pan, and spray with cooking spray. Grind the nuts in a food processor with the flour until very fine. Combine the chopped chocolate, cocoa and the 3/4 cup of sugar in a medium bowl.
Heat the soy milk and rum in a small sauce pan to scalding. Remove from the heat, pour it over the chocolate, and whisk until the mixture is completely smooth. Stir in the egg yolk and the vanilla.
With a hand-held or freestanding heavy duty electric mixer, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar on medium spread until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and continue to beat until stiff but not dry. Fold the nut mixture into the chocolate. Fold a quarter of the egg whites in with a rubber spatula to lighten the mixture, then fold in the rest. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth to the edges with the rubber spatula. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Don't overbake, it will dry out. Cool the torte on a rack. Slide a butter knife around the sides to release the torte. Remove the sides from the pan, invert the pan, remove paper liner from the bottom, and turn torte right side up onto a cake platter or large plate.
In a double boiler or stainless steel bowl set over gently simmering water (the water should not touch the bottom of the bowl), melt the chocolate, stirring. Turn off the heat and let stand over warm water until ready to use. Scald the soy milk in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Pour into the melted chocolate and whisk together. Pour the chocolate glaze over the cake and let cool before serving. — "Hollywood Dish," by Akasha Richmond
E-mail: vphillips@desnews.com