It’s often not the food we eat but how we cook it that tips the balance toward healthful or unhealthful eating. Take fresh asparagus, boil it, drain it and serve it with hollandaise sauce. You have poured a lot of that vegetable’s naturally occurring vitamins (A, C and folate) and minerals (potassium and iron) down the drain with the cooking water, and you’ve added cholesterol, saturated fat and calories to a cholesterol- and virtually fat-free, fiber-rich food that has 15 calories in four spears.
And take potatoes? One whole potato (about 7 ounces) has 220 calories, a heap of fiber and significant folate and vitamin C. What happens when you pile butter or sour cream onto a baked potato, or peel and boil it and mash it with milk and butter, or deep-fry it for French fries? (And when you peel it, much of the fiber goes right into the garbage.)
But if you steam, grill, roast, blend/puree or make a broth-based soup, you have preserved texture, flavor, nutrients and often the fiber of vegetables while adding minimal calories, fat and cholesterol. Those methods are the five healthiest ways to cook almost anything, says Dr. John La Puma, medical director of C.H.E.F. Clinic, based at Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village. (C.H.E.F. is an acronym for Cooking, Healthy Eating and Fitness.)
Capable vapors
Of all methods of cooking, La Puma says that steaming is the most healthful and easiest.
“It uses the vapor of a boiling liquid to cook through food,” La Puma says, “and it’s the gentlest and best for fresh vegetables. It concentrates the flavor, and all the water-soluble vitamins stay in the food and go into you.”
La Puma also recommends steaming flaky, low-fat fish such as sole, flounder and haddock, and shellfish. He prefers to grill salmon and meatier fishes. He won’t steam poultry or meat, two kinds of animal protein that toughen when steamed.
Steaming, however, is not everybody’s favorite way to cook.
“I think that’s because people are afraid of the process,” says Karen A. Levin, author and menu consultant. “They equate it with Asian cookery, and are concerned about opening steamers and getting burned by the steam–which can happen. But you can steam in the microwave. It’s much easier to check for doneness.”
Levin doesn’t recommend covering foods with plastic wrap; she uses wax paper laid loosely on top. And when microwave steaming in a covered container, cooks should open containers with the lid opening pointed away from them, to avoid the venting steam.
La Puma says cooks can achieve a similar effect by wrapping vegetables or seafood in foil or parchment packets and cooking them in the oven or grill. Add flavor with seasonings and condiments (such as soy sauce, garlic, ginger and herbs) in the packets.
Get out the grill
Grilling is high on both La Puma’s and Levin’s list, as long as the food is marinated beforehand and isn’t too heavily charred. Charred foods have been linked to breast and colon cancer.
“The marinade, as long as it doesn’t have a lot of sugar, which burns, provides a layer of protection for the food,” La Puma says. Another warning: “Avoid preserved and processed meats, because the nitrites and nitrates used in preserving can be converted into carcinogenic nitro-samines during grilling.”
Levin offers other tips for preventing charring while grilling: Use the least possible amount of fat in the marinade and trim all visible fat from meat and poultry. She suggests keeping gas grills on medium heat, and keeping food as far away from the heat source as possible on a charcoal grill.
Something in a bowl
Recipes, and endless variations, for delicious broth-based vegetable and seafood soups are among the world’s favorites: minestrone soup, bouillabaisse, cioppino, old-fashioned vegetable soup, French onion soup, borscht, mushroom soup, potato leek soup, cabbage soup and lentil soup are just the start. Add a salad and you have a complete, healthful meal.
“Using a little fat to saute the vegetables at the beginning of the soup is OK,” La Puma says, “because it brings out the flavor. But not all fats are created equal.” He recommends canola oil, olive oil and, even though it is expensive, grapeseed oil.
Many of the calories and much of the added fat in these traditional soups come in the form of the garnish: cheese on French onion soup, croutons with mayonnaise-based rouille on bouillabaisse, and sour cream on borscht.
“It’s easy to substitute low- or no-fat sour cream or low-fat yogurt in borscht, and make a low-fat crouton by spreading toasted bread with sun-dried tomato pesto,” Levin says.
But it’s a dry heat
High-temperature roasting of foods very lightly coated with oil in a 450- to 500-degree oven “has much the same effect as steaming, even though it is a dry heat method,” La Puma says. “It concentrates the flavor inside the vegetables without losing nutrients to a surrounding liquid.”
He recommends cutting solid vegetables such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash, carrots, shallots, beets, turnips and rutabaga, into uniform pieces, and tossing them in a bowl with 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon of oil before roasting on a baking sheet, sprinkled with salt and pepper.
When roasting asparagus, La Puma favors medium-size spears. Roasting is also great for mushrooms, especially portobello.
Levin adds that you should warm the oil for 15 seconds in a microwave oven before coating the vegetables; warm oil spreads more easily, so the same amount covers more vegetables, saving calories. She also warns against using non-stick pans.
“Use a regular sheet pan because the vegetables will brown on the bottom and you can flip them with a spatula to brown on the other side. It gives them a very nice flavor.” Timing, she says, depends on your oven and the size of your vegetable pieces. Broccoli takes about 8 minutes at 500 degrees; for cut-up root vegetables, she reduces the temperature to 450 degrees and roasts 20 to 25 minutes.
The buzz
La Puma favors pureeing whole vegetables or legumes for low-fat, high-flavor soups, dips and spreads. Among his favorite dips is hummus made from chickpeas pureed with garlic, lemon juice and silken tofu. A dip of canned white beans given the same treatment but flavored with rosemary and garlic runs a close second.
Levin uses a combination of whole and pureed textures to add interest to soups.
“When I’m making a bean or potato soup, I puree part and put it back or else I use a hand immersion blender,” she says. “That pureeing thickens the soup without adding fat or flour.”
La Puma also relies on his blender for a signature tomato salsa that can double as a sauce.
“Take a whole pan of cored tomatoes and roast them under the broiler, turning them so they get that roasted, smoky flavor. Put them in a blender or food processor with onions, garlic and chilies and press the button, and voila!”
Fat-free flair. Just what every health-conscious cook needs.
BROCCOLI OR CAULIFLOWER WITH SOY-LEMON DRESSING
Adapted from ” A sponnful of ginger,” by Nina Simonds
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Yield: 6 servings
Cooking time: 8 minutes
2 bunches broccoli or cauliflower, cut into florets, tough stems peeled
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1. Heat about 1 inch of water to boiling in medium saucepan. Arrange vegetables in steamer basket; lower into place over boiling water. Cover; let steam until just tender, about 8 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, whisk together soy sauce, lemon juice, garlic and sugar until sugar dissolves.
3. Drain vegetables; transfer to serving bowl; toss lightly with dressing.
Nutrition information per serving (based on broccoli):
Calories ………… 65 Fat ………. 0.6 g Saturated fat … 0 g
% calories from fat .. 6 Cholesterol … 0 mg Sodium ……. 555 mg
Carbohydrates ….. 13 g Protein …….. 5 g Fiber ……… 4.6 g
