Keith Schroeder, founder of Atlanta-based High Road Craft Ice Cream, is also an editor at Cooking Light magazine and author of “Mad Delicious: The Science of Making Healthy Food Taste Amazing” (Oxmoor House, $35). If it’s a little perplexing that the creator of indulgences like Jokester, an ice cream flavor that includes caramel, peanuts, toffee and dark chocolate in malted vanilla ice cream, would come out with a cookbook that focuses on healthy cooking, Schroeder says he can understand.
“I didn’t set out to be a Cooking Light author, but I’m sensible enough to know that if I’m going to be peddling an indulgence by day, then I need to weave in some balance in my side projects. In the culinary profession you live pretty hard, working too hard, not resting enough. You tend to indulge, and there’s only so long in life you can handle that without it impacting your health,” he said.
As he worked on the book, he kept in mind the person who wanted to eat healthier but was reluctant because healthy food felt watered down and restricted. The result is a compilation of 126 recipes that are bright, vibrant and delicious. “The Full-Bodied Borscht may be one of the most vibrant recipes in the whole book. You won’t believe you’re behaving yourself when you’re eating it.”
The book also reflects Schroeder’s desire to share his love of cooking. “It’s cool. It’s fun and it’s such a blast. I want to encourage everyone to just dive into their kitchen.”
Recipe notes are extensive, covering both ingredients and technique. Schroeder says he approached every recipe thinking, “What have I learned over the years I would be whispering in the cook’s ear right now?”
He also took into account varying degrees of cooking proficiency. “For avid home cooks, they can dive right into a particular recipe. For the moderately competent cook, the book is divided into sections, like cooking on the grill, so they can work on a section where they need to brush up on their skills. And for the complete novice cook, it’s as comprehensive a culinary education as one could get for $35,” he said.
He says the process of developing the book was the equivalent of cramming for grad school and the resulting book, weighing over 3 pounds, would make a great textbook for a high school culinary program.
Each recipe includes a list of ingredients and the reason each ingredient is in the recipe. For example, the recipe for borscht includes potatoes, which Schroeder notes are there to provide body for the soup. Or red wine vinegar, which “holds the color of the cabbage and is the acid component of the broth. Without it, the meal would taste too similar to garden soil.”
Experienced cooks will find lots to learn. Take for example the recipe for Toasted Penne with Chicken Sausage. As Schroeder says, it will turn you into a lazy pasta cook by substituting a risotto-style method of pasta cooking for the traditional pot of boiling water. “There’s no satisfaction in waiting for water to boil. This recipe offers a more immediate connection with what you’re cooking and can be done with any shape pasta except noodles like spaghetti.”
The recipe for Baja-Style Grilled Fish Tacos includes plenty of instruction on how to successfully grill a fillet of fish, a job that may give even a seasoned cook trouble.
These three recipes prove you can make healthy food “Mad Delicious.”
Full-Bodied Borscht
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons vodka
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
5 3-inch red beets
2 cups diced carrots (about 1 pound)
1 1/2 cups Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch dice (about 3/4 pound)
2 cups sliced onion (about 1/2 pound)
1/4 cup sliced garlic cloves (about 8)
1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
2 cups finely sliced red cabbage (about 1/2 pound)
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 pound beef chuck roast, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
6 cups lower-sodium beef broth
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Have a rimmed baking sheet ready.
In a small bowl, combine yogurt, vodka and horseradish. Steal a pinch of salt from the teaspoon called for in the recipe, add it and stir. Cover and refrigerate.
Ready 4 sheets aluminum foil, about a foot long. Spray each sheet with cooking spray.
Trim beets, leaving root and 1 inch of stem. Lay beets on one sheet of foil and top with second sheet. Fold the edges together to make a pillow of beets.
On another foil sheet, combine carrots and potatoes. Fold foil in half and fold edges together to make a smaller pillow of carrots and potatoes.
On last foil sheet, combine onions and garlic. Drizzle with 1/2 tablespoon oil, fold foil in half, and fold edges together to make a small pillow of onions and garlic.
Arrange beets, carrot-potato package and onion-garlic package on baking sheet. Roast 20 minutes. Remove onion-garlic package from oven. Open package, pouring mixture into a bowl.
Continue roasting vegetables 10 minutes more, and remove carrot-potato package from oven. Open package and add carrots and potatoes to onion-garlic mixture.
Roast beets 30 minutes more (for an hour total cooking time) or until tender. Remove beets from oven and open package carefully. Rub skins off beets with hands and/or a spoon or paring knife. If you wish, wear gloves to prevent stains on your hands. Trim the top end and the root end.
Shred beets on a box grater. Set aside.
In a stainless steel or glass bowl, combine cabbage, vinegar and sugar. Toss together and let rest while you do the next step.
Heat a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add remaining tablespoon oil, swirling to coat pan. Add beef when oil begins to smoke. Brown on each side, stirring occasionally. When all meat is browned, add cabbage mixture and remaining salt and pepper. Stir and allow cabbage to wilt. Add beef broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes.
Add shredded beets, and carrot-potato-onion-garlic mixture. Gently stir to combine. Simmer 90 minutes. It should bubble constantly, but not rapidly.
When ready to serve, divide borscht between bowls and top with yogurt mixture and dill. Serve immediately. Serves: 8
— Adapted from a recipe in “Mad Delicious: The Science of Making Healthy Food Taste Amazing” by Keith Schroeder (Oxmoor House, $35).
Per serving: 281 calories, 14 grams protein, 29 grams carbohydrates, 6 grams fiber, 11 grams fat (3 grams saturated), 2 milligrams cholesterol, 444 milligrams sodium.
Toasted Penne with Chicken Sausage
For the initial toasting of the penne, Schroeder writes, “Stir infrequently. It’s okay to have some unevenness in the char. Allow as much browning and char as your taste buds prefer. Go deep. The liquid will ‘wash’ much of the char into the resultant sauce. You can try this method with any of your favorite small pastas.”
6 cups unsalted chicken broth, divided
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
4 links Italian-style chicken sausage, casings removed (about 13 ounces)
1 cup thinly sliced sweet onion
2 cups uncooked penne pasta
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon minced Calabrian chiles or hot cherry peppers
1/2 ounce grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (about 2 tablespoons)
Bring stock to a simmer in a medium saucepan and keep it hot.
In a high-sided 12-inch skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add sausage and onion. Cook, stirring occasionally and crumbling sausage, until sausage is cooked through and onion is golden brown. Remove sausage and onion from skillet and set aside. Leave drippings in skillet.
Add remaining tablespoon olive oil and return to medium heat for 30 seconds. Add pasta to skillet. Stir infrequently. When pasta turns from its original pale khaki color to something resembling a better beer, about 5 minutes, return sausage mixture to skillet. Saute for 2 minutes.
Add a cup of stock to the skillet and stir. You will see starch beginning to integrate with the pasta water. Lower heat to slight simmer and keep stirring. Simmer until liquid is almost fully absorbed, about 5 minutes. Add another cup of stock and continue the simmer/reducing process. Keep adding stock until you have creamy, saucy, tender pasta, about 30 minutes total. You may not need all the broth.
Stir in salt, lemon juice, chiles and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Serve immediately. Serves: 4
— Adapted from a recipe in “Mad Delicious: The Science of Making Healthy Food Taste Amazing” by Keith Schroeder (Oxmoor House, $35).
Per serving: 355 calories, 24 grams protein, 36 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams fiber, 13 grams fat (4 grams saturated), 51 milligrams cholesterol, 678 milligrams sodium.
Baja-Style Grilled Fish Tacos
Schroeder writes, “For this Baja-inspired recipe, it’s especially important to regulate heat, erring on the gentler side, as the mahi-mahi needs sufficient time to firm up without charring too deeply. Be mindful about seasoning the grill grates and super-careful when turning.” He also notes that grating the garlic, rather than mincing it, helps it stick to the fish.
1/4 cup plain 2% reduced-fat Greek yogurt
1/4 cup light sour cream
2 tablespoons 1% milk
1 dried pasilla pepper
2 teaspoons light brown sugar
2 teaspoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 garlic clove, grated
1 jalapeno, grated
2 (3/4-pound) mahi-mahi fillets, deboned and skinned
8 (6-inch) corn tortillas
3 tablespoons water
4 limes
2 cups finely shredded cabbage
1 cup fine julienne yellow onion
1 cup First-Cut Salsa Fresca (see recipe)
1 tablespoon cilantro leaves
In a small bowl, combine yogurt, sour cream and milk. Whisk to blend evenly, cover and refrigerate.
Heat grill or grill pan to medium-high.
Grind the chile in a food processor. You should have 1 tablespoon ground chile. In a medium bowl, combine ground chile, brown sugar, oil, salt, garlic and jalapeno. Stir to combine.
Lay fillets on a large platter and rub on all sides with chile mixture. Refrigerate while you season the grill.
Spray a clean grill rag with cooking spray and rub grill grates or grill pan liberally. Repeat until grill is well seasoned and ready to be kind to fish. Grill fillets for about 4 minutes per side. Leave fillet untouched until ready to turn. Carefully turn fillets once and only once or you’ll have fish bits everywhere. When fillets have cooked 4 minutes on second side, use a thin fish spatula to lift fish gently from grill and place on platter.
Brush tortillas with water and grill until marked and softened. This happens in 30 seconds. Bundle the tortillas in a clean tea towel and lay bundle in a bowl or basket.
Cut limes seviche-style by slicing off the outside of the lime in four segments, leaving behind the core. Discard core.
Serve the fish on platter with large serving spoon. Serve with tortillas, yogurt mixture, limes, cabbage, onion, Salsa Fresca and cilantro. Serves: 4
— Adapted from a recipe in “Mad Delicious: The Science of Making Healthy Food Taste Amazing” by Keith Schroeder (Oxmoor House, $35).
Per serving: 362 calories, 38 grams protein, 36 grams carbohydrates, 6 grams fiber, 8 grams fat (2grams saturated), 131 milligrams cholesterol, 590 milligrams sodium.
First-Cut Salsa Fresca
“This recipe is made or broken by the quality and handling of the tomatoes,” writes Schroeder. The recipe is called “first-cut” because it calls for deft knife skills. Use a sharp serrated knife and chef’s knife and practice.
1/2 pound ripe tomatoes
1 jalapeno or serrano chile
1/4 cup cilantro leaves
1 lime
1/3 cup finely diced red onion
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Wash and dry tomatoes and chile. Wash cilantro and use a salad spinner to dry. Cut lime seviche-style by slicing off the outside of the lime in four segments, leaving behind the core. Discard the core.
Using a small serrated knife, core tomatoes, then cut into 1/4-inch slabs. Then use chef’s knife to cut into 1/4-inch dice. Put tomatoes in a stainless steel or glass bowl. Cut top off chile, split lengthwise and then quarter lengthwise. Remove ribs and seeds. Now julienne and finely dice, then add to tomatoes. Cut the cilantro leaves into fine slivers and add to tomatoes. Squeeze lime over tomato mixture. Put the salt in your hand and sprinkle over the salsa with a sense of fanfare and exuberance. It doesn’t matter if no one is watching. You’ll know you what you did! Toss.
Let the mixture sit at room temperature from 15 minutes to an hour before serving. Makes: 1 cup
— Adapted from a recipe in “Mad Delicious: The Science of Making Healthy Food Taste Amazing” by Keith Schroeder (Oxmoor House, $35).
Per 1/4 cup: 14 calories, 1 gram protein, 4 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 0 grams fat, 0 milligrams cholesterol, 144 milligrams sodium.
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