THE BIG BOOK OF HEALTHY COOKING OILS: Recipes Using Coconut Oil and Other Unprocessed and Unrefined Oils
Lisa Howard Jenny Castaneda
Page Street Publishing
September 15, 2015
$21.99/Paperback
ISBN-13: 978-1624141485
Lisa Howard is a cookbook author, cooking instructor and culinary speaker who has been featured in the Detroit Free Press and on metro Detroit TV shows. She is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals and she writes for magazines such as Allrecipes.com and Eating Well. You can find her blog at www.theculturedcook.com. Her first cookbook is Healthier Gluten-Free.
With the rise of delicious and beneficial unprocessed oils such as coconut oil, avocado oil, flaxseed oil and more, unhealthy refined oils are a thing of the past. Still, with so many fresh oils on grocery store shelves, you might be wondering how to choose and use them. That’s where THE BIG BOOK OF HEALTHY COOKING OILS comes in.
This gluten-free and Paleo-friendly collection of over 85 recipes showcases the different attributes of each oil’s distinct flavor, ideal cooking temperature and beneficial nutrients. You’ll be able to create delicious and healthy meals, snacks and desserts, such as Brazil Nut Pesto Chicken with Toasted Wild Rice and Coconut (featuring coconut oil), Roasted Peppers, Olives, Lamb and Mixed Greens (featuring almond oil), and Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Scandinavian Beet, Carrot and Apple Slaw (featuring flaxseed oil).
If you want to know how to incorporate healthy unprocessed oils into your daily meals, THE BIG BOOK OF HEALTHY COOKING OILS has all of the answers and recipes you need.
Indian-Style Butter Chicken with Tomatoes,
Chickpeas and Spinach
Ghee/Butter
Makes 4 servings
India is such a diverse and wide-ranging country that it has too many classic dishes to name. It’s impossible to point to the definitive Indian dish! That said, butter chicken has to be one of the top contenders. You’ll use plenty of ghee in this dish so that its lush flavor infuses the chicken and veggies with a velvety savoriness and authentic flavor. Because the majority of vitamins are fat-soluble (only B and C are not), combining ghee with these vitamin-rich veggies makes them all the more nutritious. It’s best to wait until the last minute to cut the basil because then it won’t have time to blacken.
- Ghee for cooking
- 1 onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 pound (448 g) chicken breast, trimmed and cut into larger-than-bite-sized pieces
- 1 tablespoon (6 g) curry powder
- Dash sea salt
- 1 can (15 ounces [411 g]) diced tomatoes
- 1 can (15 ounces [425 g]) chickpeas, drained
- 10 leaves fresh basil
- 5 ounces (140 g) curly spinach, roughly chopped
In a large skillet, melt a large knob of ghee over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, or until the onion is translucent and fragrant. Add the garlic and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook for 3 minutes, or until the garlic is fragrant and softened.
Stir in the chicken, curry powder, salt, tomatoes and chickpeas and increase the heat to medium. Simmer for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the thickest piece of chicken is opaque when cut in half, occasionally flipping the chicken.
While the chicken cooks, stack the basil leaves into a pile and roll them into a tight tube. Cut the tube into thin slices to create ribbons. This is called a “chiffonade.” When the chicken is cooked through, add the basil and spinach and cook for another minute or two, just long enough to wilt the spinach. Serve immediately. Leftover chicken can be refrigerated for 4 days.
Coriander-Dusted Lamb Chops with Sautéed
Green Beans and Broccoli
Coconut Oil
Makes 4 servings
When you’re shopping for lamb chops (or rack of lamb), you may see cuts that have been “frenched.” That just means that the flesh has been trimmed away from the bones to expose them. It’s a technique often practiced in French cuisine to give the chops a more elegant look. You can opt for frenched chops if you prefer that look. If you ever roast a frenched rack, though, you might want to cover the bone tips with foil crowns to prevent them from burning. Crowns look like little caps. You’ll often see them sold at meat counters.
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- ½ teaspoon ginger
- ½ teaspoon sea salt, plus more for sprinkling
- 4 lamb chops (totaling about 1½ pounds [672 g]), rinsed and patted dry
- ¾ pound (336 g) green beans, trimmed
- 2 heads broccoli, florets only
- Coconut oil for cooking
- 1/3 cup (4 1/3g) roasted macadamia nuts, chopped
- 6 cloves garlic, cut into thin slices
On a plate, blend the coriander, ginger and salt together. Gently press each side of the lamb into the spice blend, shaking slightly to knock off any excess spice. Set aside.
Rinse the green beans and broccoli and briefly drain them. Transfer them to a large skillet and cook over medium heat for 3 minutes, covered, to steam the veggies. Add a generous spoonful of oil to the veggies and continue to cook, covered, for 5 minutes without disturbing the veggies. Remove them from the heat and toss them with nuts and a sprinkling of salt.
In a large skillet, heat the garlic and a generous spoonful of oil over medium-low heat. Cook for 3 minutes, and then add the lamb. Cook 4 minutes each side—using tongs to flip over the chops—for a total of 8 minutes. Use a spatula to remove the garlic slices from the skillet (place them on small plate), and then cover the skillet and continue to cook the lamb for a final 4 minutes or until the lamb is cooked to the desired doneness. Remove the lamb from the skillet and transfer it to a warm plate. Let the lamb rest 5 minutes before serving. Serve the lamb with the sautéed garlic slices and a side of the green beans and broccoli.
Leftover lamb and veggies can be refrigerated for 4 days.
These recipes may be reproduced with the following credit:
Recipes from THE BIG BOOK OF HEALTHY COOKING OILS: Recipes Using Coconut Oil and Other Unprocessed and Unrefined Oils by Lisa Howard
(Page Street Publishing; September 2015; $21.99/Paperback; ISBN: 978-1624141485)
Contact: Harriet Low
978-594-4986
harrietl@pagestreetpublishing.com