500 (Practically) Fat-Free One-Pot Recipes

The latest in Schlesinger's series of 500 fat-free collections (500 More Fat-Free Recipes, 1998) adds speed and ease of preparation to her popular approach. Main ingredients are limited to poultry (skinned and boned white meat), shellfish, fish, grains, legumes and vegetables. While cooks well acquainted with the canon of low-fat cuisine will find Schlesinger's strategies familiar (saute ingredients in a small amount of broth rather than oil; rely on fat-free yogurt, cheese or sour cream; heighten flavor with herbs, spices and reduced cooking liquids), many of these dishes, especially those in which ingredients are cooked together at some length, deliver a hearty, toothsome effect not often found in fat-free recipes. Along with such expected dishes as Chicken Cacciatore or Three-Bean Chili, Schlesinger offers intriguing recipes with seafood: Lobster, Clam, and Shrimp Stew; Shrimp and Flounder Soup with Spinach, Lemon, and Thyme; and Flounder with Tomatoes and Orange. Poultry, most of it chicken tenderloins, is featured widely, but there's plenty of vegetarian fare available: Curried Potatoes, Cauliflower, and Peas with Yogurt; Two Potato Soup with Pumpkin and Okra; Easy Broccoli-Stuffed Tomatoes. Any selective collection of 500 recipes is bound to be repetitive, as this volume often is; nevertheless, the chapter on low-fat stews is a winner by itself. (Jan.)