99% Fat-Free Italian Cooking: All Your Favorite Dishes with Less Than 1 Gram of Fat

Bluestein and Morrissey (The Bountiful Kitchen) return with their fourth 99% fat-free regimen, this time using standard ploys--sauteing ingredients in broth or water or simply in a dry nonstick pan; spraying food lightly with olive oil instead of cooking in it; using meat as accents rather than mainstays--to create flavorsome, low-fat alternatives to traditional Italian fare. Many recipes (the Broiled Scallops appetizer or Eggplant Crostini in which vegetable slices replace bread) are the essence of simplicity. For Butternut Squash Soup, ingredients are oven baked in stock before pureeing. Almond-Glazed Panettone is coated not with nuts but ground Grape-Nuts flakes flavored with almond extract. Bucatini alla Carbonara acquires richness with nonfat liquid-egg substitute and achieves lower fat with turkey bacon replacing pancetta, while seafood comes to the rescue in Monkfish Osso Buco. Salad dressings are creative blends of balsamic vinegar and maple syrup or honey and orange juice. Even Sausage Calzone has a low-fat filling of turkey breast tenderloin, fennel seeds and other herbs and spices. One of the most audacious offerings is Chocolate Tiramisu made with a fat-free ""mascarpone"" of drained nonfat yogurt flavored with buttermilk. Those needing to cut fat intake will find much to applaud here. (Apr.)