Harry Eastwood - The Skinny French Kitchen

Harry Eastwood has taken on the challenge of a lifetime: marrying her love of classic French cookery with a desire to maintain her waistline.

The Skinny French Kitchen is the result of Harrys year spent tasting, testing and tweaking the great French classics in her tiny Parisian kitchen up seven flights of stairs. Every recipe has been slimmed down to a fraction of its usual calorie cost without robbing it of flavour or its French character. From light and delightful Tarte aux Pommes and Mousse au Chocolat to irresistible Coq au Vin Blanc and Croque Monsieur , Harry has proved once again that fat and flavour dont always go hand in hand.

Beef

Bread

Cakes

Cheese

Chicken

Chocolate

Desserts

Dips

Dressings

Drinks

Duck

Eggs

Fish and Seafood

Frogs Legs

Ham

Kidneys

Lamb

Liver

Pastry

Pigeon

Pork

Potatoes

Rabbit

Salads

Salmon

Sauces

Side Dishes

Souffls

Soups

Stews

Tarts

Turkey

Veal

I FIRST MOVED to Paris when I was four years old. For the next fifteen years I lived in France, brought up on snails, profiteroles and smelly cheese, and surrounded by people who cared deeply about food and nurtured my passion for it. The French devote themselves to the enjoyment of cooking and eating, and their enthusiasm for ingredients and cooking methods infused the way I looked at food and inspired my choice of career.

I love French food. The only fly in the ointment is that most traditional French food doesnt love me. As someone who has struggled with putting on and losing weight for most of my life, French dishes (with all that butter) make me rather nervous. So, in The Skinny French Kitchen, I have combined my love and native knowledge of French cuisine with my field of expertise: Ive lightened up le menu and cut the calories from one hundred of my favourite French recipes. I know that counting calories isnt the only way to lose weight, but lets just say this: it works.

The Skinny French Kitchen: how it works

In this book, I have put together the best of Frances brasserie and home-cooking recipes, taking out as much fat as I dare without robbing the dish of its flavour or French character. Dont worry, Ive had a tough crowd to please and have not got away with faking it! The French themselves are my critics. If Fred the cheesemonger likes my Gratin Dauphinois, or if Marcel the fishmonger likes my Salmon Tartare, then and only then do I know that the recipe is ready for The Skinny French Kitchen.

Some well-known recipes such as Gratin Dauphinois, Confit de Canard and Cheese Souffl are extremely rich. Ive lightened them up using my own skinny methods. For Gratin Dauphinois, for instance, I found that poaching the potato slices in milk with a lot of garlic infuses them with a creamy, aromatic taste. Its then easy to cut down the amount of cream used later in the recipe.

In the case of Confit de Canard, I was inspired by the Chinese technique for making Peking Duck and found that by searing the duck skin at a very high heat, then turning the oven temperature right down and cooking the duck legs for three hours, I achieved a confit effect with no added fat.

For Cheese Souffl, I substituted the usual bchamel base with pured squash and was able to create a really cheesy, light souffl and bring it down to 117 calories per person in the process.

Generally speaking, I prefer to use oil for cooking and keep butter for flavouring. All the meats in this book are browned first in a little oil (because oil can go to a higher temperature without burning), then butter or cream is added later to flavour the sauce. By doing this, I use much less fat. Each teaspoon of oil, each tablespoon of butter or cream has been thought through. Ive tested, tasted and tweaked the recipes so you dont have to. The second trick behind The Skinny French Kitchen is that Ive not only reduced the calories in our classic French favourites but have also sniffed out recipes that are just as French, but are naturally virtuous and already low in fat, and as yet unknown over the Channel. There is a popular myth that all French food is full of fat, which is simply not true. Its unusual for a Parisian brasserie menu not to list Salmon Tartare, Calves Liver, Tarte aux Pommes Fines and at least three salad options. For whatever reason, these delicious recipes have not made it over the water, but they belong in this book too. They have all been tweaked (if only slightly) and come in at under 260 calories per person.

The French Way: alors, how do they do it?

To the question How do the French stay slim on a diet of cream and croissants? I offer the answer: they dont live on a diet of cream and croissants. Instead, they realize that size does matter, they know their onions, eat many, mini courses and take their time (le temps quil faut).

Size does matter: the skinny on French skinny habits

The French diet is made up of small amounts of full-flavoured and varied foods. If a chocolate pudding is deep and rich, the serving size will be small by British standards. You will always feel satisfied if what youre eating has a ton of flavour. The trade-off is that your food really does need to be completely amazing if theres going to be a smaller amount of it on the plate.

Knowing your onions

The French have an expert understanding of the food they cook and eat. By taking an interest in the ingredients before cooking them, you know whats available, when its available and how to cook it. Cooking your own food is the most effective weight-loss tool youll find because the homework for it is fun.

Meals in France tend to be balanced its as simple as that. The French eat plenty of lean protein such as offal, seafood and fish, and almost always have a starter of vegetables (whether salad, crudits, or cooked vegetables such as artichoke). They have found ways of making eating vegetables appealing, and you can expect to see ratatouille, courgette flans or mushroom tarts looking indulgent and delicious in ready-made trays at the