Zilli Light. Healthy Eating - Aldo Zilli
- Wednesday January 13, 2010 2:06 pm
Isn’t it depressing that as soon as Xmas is over the sub-editors on every newspaper in the country dust off the ‘New Year, New You’ headline for another dismal outing, while the journos recycle the same old rubbish they wrote last year, and the year before that.
Do you feel guilty about the amount you ate? If you were the family that I saw in Sainsbury’s with a trolley full of nothing but cakes and crisps you should be, but I suspect Foodepedia readers tend to always eat rather better than most.
It would be foolish however to maintain that we should not make some gesture towards watching our weights, perhaps someone could watch mine? I can’t see the scales because my stomach is in the way.
Aldo Zilli, famous Italian chef and restaurateur may be just the man to take on the task. He had a kind of epiphany when he found he was getting a bit tubby, a bit lardy. It was taking part in ITV’s Celebrity Fit Club that did the damage; he realised that as well as smoking too much and drinking too much (not in a ‘get me to The Priory!’ way, but in terms of calories, I hasten to add at the insistence of FP’s crack legal team) he was also snacking in the restaurant kitchens and generally not being good to himself.
With the fit club eating regime, plus inevitably the dreaded exercise, he lost 3 stone and is now a happy man. His new book hopes to help those of us who love our grub also eat better but without losing taste and enjoyment. Light meals that satisfy are his aim and he succeeds.
The first chapter is salads, and a groan goes up around the country, but hang on these aren’t at all bad – Chicken, avocado and sweet chilli? Tuna and artichoke? Goat’s cheese with sautéed pair? Hold the hair shirt, these sound very edible and there are plenty of them. Starters sound good too, and as Aldo says, they make pretty good light main courses too Asparagus in a Parma Ham gratin on a bed of rocket, rare beef with rocket and truffle oil, pan-fried scallops all sound rather tempting.
There’s a pasta chapter of course but Aldo points out that pasta portions aren’t supposed to be large, 100g per person is plenty and let the pasta speak for itself, don’t smother it in sauce and eat it at lunchtime so you have time to digest before bed. Duck ragout with tagliatelle and pecorino is just what I love to eat when in Italy as is fettuccine Vongole. Plenty of great pasta dishes here and all guilt free too.
Of course there are pizza recipes and risottos too, plus load of fish and meat ‘secondis’ like lamb stuffed with pine nuts and couscous and even grilled ostrich ( a very lean meat). Even the dessert section is rich and tempting, chocolate is not off the menu you’ll be glad to hear.
This is a great book to begin the year with; easy recipes that ooze taste but which don’t pile on the pounds. Aldo’s credentials are impeccable, his dishes thoughtful and the pictures good enough to eat on their own. This is a timely book which doesn’t preach, has plenty to get your teeth into and enough choice so you’ll never get bored.
ISBN: 1847375561
